Cloud Architect Jobs in Virginia

INTRODUCTION

Oracle Government Defense & Intelligence has an exciting opportunity for a Principal / Master Principal Cloud Architect - Forward Deployed Engineer (FDE).

Build What Others Only Design

Some engineers advise. Some architects create diagrams.

Forward Deployed Engineers build the solution, deploy it inside the customer's environment, and stay until it succeeds.

Oracle is seeking experienced cloud architects and infrastructure engineers to join an elite team supporting the U.S. Intelligence Community. As a Forward Deployed Engineer (FDE), you will be embedded full-time with a single customer, partnering directly with operators, technical leaders, and mission stakeholders to architect, deploy, secure, and operationalize cloud solutions that solve real-world national security challenges.

This is not a traditional consulting role. It is not a presales role.

You will own the technical success of a high-priority customer engagement from initial architecture through production deployment and operational adoption.

If you thrive in ambiguity, enjoy solving difficult infrastructure problems, and want to see your work directly impact mission outcomes, this role was built for you.

• Must possess or have the ability to obtain and maintain a TS/SCI with Poly.

ROLE AND RESPONSIBILITIES

As a Forward Deployed Engineer, you become the customer's trusted technical partner and lead architect.

You will:

• Embed full-time with a dedicated Intelligence Community customer
• Architect and deploy OCI-based solutions directly within customer environments
• Transform complex mission requirements into scalable cloud architectures
• Build and configure infrastructure across OCI IaaS and PaaS services
• Design secure, resilient, production-grade environments
• Implement Infrastructure-as-Code and automation frameworks
• Configure networking, identity, security, observability, databases, storage, and container platforms
• Harden pilot deployments into operational production systems
• Lead troubleshooting, root-cause analysis, and performance optimization efforts
• Partner closely with customer operators, engineers, and leadership teams
• Drive adoption, knowledge transfer, and long-term customer success
• Capture field learnings and influence future product and engineering direction across Oracle

Why This Role Is Different

Most cloud architects support many customers.

Forward Deployed Engineers focus deeply on one.

You are not handing off recommendations and moving to the next account. You are responsible for getting the deployment operational, secure, and successful.

You will work alongside the customer through every phase:

Architect Build Deploy Harden Operate Transition

This model gives you the opportunity to:

• Solve technically demanding problems end-to-end
• Work directly on mission-critical environments
• Influence both customer outcomes and Oracle product evolution
• Build lasting technical credibility with senior government stakeholders
• Become a recognized expert in OCI deployment and cloud modernization

What You'll Build

Depending on customer needs, you may work across:

• OCI Compute Services
• Virtual Cloud Networks (VCN)
• Identity & Access Management (IAM)
• OCI Kubernetes Engine (OKE)
• Containers and microservices architectures
• Databases and data platforms
• Storage and backup architectures
• Security and encryption solutions
• Monitoring, logging, and observability platforms
• High Availability and Disaster Recovery architectures
• Cloud-native modernization initiatives
• Large-scale mission applications and analytics platforms

BASIC QUALIFICATIONS

• Experience supporting or working within the U.S. Intelligence Community
• MUST possess or have the ability to obtain and maintain a TS/SCI with Poly
• Strong hands-on cloud engineering and infrastructure experience
• Experience deploying and operating solutions inside customer environments
• Deep knowledge of cloud architecture, automation, and platform operations
• Experience designing secure, highly available, scalable environments
• Infrastructure-as-Code expertise using Terraform, OCI Resource Manager, Ansible, or similar technologies
• Scripting and automation experience using Python, Shell, or comparable languages
• Strong communication skills across technical and executive audiences
• Ability to work on-site with customers for extended engagements
• Minimum of 6+ years of cloud, infrastructure, or platform engineering experience
• Independently leads customer deployments from architecture through production
• Executes complex implementations with minimal oversight
• Owns delivery outcomes for assigned engagements

PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS

• OCI Architect Associate or Professional certification
• Experience with AWS, Azure, or Google Cloud Platform
• Kubernetes and container orchestration expertise
• Experience rearchitecting legacy systems into cloud-native solutions
• Knowledge of security accreditation and compliance processes within government environments

Why Oracle

Oracle Cloud Infrastructure is powering some of the world's most demanding workloads across government, defense, and intelligence organizations.

As an FDE, you won't simply help customers adopt cloud technology—you'll help them transform mission outcomes through secure, scalable, production-ready cloud solutions.

You'll join a team of engineers who thrive on ownership, technical excellence, and solving problems that matter.

If you want to build, deploy, and operate systems where success is measured by mission impact—not slide decks—we'd like to talk with you.

Join Oracle and help shape the future of cloud innovation for the U.S. Intelligence Community.

Come Join Us!

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