Director, Solutions Architecture – Federal Health

Unissant, Inc. delivers innovative capabilities to the agencies that keep our nation healthy and safe. We apply our domain expertise, data acumen, and technology know-how to achieve breakthrough results for our clients. Working collaboratively, we advance missions and careers through a focus on honesty, integrity, and dependability. We continuously look for talent excited to join that effort. To learn more about our organization, please visit us at www.unissant.com.

We are seeking a Director, Solutions Architecture - Federal Health to join our team in the Washington, DC Metro area.

The ideal candidate is a hands-on federal technology and solutioning leader who understands the operating realities of health agencies. This person can move comfortably between mission conversations, technical architecture, capture strategy, and delivery execution. They bring enough depth to challenge assumptions, enough judgment to distinguish a proven capability from an aspirational one, and enough credibility to earn trust with government customers, delivery leaders, and partners.

The Director, Solutions Architecture - Federal Health will lead the development and positioning of enterprise-scale solutions supporting the Federal Health agencies, including CMS, NIH, DHA, VA, and others. The role combines mission knowledge with expertise in cloud modernization, application services, health data interoperability, analytics, artificial intelligence, and program integrity.

This position reports to the Vice President and General Manager, Federal Civilian and Health, and works closely with the Vice President, Enterprise Solutions. The VP, Enterprise Solutions establishes corporate solutioning standards, reference architectures, and accelerator patterns; this Director applies and strengthens those practices within the Federal Health portfolio.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities

• Lead solution strategy and development for task orders, recompetes, and new-business pursuits supporting CMS, NIH, DHA, VA, and other Federal customers.
• Translate customer mission priorities into practical, differentiated technical approaches that account for implementation realities, security requirements, operational constraints, cost, schedule, and expected outcomes.
• Design end-to-end solution and enterprise architectures for modernization initiatives involving cloud, applications, data, analytics, AI/ML, automation, DevSecOps, and system integration.
• Develop modernization roadmaps for legacy applications, cloud migration, secure digital services, and interoperable data environments across agency, partner, provider, beneficiary, public-facing, and research systems.
• Shape technical approaches that use data, analytics, automation, and AI/ML to improve program integrity, service delivery, public health surveillance, research operations, and decision-making.
• Evaluate emerging technologies, including generative AI, agentic AI, retrieval-augmented generation, knowledge graphs, natural language processing, low-code platforms, and robotic process automation, for secure and mission-appropriate use.
• Apply health data interoperability standards and common data models to solution designs supporting claims, clinical, provider, beneficiary, public health, and research data environments.
• Ensure solution architectures align with applicable federal technology, security, privacy, and accessibility requirements, including Zero Trust, FedRAMP, RMF, FISMA, NIST SP 800-53, HIPAA/HITECH, CMS Acceptable Risk Safeguards, MARS-E, and Section 508.
• Partner with Growth, Capture, Delivery, Engineering, Program Management, Account Executives, and Executive Leadership to ensure proposed solutions are technically sound, executable, and tied to customer outcomes.
• Support capture and proposal activity through solution shaping, technical narratives, architecture diagrams, solution artifacts, win themes, responses to RFIs and Sources Sought notices, market research, and oral presentations.
• Lead or participate in internal solution reviews and proposal color-team reviews, including Blue, Pink, Red, and Gold Team gates, to improve technical accuracy, compliance, differentiation, and delivery credibility.
• Apply disciplined, evidence-based claims practices to customer-facing materials. Validate technical assertions, past-performance references, and proposed capabilities with the appropriate delivery and subject matter leaders before submission.
• Build and maintain reusable portfolio assets, including reference architectures, technical boilerplate, past-performance evidence, reusable solution components, and MissionWORKS AI accelerator patterns.
• Identify solution gaps and support teaming, partner, and vendor strategies where additional capabilities are needed to deliver a complete and credible offering.
• Serve as a technical advisor to federal health and civilian customers, including program leaders, CIOs, CTOs, Program Managers, and Contracting Officer's Representatives.
• Maintain awareness of evolving federal health and civilian priorities, including HHS technology initiatives, health data exchange and interoperability efforts, federal AI policy, data science priorities, cloud adoption programs, and agency modernization efforts.
• Mentor solution architects, engineers, and proposal contributors as the portfolio's solutioning practice matures.

Work Experience and Job Skills

Required

• Eight to twelve years of experience in federal technology solutioning, enterprise architecture, or technical leadership roles supporting Federal Health mission environments.
• At least four years of experience supporting HHS or DOD agencies, such as CMS, NIH, CDC, ACF, HRSA, FDA, or DHA.
• Demonstrated experience leading or making substantial technical contributions to competitive federal IT pursuits, including task orders, recompetes, and full-and-open procurements.
• Working knowledge of the federal acquisition lifecycle, from market research and opportunity shaping through proposal submission, evaluation, and award.
• Experience interpreting solicitation requirements and evaluation criteria, including Section L and Section M instructions, compliance matrices, page limitations, formatting constraints, and oral presentation requirements.
• Strong experience with cloud and hybrid environments, including AWS, Microsoft Azure, Google Cloud Platform, FedRAMP-authorized services, and federal cloud environments.
• Experience developing architectures for application modernization, enterprise cloud deployments, API-based integration, secure DevSecOps, and digital service delivery.
• Experience with data architecture, data engineering, analytics pipelines, automation, and AI/ML capabilities supporting mission operations.
• Working knowledge of generative AI, retrieval-augmented generation, responsible AI governance, and federal AI policy considerations.
• Knowledge of health data interoperability standards, including HL7 FHIR, HL7 v2, C-CDA, USCDI, and X12 EDI, as well as the health data domains those standards support.
• Familiarity with federal architecture, cybersecurity, privacy, and risk-management frameworks, including TOGAF, NIST, Zero Trust, RMF, FISMA, FedRAMP, HIPAA/HITECH, CMS ARS, MARS-E, and the Authority to Operate process.
• Ability to develop and explain architecture views, solution roadmaps, technical models, diagrams, and implementation approaches for both technical and non-technical audiences.
• Demonstrated ability to turn mission needs into executable technical solutions and clear, evidence-based value propositions.
• Strong judgment, written communication, and presentation skills.

Preferred

• Prior experience supporting CMS, NIH, CDC, ACF, HRSA, FDA, IHS, VA, DHA or another comparable federal health or civilian agency as a contractor or government employee.
• Familiarity with Medicare or Medicaid program operations, claims processing, program integrity, or fraud, waste, and abuse analytics.
• Familiarity with biomedical research computing, scientific data management, research data platforms, or grants management systems.
• Experience mentoring junior solution architects, engineers, technical writers, or proposal contributors.

Education

• Bachelor's Degree in Computer Science, Engineering, Information Systems, Health Informatics, or a related technical field is required. Equivalent relevant work experience may be considered in lieu of a degree.
• Advanced degree in a technical field, health informatics, business, management, or a related discipline is preferred.

Certificates, Licenses and Registrations

• Cloud, data, cybersecurity, or enterprise architecture certifications, such as AWS, Azure, Google Cloud, CISSP, TOGAF, or similar credentials, are preferred.
• Health informatics or federal delivery credentials, including CPHIMS, CAHIMS, PMP, SAFe, or similar certifications, are a plus.

Communication Skills

• Excellent verbal and written communication skills, including the ability to brief technical, programmatic, acquisition, and executive stakeholders.
• Ability to explain cloud, data, AI, interoperability, and architecture concepts in plain language to clinical, scientific, programmatic, and acquisition stakeholders.
• Ability to lead complex discussions, build alignment across competing priorities, and communicate recommendations with clarity and sound judgment.
• Ability to work effectively in a matrixed environment with Growth, Capture, Delivery, Engineering, Program Management, and Executive Leadership teams.

Clearance Requirements

• Ability to obtain and maintain a federal Public Trust suitability determination, HHS or equivalent, is required.
• A current or prior federal background investigation is preferred.

Travel

• This is a hybrid position based in Herndon, Virginia, and/or the Washington, DC Metro area.
• Travel to customer and Unissant locations is required as needed, including sites in Baltimore, Maryland, and Bethesda and Rockville, Maryland.

Environmental Requirements

• Mainly a routine office environment.
• May be required to lift up to ten (10) pounds.
• Flexible in working extended hours as mission or project demands require.

The above statements are intended to describe the general nature and level of work being performed by the individual(s) assigned to this position. They are not intended to be an exhaustive list of all duties, responsibilities, and skills required. Unissant management reserves the right to modify, add, or remove duties and to assign other duties as necessary. In addition, where applicable and available, reasonable accommodation(s) may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform essential functions of this position.

Please note: Candidate(s) will be required to go through pre-employment screening.

Unissant, Inc. is a proud Equal Opportunity Employer! (EOE; M/F/Disability/Vets)