Systems Technical Director

Systems / Technical Director At ICF Next, we are fearless in finding new ways to solve problems, relentless in making sure it pays off for our clients and committed to making a positive change in the world. Join our community of mission-driven creatives, communicators, strategists, and technologists to challenge the status quo. The Team You'll serve as the senior engineering leader for a cross-functional program that includes engineering team leads, software engineers, solution and cloud architects, database administrators, DevSecOps engineers, quality assurance specialists, user experience professionals, business analysts, product managers, data analysts, accessibility and security specialists, and behavioral health subject matter experts. We partner with federal stakeholders to operate and modernize a mission-critical data collection and performance reporting platform used by grantees and program staff. The Work In this program-level role, you will serve as the overall technical authority for platform operations and maintenance and for development, modernization, and enhancement. You will connect architecture, delivery, operations, and modernization into a coherent plan; guide multiple engineering workstreams and team leads; make and document consequential technical decisions; establish shared standards; and ensure releases are secure, testable, supportable, and aligned with program priorities. You will remain close enough to the technology to evaluate designs, challenge assumptions, troubleshoot difficult issues, and advise the client on options and tradeoffs. A key part of the work is balancing reliable operation of the current .NET platform with incremental modernization, improved cloud and deployment practices, stronger data quality, better observability, and a sustainable path for reducing technical debt. Key Responsibilities: Define and maintain the program engineering strategy, technical roadmap, architecture guardrails, and incremental modernization approach. Lead engineering team leads and multiple development workstreams by aligning priorities, capacity, dependencies, standards, and delivery expectations. Provide technical direction across application architectures (including .NET-based systems), APIs, data models and SQL Server solutions, system integrations, analytics/reporting platforms, and cloud-hosted services. Establish program-wide practices for secure development, automated testing, code review, CI/CD, release readiness, documentation, and production support. Evaluate technical options and communicate recommendations, costs, risks, dependencies, and tradeoffs to program leadership and federal stakeholders. Partner with product and delivery leaders to shape release plans, estimates, staffing needs, and acceptance criteria that are technically achievable. Coordinate architecture and delivery across cloud, DevSecOps, database, security, quality assurance, accessibility, data, user experience, and operations teams. Identify and manage technical debt, performance constraints, reliability risks, integration dependencies, and modernization sequencing. Oversee response to complex production issues, root-cause analysis, corrective actions, and improvements to monitoring and operational readiness. Mentor engineering leads and senior engineers, strengthen technical decision-making, and build consistent engineering practices across the program. Maintain technical roadmaps, decision records, interface documentation, standards, and executive-ready status reporting. Required Qualifications: Bachelor’s degree in computer science, software engineering, information systems, or a related field, or equivalent professional experience. 7+ years architecting, delivering, or overseeing resilient production enterprise applications and data platforms, including demonstrated ability to lead teams working with C#/.NET, ASP.NET MVC or Web API, and relational databases such as SQL Server. 5+ years architecting APIs, enterprise integrations, or distributed application services across modern application stacks; ability to evaluate .NET design decisions and guide hands-on engineering leads. 3+ years leading engineering teams, technical leads, or multiple engineering workstreams, including Agile delivery, estimation, dependency management, and technical risk management. 3+ years making and documenting architecture decisions across applications, data, integrations, cloud infrastructure, security, and operations, and communicating tradeoffs to technical and nontechnical stakeholders. 3+ years establishing or improving engineering practices for automated testing, code quality, source control, CI/CD, release management, and production support. 3+ years guiding the design or implementation of authentication, authorization, role-based access, privacy protections, and secure handling of sensitive data. Authorization to work in the United States, ability to perform all work within the United States, and ability to obtain and maintain a favorable Public Trust determination and complete required background screening. Preferred Qualifications: Experience leading incremental modernization of a large legacy .NET platform, including sequencing technical debt reduction while maintaining reliable production service. Experience guiding AWS or AWS GovCloud architecture and operations, including cost optimization, capacity planning, observability, and service reliability. Experience establishing deployment and security automation using CI/CD platforms, containers, infrastructure as code, and repeatable environment configuration. Experience supporting federal authorization efforts, including NIST Moderate controls, FedRAMP, ATO processes, and preparation of technical evidence. Experience overseeing architecture for high-volume data collection, batch ingestion, ETL, data quality, and reporting or business intelligence integrations; experience with tools such as Alteryx and Tableau is a plus. Experience guiding federated identity architecture, including single sign-on, multifactor authentication, and fine-grained access controls; Okta experience is a plus. Experience leading complex production incident response, root-cause analysis, and improvements that prevent recurring issues. Experience providing technical leadership for federal government, public health, grants management, behavioral health, or performance measurement programs. ***Please note this role is contingent. #Indeed Bot and Third-Party Applications Please note that this application must be submitted directly by the applicant for consideration. Failure to do so may result in the application being excluded for consideration . Applicants needing an accommodation for disability or religious purposes in connection with the application process should contact Candidateaccommodation@icf.com for assistance. Working at ICF ICF is a global advisory and technology services provider, but we’re not your typical consultants. We combine unmatched expertise with cutting-edge technology to help clients solve their most complex challenges, navigate change, and shape the future. We can only solve the world's toughest challenges by building a workplace that allows everyone to thrive. We are an equal opportunity employer. Together, our employees are empowered to share their expertise and collaborate with others to achieve personal and professional goals. For more information, please read our  EEO policy. We will consider for employment qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records. Work Authorization and Sponsorship All candidates must be authorized to work in the United States. This position is not eligible for new H-1B visa sponsorship by ICF. Candidates who currently hold valid work authorization may be considered for a change of employer petition, subject to company policy and applicable immigration requirements. Reasonable Accommodations are available, including, but not limited to, for disabled ve