Senior Delivery Architect

CyKor is a fast-growing Technology Solutions Provider to both federal and commercial clients. We attribute our continued growth to our core values, our professional team, and the valuable relationships with our clients. Our small and growing team fosters an environment in which each team member is respected, valued, and appreciated for their contributions.

ROLE AND RESPONSIBILITIES:

The Senior Delivery Architect is the senior-most technical authority within the Solution Delivery organization, accountable for architecture integrity, engineering execution, and technical outcomes across complex SD-WAN and enterprise network transformation efforts.

This role prioritizes hands-on engineering leadership, solution validation, and technical governance over project management functions. The Senior Delivery Architect ensures that all deployed solutions are scalable, secure, compliant, and operationally viable, serving as the final technical decision authority across delivery engagements.

The role operates as the lead engineer interface between Delivery, Engineering, and customer technical stakeholders, ensuring that design intent is preserved from architecture through deployment and sustainment.

Technical Architecture Authority (35%)

• Own end-to-end network and SD-WAN architecture design integrity across all assigned engagements
• Validate and approve low-level designs (LLDs), configurations, and deployment patterns prior to production
• Serve as the technical escalation authority for complex routing, segmentation, security, and transport issues
• Define and enforce standardized architecture patterns (templates, policies, segmentation models)
• Ensure alignment with Zero Trust, RMF, and federal compliance requirements

Hands-On Engineering & Technical Delivery (30%)

• Remain actively billable performing:
  • Advanced configurations (Cisco SD-WAN, IOS-XE)
  • Policy design (OMP, control/data policies)
  • Routing optimization (BGP, OSPF)
• Lead complex troubleshooting and root cause analysis across multi-site deployments
• Conduct pre-deployment validation, lab testing, and burn-in activities
• Perform technical QA on all configurations and deployment artifacts
• Support controller deployments, integration (ISE, security stack), and site turn-ups

Technical Governance & Quality Assurance (15%)

• Establish and enforce engineering quality gates:
  • Config reviews
  • Deployment readiness checks
  • Validation test plans
• Own as-built accuracy, runbooks, and engineering documentation standards
• Ensure all deployments meet:
  • STIG compliance
  • NIST 800-53 controls
  • ATO/ORR readiness requirements
• Identify and mitigate technical risk early in the lifecycle

Engineering Team Leadership (10%)

• Lead engineers from a technical direction standpoint (not administrative PM control)
• Provide real-time engineering guidance during deployments and troubleshooting
• Mentor engineers on:
  • SD-WAN design patterns
  • Automation techniques
  • Federal compliance implementation
• Establish technical standards, reusable configs, and deployment consistency

Pre-Sales & Solution Continuity (5%)

• Provide technical validation of proposed architectures and BOMs
• Ensure solutions are:
  • Deployable at scale
  • Operationally sustainable
• Bridge solution intent to delivery execution to eliminate rework

Innovation, Automation & Lab Validation (5%)

• Lead POC validation efforts for new technologies and deployment models
• Drive adoption of:
  • Automation (Ansible, APIs, templating)
  • Standardized deployment frameworks
• Translate lab results into:
  • Reference architectures
  • Repeatable deployment kits

SUCCESS METRICS

• First-time deployment success rate
• Reduction in post-deployment defects
• Configuration standardization across sites
• Time to resolve complex technical issues
• Lab-to-production success rate
• ATO/ORR technical readiness with minimal rework

Requirements:

• Deep hands-on SD-WAN and enterprise networking expertise
• Proven ability to solve complex engineering problems under pressure
• Strong background in:
  • Cisco SD-WAN (Viptela/Catalyst)
  • Routing (BGP, OSPF)
  • Security (ISE, Zero Trust)
• Experience in federal environments (RMF, STIG, ATO)
• Naturally operates as a technical leader - not a task manager
• Multiple cloud certifications
• Active Public Trust clearance; Active Secret/Top Secret clearance preferred

REQUIRED TRAINING

• Must complete ISO 9001 Training and Counterfeit Prevention Plan Training
• Must complete Cisco Certified Internet Expert (CCIE) certification and other vendor-specific niche certifications

PREFERRED TRAINING

• Completion of Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL) 4 certification, Project Management Professional (PMP) certification or SCRUM/Agile certification