Overview
We are looking for a Senior Solutions Architect to join Microsoft Federal.
The Microsoft Federal organization was established to address the unique mission, legal, and regulatory requirements of the United States Government (USG).
Microsoft Federal is committed to delivering secure, scalable, and mission-aligned cloud solutions across classified and unclassified environments.
As a Solution Architect, you will provide technical leadership across multi-hybrid cloud environments with a strong focus on DevSecOps, Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS), secure networking, and automation.
You will work closely with government and internal stakeholders to design, deploy, integrate, and validate mission-critical capabilities while ensuring security, compliance, and operational excellence.
Gathers and propagates customer/partner insights from a broad range of stakeholders.
Works with customer/partner stakeholders and business sponsor to socialize both the business solution and the project approach to determine if changes are needed to the business solution.
Defines and documents the architecture to communicate the value proposition of the business solution along with the project approach.
Collaborates with the Project Manager to jointly drive project/technical governance of the design, build, and deployment into use of proof of concepts and pilots.
Works with the business sponsor and customer/partner stakeholders to gather and ratify requirements and constraints.
Collaborates with others to understand the business solution/problem.
Identifies scenarios that could slow or impede pre-sales/delivery.
Works in close collaboration with others to identify, categorize, and communicate business and technical risks.
Generates new and/or improvements to existing intellectual property (IP).
Develops a network of relationships to build influence in addressing problems/blockers.
Uses evidence-based arguments that articulate complex concepts in a simple manner to respectfully challenge Microsoft and partners when a decision will not produce optimal results.
Understands competitor solutions and identifies how customer business value can be driven through Microsoft's offerings.
Acts a mentor to colleagues to educate them.
Microsoft’s mission is to empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more.
As employees we come together with a growth mindset, innovate to empower others, and collaborate to realize our shared goals.
Each day we build on our values of respect, integrity, and accountability to create a culture of inclusion where everyone can thrive at work and beyond.
Responsibilities
Architecture Design and Deployment
• Collaborates with the Account Team and/or Bid Team to understand the business solution/problem.
Drives agreement, based on the customers priorities, requirements/constraints, approach, principles, concepts, and expectations.
Builds and documents a realistically costed Solution Approach with traceability of requirements, constraints, decisions, and tradeoffs that balances risk, technical credibility, and technical innovation to meet customer need, predominantly based on existing solution offerings and/or reference architecture.
Creates clarity around responsibility and accountability for the cybersecurity of the solution.
Follows SFI principles.
Jointly leads the implementation in close partnership with the Project Manager, working with
IDCL.
Exercises oversight and governance and establishes quality practices and standards to realize the business solution.
Uses a cohesive build methodology with an agreed release schedule and timeline so the solution can be transitioned to live operations.
Ensures communication of and adherence to the pre-sales value proposition.
Works with the Project Manager to highlight where assumptions have proven false.
Uses change requests to modify the solution/project approach when needed.
As needed, collaborates with Subject Matter Experts to receive specialized advice that can help define the solution and project approach and increase the time to value for the customer.
• Leverages a structured SFI approach to architecture projects using existing methodologies (e.g., Waterfall, Agile, Iterative) that make use of existing reference architecture and established architectural styles and design patterns.
Builds and maintains an architecture description document, an architecture decisions log, and a requirements/constraints traceability matrix to ensure the rationale for the business solution's Architecture is known and understood.
• Collaborates with the Project Manager to jointly drive project/technical governance of the design, build, and deployment into use of proof of concepts (POCs) and pilots.
Works with customers to understand and demonstrate business value (e.g., release of revenue, cost savings) that the business solution realizes.
• Works in close collaboration with the Project Manager and Account Team to identify, categorize, and communicate business and technical risks (including security).
Defines risk mitigation activities that are foundational to the project plan.
Defines risk contingency plans for invocation should the risk occur.
When appropriate, oversees a broad portfolio of accounts.
Manages and ensures the all-up delivery of consulting engagements, as necessary.
Maintains the risk log.
• Defines and documents the SFI architecture through an architecture description document, an architecture decisions log, and a requirements/risk/constraints traceability matrix to communicate the value proposition of the business solution along with the project approach.
Leads cost-based and technology-based discussions to explain the architecture in terms of its build, deployment, and ongoing operational use to determine customer appetite for the business solution.
Uses a business-value approach that values return on investment (ROI) and customer costs-savings over technical ease of execution.
• Identifies scenarios that could slow or impede pre-sales/delivery.
Orchestrates the broader Microsoft team to address and record technical blockers and works with account/project team to resolve non-technical issues.
Reports significant problems to Microsoft management and escalates when needed.
Includes Security practitioners in early stages to cover customers
CISO and CRO concerns as well as security and data privacy regulation.
Plans a way forward in complex and ambiguous situations with an innovative approach and durable design.
Delegates and uses specialist skills of others to drive technical alignment across internal/external teams.
Coordinates disparate approaches into a single plan of action.
• Works with the business sponsor and customer/partner stakeholders (e.g., Business users, Enterprise Architects, Security Team, Operations Team) to gather and ratify requirements and constraints.
Manages and resolves ambiguity in the requirements and constraints (including legislative and regulatory) and documents assumptions and implications where it cannot be resolved.
Maintains the requirements/constraints traceability matrix to prove that solution components have a rationale/justification for inclusion in the Architecture of the business solution.
Drives development and execution of Test Plans by SMEs to prove that each requirement/constraint has been implemented as expected by the customer, and includes security features and controls in test plans.
Where there are defects or risks, works in close collaboration with the Project Manager and Customer to redress, mitigate or accept and document the status of the test results.
Practice Development
• Understands competitor solutions and identifies how customer business value can be driven through Microsoft's offerings.
Steers the customer/partner conversations to the benefits of the solution rather than the features and functionalities.
Understands how Microsoft supports similar customers through automation/AI.
Thought Leadership
• Shares ideas, insight, and strategic, technical input with technical teams, internal communities across the field, and the larger virtual team across Microsoft using a thorough knowledge of specific Microsoft products and their context in the competitive landscape.
• Participates in external architect community events (e.g., conferences, seminars, technical meetups, Webcasts, blogs, hackathons) and shares learnings with internal team.
Acts a mentor to less experienced colleagues to educate them on technical and non-technical concepts.
Trusted Advisor
• Uses evidence-based arguments that articulate complex concepts in a simple manner to respectfully challenge Microsoft and customers/partners when a decision or course of action will not produce optimal results.
Serves as the "technical conscience" to challenge the status quo and unrealistic expectations.
Proactively resolves conflicts and seeks resolution to balance the overall outcome.
Drives consensus where possible and leads decisions to resolve conflict when needed.
• Develops a network of internal/external relationships to build influence in addressing problems/ blockers and facilitating additional views on the matter of interest.
Stays up to date on Microsofts technologies, products, and services in order to communicate Microsoft's mission, strategy, and capabilities.
• Understands competitor solutions and identifies how customer business value can be driven through Microsoft's offerings.
Steers the customer/partner conversations to the benefits of the solution rather than the features and functionalities.
Understanding Customer/Partner Technical Environment
• Uses evidence-based approach to function as customer advocate and shares insights with Product Engineering teams and the business with a view to improving Microsoft technologies, products, services, and offerings such that they can better meet customer/partner needs.
• Works with customer/partner stakeholders (e.g., Enterprise Architects, Security Team, Development Team, Operations Team) and business sponsor to socialize both the business solution and the project approach to determine if changes are needed to the business solution.
Where the cost of change is accepted by the customer, shares this feedback with the project team and the broader account team to make the necessary adjustments using mechanisms such as updating the solution approach and projected costs in presales and change requests in delivery.
Engages in risk discussions bringing in Security SMEs to create clarity around who is responsible for cyber security around proposed solutioning.
• Gathers and propagates customer/partner insights from a broad range of stakeholders as well as the main business sponsor that will help shape and form both the definition and ongoing execution of the project.
Learns to Identify and evaluate industry trends (customer industry verticals, information technology [IT] industry).
Recognizes and considers Microsoft's frameworks (e.g., Secure Architecture Framework) and customer risk appetites.
Additional Job Responsibilities
• Develop and implement promotion patterns for configuration and deployment changes, including deployment plans and schedules.
• Create, operate, and sustain development, test, and integration environments to reduce mission risk and deployment errors.
• Establish delivery timelines, completion metrics, and technical execution plans for managed services and automation.
• Validate capability deployments and integrations through testing, demonstrations, and documented results including connectivity, ATO status, and workload validation.
• Design mission enclave architectures including virtual networking, network security groups, and peering automation to integrate with base services.
• Develop and maintain architecture artifacts and operational documentation such as diagrams and performance dashboards.
• Utilize solution accelerators and automation to streamline deployment and sustainment of mission enclaves.
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