Location: Oak Ridge, TN
Job Title: Solution Architect
Career Level From: Specialist
Career Level To: Senior Specialist
Job Specialty: Architecture And Engineering
What You'll Do
As a Solutions Architect, you will serve as a technical cornerstone in our demand-to-delivery process, translating business needs into comprehensive and resilient IT solutions. While bringing a deep expertise in IT infrastructure, you will architect solutions that span the entire technology ecosystem, including applications, data, security, and enterprise services. Your primary mission is to assess new demands, analyze the current technology landscape, and design solutions that are not only innovative but also integrate seamlessly with our existing environment. You will be a vital partner to business units and IT teams, ensuring technology investments are strategically aligned, technically sound, and deliver measurable value to the organization. In this capacity, you will guide the solutioning process from initial concept through to engineering design. This includes framing Functions & Operational Requirements (F&OR), conducting a thorough Analysis of Alternatives (AoA), and clearly defining all Assumptions, Risks, and Constraints. You will produce both High-Level and detailed Engineering Designs, acting as the lead technical authority to ensure successful project delivery and operational readiness.
Core Responsibilities
- End-to-End Solution Design: Architect holistic technology solutions that address business requirements, considering all aspects of IT, including infrastructure, applications, data flows, and security.
- Demand & Delivery Leadership: Play a critical role in the intake and analysis of new technology requests, evaluating them against the current ecosystem and guiding them through the solutioning lifecycle.
- Strategic Analysis & Documentation: Develop key architectural artifacts, including Functions & Operational Requirements (F&OR), Analysis of Alternatives (AoA), risk assessments, and detailed solution designs.
- Technical Roadmapping: Create and maintain strategic roadmaps that chart the evolution of our technology platforms, incorporating emerging trends and ensuring alignment with long-term business goals.
- Technical Governance & Leadership: Serve as the senior technical resource on complex projects, providing expert guidance to engineering and project management teams while ensuring adherence to architectural standards and best practices.
- Stakeholder Engagement: Collaborate with senior leadership, business partners, and technical teams to communicate complex technical concepts, build consensus, and drive decision-making.
- Continuous Modernization: Proactively analyze the existing technology portfolio to identify opportunities for improvement, consolidation, and modernization, presenting clear business cases for change.
What You Can Expect
- Meaningful work and unique opportunities to support missions vital to national and global security
- Top-notch, dedicated colleagues
- Generous pay and benefits with a stable organization
- Career advancement and professional development programs
- Work-life balance fostered through flexible work options and wellness initiatives
Minimum Job Requirements
- Bachelor's degree in engineering/science/information technology discipline: Minimum 5 years of relevant experience.
- Master's degree in engineering/science/information technology discipline: Minimum 3 years of relevant experience.
- Associates degree engineering/science/information technology discipline: 9 years of relevant experience
- Thirteen or more years of relevant education, experience and/or progressiving training may be considered to satisfy the educational and years of experience for this posting.
Core Technical Foundation - At least five years of demonstrated, hands-on experience in one or more core IT infrastructure domains, such as network engineering, systems administration, virtualization, storage solutions, or cloud infrastructure.
Architectural Experience - A minimum of two years in a role with direct responsibility for solution architecture or technical design, where you were accountable for creating technical diagrams, specifications, and presenting solution options.
Process And Collaboration Skills - Proven experience translating functional and business requirements into detailed technical designs and participating in the full project lifecycle, from initial concept to implementation.
Preferred Job Requirements
- Formal Frameworks: Experience with established enterprise architecture frameworks such as TOGAF, Zachman, or DODAF.
- Broad Technology Exposure: Hands-on experience or significant exposure to areas outside of core infrastructure, such as application development, database management, cybersecurity principles, or enterprise integration patterns.
- Cloud Expertise: Verifiable experience architecting solutions on major cloud platforms (e.g., AWS, Azure, GCP), including hybrid-cloud architectures.
- Security Acumen: Strong background in cybersecurity principles and experience designing solutions that adhere to security best practices and compliance standards (e.g., NIST, CIS).
- Strategic Documentation: Experience developing strategic documents, such as multi-year technology roadmaps or capability maturity models.
Why Y-12?
You get #morethanajob. We encourage employees to achieve a healthy personal balance among home, work and the community. One of the ways we embrace work-life balance is by offering flexible work arrangements that provide alternatives to the traditional workweek, while still meeting business needs. Top talent and personal commitment mean more to our success than any other factors, so we reward our people with the kinds of benefits that make a positive difference in the quality of their lives. Benefits such as: medical plan, prescription drug plan, vision plan, dental plan, employer matched 401(k) savings plan, disability coverage, education reimbursement and many more. Want to stay healthy and fit but hate the cost of a gym membership? Take advantage of one of our onsite workout facilities and eat healthy in our onsite cafeterias. Much more than a workplace, at Y-12, you can build a career that lasts a lifetime.
Notes
The minimum education and experience for the lowest career level in the job posting range are listed under Minimum Job Requirements. Successful candidates hired into a higher career level than the minimum in the range must meet the requirements listed in the job leveling charts for the career level into which they are being hired.
If a range of Career Levels is posted, i.e., Senior Associate to Senior Specialist, internal applicants already in one of the Career Levels would come across at their current Career Level. Internal applicants currently in a lower level Career Level would move to the lowest posted Career Level.
Requires a Q clearance; however all qualified candidates will be considered regardless of their current clearance status. The ability to obtain and maintain a Department of Energy Q clearance is required.
This position may require entry into the Material Access Areas (MAA) and participation in the Human Reliability Program (10 C.F.R. Part 712), which requires successful competition of a DOE counterintelligence evaluation and may include a counterintelligence-scope polygraph examination.
This position may be categorized as a “designated position” identified by 10 C.F.R. Part 709, requiring successful completion of a DOE counterintelligence evaluation that may include a counterintelligence-scope polygraph examination.
CNS is a drug-free workplace. Candidates accepting a job offer will be required to pass a pre-placement physical, drug screening and background investigation. As an employee, you may be required to receive and maintain a security clearance from the United States Department of Energy in order to meet eligibility requirements for access to sensitive information or matter. U.S. citizenship is a requirement for security clearance applicants. All employees are subject to being randomly selected for drug testing without advance notification.
CNS is an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment based on merit and without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, national origin, protected veteran status or disability.
