[Remote] GIS Architect 2

Note: The job is a remote job and is open to candidates in USA. ATTAINX INC is seeking a GIS Architect 2 to provide technical architecture leadership for geospatial systems and GIS capabilities within the USDA NRCS IT ecosystem. This role involves leading GIS architecture decisions, driving AWS cloud migration, and managing large-scale GIS development efforts while ensuring alignment with enterprise standards and the conservation mission needs.

Responsibilities

• Serve as the lead technical architect for assigned SAFe Agile Release Trains, providing architectural guidance across up to 100+ staff and 10+ scrum teams
• Define and enforce GIS architecture standards, patterns, and best practices for enterprise geospatial application development and spatial data services
• Architect multi-tier geospatial solutions including ArcGIS Enterprise infrastructure (Server, Portal), web mapping applications, spatial databases, and geospatial service tiers
• Design and implement enterprise ArcGIS Enterprise architecture, including service publishing strategies, security configurations, multi-machine deployments, and high-availability patterns
• Architect integration patterns between GIS components and NRCS business applications (e.g., Pega, .NET, Entellitrak), ensuring loose coupling and maintainability
• Drive consistency of geospatial solution architecture across the enterprise, aligning with USDA/FPAC mandates, GeoBranch architecture, and industry best practices
• Ensure key architecture decisions are documented and stored in an agreed repository for the life of the product
• Validate and maintain geospatial Business Domain/Sub-domain definitions; map geospatial components to domains/sub-domains, capturing technical debt
• Lead a systems review within the first 30 days to identify and categorize geospatial technical debt and establish a transparent backlog
• Use existing geospatial services provided by FPAC GeoBranch when available; integrate supported applications with those services in alignment with Conservation Section priorities
• When new GIS services are required, design and build them with and for the GeoBranch GPM; adhere to GeoBranch architecture, design, and standards
• Coordinate closely with the NRCS GEO Branch to ensure alignment with agency geospatial standards and practices
• Ensure geospatial integrations meet performance, accuracy, and interoperability requirements, including appropriate coordinate reference systems and caching strategies
• Document geospatial dependencies and data sources and maintain them in Government-designated repositories
• Ensure accessibility (Section 508) and usability considerations are incorporated for geospatial user interfaces and outputs
• Architect and lead the migration of geospatial applications and ArcGIS Enterprise infrastructure from on-premises Government servers to AWS
• Provide cross-train coordination and leadership for dependencies between NRCS AWS, GEO AWS, and EDAPT migration efforts
• Design cloud-native and cloud-ready geospatial architectures using approved AWS services (EC2, RDS, S3, Lambda, API Gateway, Route 53) within the FPAC General Support System (GSS)
• Ensure alignment with the FPAC Cloud Memo and Technical Guidance Framework for all geospatial cloud adoption and migration activities
• Re-architect geospatial applications for scalability and resilience in AWS environments
• Lead and manage geospatial development teams as a member of release train leadership
• Conduct hiring activities including developing staffing plans, creating job descriptions and technical challenges, and leading interviews
• Mentor developers in GIS development, data management, and software architecture best practices
• Lead GIS knowledge-sharing initiatives (e.g., GIS Community of Practice) to improve GIS as a discipline across the organization
• Coordinate with technical architects from other SAFe Agile Release Trains, the solution train, platform team, Government product owners, and business owners
• Communicate and enforce enterprise geospatial standards and best practices across all delivery teams through documented governance, review, and approval processes
• Coordinate with Federal Architects, contractor architects, and other stakeholders to harmonize geospatial interfaces and manage cross-dependencies
• Contribute to the comprehensive inventory of supported geospatial systems and components, including technology stack, dependencies, and operational status
• Evaluate modernization options for geospatial systems (refactor, re-platform, replace, retire) using structured scoring models based on technical debt, compliance risk, cost to maintain, and business impact
• Leverage AI-enabled platforms (e.g., Rhino.ai or equivalent) for legacy geospatial system analysis and code remediation as authorized by the Government
• Propose strategies to decouple tightly coupled geospatial web services and monolithic spatial databases that hinder modernization and scalability
• Ensure architectures are forward-compatible with ML/GenAI integration while maintaining compliance and auditability
• Develop and maintain a plan to resolve gaps in automated testing and document timeline trade-offs for technical debt remediation
• Maintain a technology intake and review function for geospatial technologies; review recommendations before elevating to the GPM per the Cloud Memo process
• Design and enforce secure architecture patterns for geospatial applications and services in alignment with NIST SP 800–53, USDA secure coding standards, FPAC SDLC, FISMA, and Zero Trust principles
• Ensure new geospatial solutions and features are compliant with Zero Trust architecture; identify gaps for remediation
• Implement and maintain security configurations for ArcGIS Enterprise infrastructure, including authentication, authorization, and service-level access controls
• Ensure supported applications meet Section 508 accessibility requirements and maintain compliance with the Privacy Act, FedRAMP, and Supply Chain Risk Management (SCRM) requirements
• Ensure all work products meet or exceed the Acceptable Quality Levels (AQLs) defined in the applicable contract attachments
• Drive adoption of automated testing, regression testing, and CI/CD practices for geospatial applications and services
• Develop and implement DevOps scripts and processes for geospatial service publication, application deployment, and configuration management using Git-based source control
• Improve geospatial architecture to reduce interdependencies and enable smaller, more frequent releases
• Ensure load and performance testing plans exercise all critical geospatial components; communicate gaps to the GPM
• Provide Tier 3 architectural guidance for production geospatial issues, including root cause analysis and systemic remediation recommendations
• Establish mechanisms to detect and correct geospatial architectural misalignments; provide mentoring to development teams
• Participate in risk identification and mitigation activities; contribute to the risk and issue log
• Support ITIL-aligned incident, problem, and change management processes consistent with FPAC standards
• Provide knowledge transfer sessions to Government personnel and incoming vendors during transitions
• Maintain architectural documentation, decision records, and knowledge articles in Government-designated repositories
• Architect spatial database solutions including ESRI geodatabases, PostgreSQL/PostGIS, SQL Server spatial types, and Oracle SDE
• Design and implement ETL processes for geospatial data ingestion, transformation, and synchronization across multiple schemas, formats, and coordinate systems
• Develop and maintain automation for spatial data modeling, service deployment, and data processing using Python (ArcPy, ArcGIS API for Python), FME, and related tools
• Support the Geospatial Data Asset Catalog (GDAC) and ensure compliance with Geospatial Data Act of 2018 (GDA) requirements
• Ensure alignment with USDA’s cloud-native Lakehouse Data Strategy and FPAC data governance practices

Skills

• Twelve (12) or more years of professional experience in geospatial application development, GIS architecture, or spatial data management
• Five (5) or more years of experience in a GIS architect or technical lead role directing enterprise geospatial solution design
• Five (5) or more years of experience with ESRI ArcGIS Enterprise (ArcGIS Server, Portal) architecture, configuration, and administration
• Three (3) or more years of experience supporting federal IT programs or government agency environments
• Demonstrated experience architecting and leading AWS cloud migration of geospatial systems
• Experience managing and mentoring geospatial development teams
• Experience with spatial database architecture (ESRI geodatabases, PostgreSQL/PostGIS, SQL Server, Oracle SDE)
• Bachelor's degree in Geography, GIS, Computer Science, Environmental Science, or a related field, or equivalent professional experience
• ESRI ArcGIS Enterprise (ArcGIS Server, Portal, ArcGIS Pro, ArcGIS Online)
• ESRI ArcGIS API for JavaScript, ArcGIS API for Python, ArcPy
• JavaScript/TypeScript, React, WebAppBuilder, ArcGIS JavaScript API
• Python (spatial automation, ETL, scripting), Jupyter Notebooks
• C#/.NET for geospatial and non-spatial web applications
• Spatial databases: ESRI geodatabases, PostgreSQL/PostGIS, SQL Server, Oracle SDE
• ArcGIS Enterprise architecture: service publishing, security, multi-machine deployments
• Geodatabase schema design, spatial data versioning, mosaic datasets
• AWS services: EC2, RDS, S3, Lambda, API Gateway, Route 53
• CI/CD and DevOps: Jenkins, Git-based source control, automated deployment scripts
• Security scanning: SonarQube, Fortify SCA/WebInspect
• SAFe Agile methodologies; Jira, Confluence
• Mobile GIS architecture (ArcGIS field applications, Collector)
• FME for geospatial data transformation (preferred)
• Experience with USDA NRCS or FPAC geospatial systems and FPAC GeoBranch architecture
• Experience coordinating across multiple SAFe Agile Release Trains and solution trains
• Experience with Geospatial Data Act of 2018 (GDA) compliance and geospatial metadata management
• ESRI technical certifications (ArcGIS Enterprise Administration, ArcGIS Developer, or equivalent)
• AWS certifications (Cloud Practitioner, Solutions Architect, or equivalent)
• SAFe certification (SAFe Architect, SAFe Practitioner, or equivalent)
• Experience integrating geospatial components with Pega, .NET, or Entellitrak business applications
• Experience with Geocortex or similar web GIS configuration platforms
• Experience with NIST SP 800–53, FISMA, FedRAMP compliance frameworks
• Experience with Terraform or CloudFormation for infrastructure as code
• Experience with Section 508 accessibility architecture for geospatial interfaces
• Experience with ServiceNow ITSM, ITOM, CMDB
• ITIL certification or demonstrated experience with ITIL service management processes
• Experience with ArcGIS Online administration and organizational management

Company Overview

• AttainX is an SBA certified 8a / EDWOSB / WOSB and CMMI L3, ISO 9001:201, QMS certified company that delivers information technology solutions to Federal and state agencies. It was founded in 2008, and is headquartered in Herndon, Virginia, USA, with a workforce of 51-200 employees. Its website is https://www.attainx.com.

Company H1B Sponsorship

• AttainX, Inc. has a track record of offering H1B sponsorships, with 4 in 2025, 6 in 2024, 3 in 2023, 2 in 2022, 3 in 2021, 1 in 2020. Please note that this does not guarantee sponsorship for this specific role.

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