Lead Application Architect - SME

Location: Suitland, MD | Hybrid

Proposal Opportunity: This position is being recruited in support of an active federal proposal. Employment is contingent upon contract award, final customer requirements, and position availability. Candidates selected during the proposal phase may be asked to provide an updated resume and other information required for proposal submission.

About the Role

Essnova Solutions is seeking an experienced Lead Application Architect – SME to support a large-scale federal application modernization initiative supporting the U.S. Census Bureau.

This role will provide senior technical leadership in the design and modernization of enterprise applications using modern microservices, API, event-driven, containerized, and cloud-based architecture patterns.

We are looking for an architect who combines deep application architecture expertise with practical knowledge of modern enterprise development technologies.

What You’ll Do

• Design enterprise application architectures supporting modernization initiatives.
• Define scalable microservices-based application architectures.
• Develop architecture patterns for enterprise application integration.
• Support modernization and transformation of legacy applications.
• Design and guide implementation of REST and SOAP service integrations.
• Support event-driven architectures and Kafka-based integrations.
• Define containerization and orchestration approaches.
• Collaborate with developers, systems engineers, cloud teams, security professionals, and other architects.
• Develop architecture documentation, technical standards, and solution designs.
• Provide senior technical guidance throughout application modernization efforts.

Requirements

Required Qualifications

• 15+ years of relevant application architecture and technology experience.
• Senior/SME-level experience designing complex enterprise applications.
• Demonstrated experience with:
• Spring Boot
• Microservices architecture
• REST
• SOAP
• Kafka
• Docker
• Kubernetes/EKS

Preferred Qualifications

• Professional-level AWS, Azure, or GCP Solutions Architect certification
• CCSP
• DevOps certification or equivalent experience

Work Location

This position supports the U.S. Census Bureau Headquarters in Suitland, Maryland under a hybrid work model. Candidates must be located in the DC/MD/VA area or be willing to commute to Suitland.