Principal Cloud Security Architect

Job Location: Madison, Wisconsin

2. Scope

The consultant shall perform hands-on engineering, deliver strategic CISO advisory, and provide direct mentoring across the following core operational pillars:

2.1 CISO Strategic Advisory and Engineering

• Act as a direct technical advisor to the CISO, translating federal mandates, emerging AI threat models, and architectural gaps into actionable enterprise security directives.

• Execute a hands-on knowledge transfer model, co-engineering data pipelines  and security automation alongside internal DET staff to institutionalize elite technical skills.

• Deliver real time training and co-develop automation playbooks within the security operations (SecOps) using live demonstration approach.

2.2 Flaw Remediation (SI-2) Standard Operationalization 

• Tier Optimization & Enforcement: Architect automated tracking, logging, and validation mechanisms to implement compliance with the State’s updated SI-2 timeframes:

o Tier 1 (Highest Urgency): Ensure all public-facing vulnerabilities, CISA KEV listings, active exploits, and identity/privileged system flaws implement approved mitigations or compensating controls within 24

hours, with full remediation closed inside 7 calendar days.

o Tier 2 (High-Risk/Internal): Configure alerting and metric reporting to validate mitigation within 48 hours and full remediation within 15 calendar days.

o Tier 3 (Moderate/Low): Establish repeatable monthly scheduling to ensure remediation within 30 calendar days.

• Clean Deployment Architectures: Partner with agency development teams to  pivot away from manual, in-place patching. Author and implement automated templates for clean deployments using virtualized system images, containers, and cloud-native configurations.

• DevSecOps Integration: Embed secure builds, automated software testing, code scanning, and dependency updates natively into agency deployment pipelines.

2.3 AI Capability Deployment & Toolchain Integration

• Operationalize Gemini Government and Google Codemender or equivalent directly inside active workflows, showing security analysts and application developers how to leverage generative AI to automate log parsing, threat

hunting, and source-code remediation. 

• Engineer automated data pipelines to feed the centralized enterprise platform (incorporating telemetry from Tenable.io, Google Mandiant ASM, Microsoft Azure Arc, Splunk, and Google SecOps) to maintain a single, authoritative pane of glass.

• Ensure all AI-assisted capabilities comply strictly with State privacy, data classification, and logging safeguards, preventing non-public vulnerability metrics from leaking into unvetted environments.

2.4 Governance Safeguards & Escalation Automation

• Build automated low-code workflows to manage the SI-2 time-bound exception lifecycle, ensuring every granted exception maps back to a named owner, specific compensating controls, and an explicit financial tiedown capturing

technical debt.

• Configure automated alert thresholds and workflow routing for significant business risks that exceed normal management tolerance, ensuring rapid escalation in line with the SI-2 update.

3. Project Timeline

4. Minimum Qualifications and Core Competencies

The designated expert must demonstrate a unique blend of strategic advisory presence  and deep, practical engineering capability:

• Executive Advisory: Proven experience serving as a trusted technical advisor  to CISOs, CIOs, or senior executive leaders within public sector or heavily

federated enterprise environments.

• Teach-by-Doing Expertise: Documented success as a technical mentor, trainer,  or engineering lead focused on pair-engineering and technical upskilling of

infrastructure and security operations staff.

• Security Control Mastery (SI-2): Comprehensive expertise operationalizing  security controls, including tiering models, compensating control validation, and

time bound risk governance structures.

• Advanced Tooling Fluency: enterprise cyber stack Google Threat Intel or  VirusTotal, Google SecOps, Mandiant ASM, Tenable.io, Microsoft Azure Arc, GitHub, GitHub Advanced Security, Ansible Tower, and Gemini/Anthropic AI

security frameworks.

• Cloud Architecture & DevSecOps Engineering

5. Performance Monitoring & Safeguards

• Knowledge Transfer Auditing: Progress will be measured not only by technical deployment velocity but also by the documented proficiency gains of internal DET staff who assume ownership of the deployed tools.

• Data Isolation Guardrails: The consultant is strictly forbidden from utilizing public or unvetted commercial AI models for analyzing State code, logs, or asset data. All engineering must occur exclusively within authorized, state-managed enterprise security instances.

Requirements

Top Required Skills & Years of Experience:

Must be able to demonstrate prior experience doing the following in a large/complex environment:

- Proven experience serving as a trusted technical advisor to CISOs, CIOs, or senior executive leaders within public sector or heavily federated enterprise environments.

- Documented success as a technical mentor, trainer, or engineering lead focused on pair-engineering and technical upskilling of infrastructure and security operations staff.

- Comprehensive expertise operationalizing security controls, including tiering models, compensating control validation, and time bound risk governance structures.

- Enterprise cyber stack Google Threat Intel or VirusTotal, Google SecOps, Mandiant ASM, Tenable.io, Microsoft Azure Arc, GitHub, GitHub Advanced Security, Ansible Tower, and Gemini/Anthropic AI security frameworks.

-Cloud Architecture & DevSecOps Engineering

Nice to have Skills:

-Federated/Government environment

-Tech Stack to include: Google, Microsoft, AWS, Splunk