Cloud Solutions Architect
BCMC · Arlington, VA
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Jul 23, 2026
Arlington, VA
Jul 24, 2026
What this job asks for AI summary
A cloud architecture role supporting U.S. Government cybersecurity and incident response operations. The work centers on designing and optimizing AWS-based infrastructure, leading on-premises-to-cloud migrations, building infrastructure-as-code templates, and developing automation frameworks for rapid deployment. The role suits an experienced cloud architect comfortable with security-hardened environments and federal compliance requirements who holds or can obtain a government security clearance.
Senior level · 8+ years · Secret clearance · Contract
We read this from the posting text with AI. Skim the description below before ruling yourself out.
How this req sits in the market our data
Rare in this occupation — lead with these, and say what you built with them.
Most people in this occupation already list these. Still required — just not what gets you shortlisted.
What the occupation pays Median $138,970 (middle half $107,524–$175,762).
Estimated from BLS employment for this occupation and area, per-skill prevalence across our listing corpus, and published wage benchmarks — as of Jul 28, 2026. It is a model, not a headcount.
Why we read it this way (12)
The job title is 'Cloud Solutions Architect' but the internal requisition label reads 'Systems Engineer IV - ESE04 - SME', suggesting this is a contract staff-augmentation position rather than a direct hire; employment type is classified as Contract accordingly.
The required clearance is an active Secret; TS/SCI is listed as preferred ('TS/SCI preferred'), not a hard gate — the clearance requirement is set to Secret.
DHS Suitability is listed as a hard requirement ('Must be able to obtain') but is not a standard US security clearance level and so is captured here in notes rather than in the clearance field.
The degree requirement states 'Bachelor's degree … or equivalent experience', so no minimum degree is hard-gated.
The overall experience gate is '8+ years of directly relevant experience'; the cloud-architecture-specific gate is '5+ years … preferably on AWS'. The role-level minimum (8 years) is used for total experience; the 5-year figure is attached to the AWS skill.
Terraform is listed alongside CloudFormation under the infrastructure-as-code requirement ('Terraform, CloudFormation, etc.'); both are named in a required section, so both are marked required. They are also listed as alternatives of each other since the posting uses 'etc.' implying interchangeability.
Python, Bash, and PowerShell are all named together under the required automation/scripting bullet and are each marked required.
Kubernetes and ECS are listed together under the desired container orchestration bullet and are treated as alternatives of each other.
No work location is specified in the posting beyond supporting a U.S. Government customer onsite; the role appears to be onsite (incident response support) but the specific metro/city is not disclosed.
AWS Certified Solutions Architect – Professional is listed under Desired Certifications and is not a hard gate.
Requires a Secret clearance — the cleared population is a small fraction of this occupation, so the real candidate pool is materially smaller than the estimate below, which does not model clearance.
Posting is for a contract engagement — the market benchmarks below price full-time roles, so read the comp comparison with that in mind.
Read the full posting
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