Technical Lead and PQC Solution Architect

Arlington, VA
Full Time
Manager/Supervisor

Join Our Team

NATO is testing how to move its communication and information systems from today’s public-key cryptography to algorithms that hold up against attack by quantum computers. Headquarters Supreme Allied Commander Transformation (HQ SACT) is sponsoring a 12-month pilot across three NATO laboratories in Mons, Brussels and The Hague, with the NATO Communications and Information Agency (NCIA) as technical authority. The pilot includes a live demonstration for NATO VIPs by the end of June 2027 and closes in December 2027 with a migration roadmap NATO can act on. Devis is competing to support this work. As Technical Lead, you will own the pilot’s architecture and cryptographic profiles and be accountable for a live demonstration of quantum-safe operation between NATO pilot nodes.

The Role

This is a contingent-upon-award Technical Lead role with post-quantum cryptography (PQC) solution architect duties. You will develop the high- and low-level architecture of the pilot, covering its services, trust boundaries, cryptographic components, interfaces and transition modes, and maintain versioned cryptographic profiles NATO can reuse after the pilot ends. You will direct implementation across network and transport protection, public-key infrastructure and key management, zero trust and crypto-agility, and you will plan and deliver a live demonstration of quantum-safe operation between at least two pilot nodes by the end of June 2027. You will work with the Project Manager, the PKI architect and the test lead, and with NCIA as technical authority. The pilot runs on NATO’s CFBLNet AQUA experimental network using the NIST PQC standards (ML-KEM, ML-DSA and SLH-DSA) in hybrid and pure modes. Hands-on IPsec and TLS experience helps, but the core of the job is making architecture decisions you can defend with measured evidence.
What You’ll Do

Own the Architecture and Cryptographic Profiles

  • Develop and maintain the high- and low-level architecture, then deliver a final as-built architecture that explains any deviations from the design.
  • Maintain versioned cryptographic profiles for each pilot service: algorithms, parameters and protocol configurations.
  • Design an automated cryptographic migration approach that extends NATO’s existing infrastructure-as-code and configuration management, with verification and rollback.

Direct Implementation

  • Lead quantum-safe key establishment and authentication across site-to-site links, remote access, privileged administrative access, application services and secure messaging.
  • Show hybrid and pure PQC modes working, including federation where nodes use different transition approaches.
  • Verify interoperability with NATO’s independent reference implementation and record negotiation outcomes.
  • Oversee centralized cryptographic policy and in-service algorithm substitution with rollback.
  • Deploy, configure and troubleshoot Devis’s GABRL post-quantum product in the pilot environment, including closing integration gaps found during federation and interoperability testing.

Prove It with Evidence

  • Own the experimentation plan from the initial version to the detailed plan, including test cases, metrics and the classical baseline.
  • Make sure every finding in the technical reports traces to measured results.

Deliver the VIP Demonstration

  • Plan, prepare and run a live demonstration of quantum-safe operation between at least two pilot nodes by the end of June 2027, using live synthetic traffic.
  • Include a live negative test showing resistance to cryptographic downgrade, then write the after-action report.

What You’ll Need

Education and Experience
  • Bachelor’s degree in a computer-related field.
  • At least five years of experience in network, systems or security engineering.
  • Experience designing and implementing cryptographic protection for network or application services.
  • Working knowledge of the NIST post-quantum standards: FIPS 203 (ML-KEM), FIPS 204 (ML-DSA) and FIPS 205 (SLH-DSA), including NIST security categories 3 and 5.
  • Experience designing hybrid (classical plus PQC) and pure PQC key establishment or authentication.

Security Clearance

  • U.S. citizenship and an active U.S. Secret clearance or higher at the time of hire.
  • Ability to receive a NATO SECRET clearance briefing, arranged by Devis’s Facility Security Officer, before the estimated start of work on 4 January 2027. Unescorted access to NATO sites requires it.
  • Disclosure of every citizenship you hold. You must be a citizen of a NATO member nation; if you also hold citizenship of a non-NATO nation, it must be declared.
  • A valid passport with no travel restrictions.

Technical Skills

  • Ability to write architecture and design documents that an accreditation and technical authority can review.
  • Ability to design test cases and metrics that compare PQC performance against a classical baseline.

Communication and Collaboration

  • Ability to explain architecture trade-offs to NATO technical staff and to senior, non-technical audiences at the VIP demonstration.

Nice to Have

  • Hands-on experience with IKEv2/IPsec VPNs and TLS 1.3, including hybrid PQC key exchange.
  • Experience with negotiation, fallback and downgrade protection in mixed classical, hybrid and PQC environments.
  • Experience with FIPS 140-3 validated cryptographic modules.
  • Experience deploying hardware-token multi-factor authentication for administrators and other interactive users.
  • Experience on NATO, coalition or allied defense networks.
  • Experience with infrastructure-as-code and configuration management tooling.
  • Experience operating a vendor cryptographic product in a test or production environment, including diagnosing and working around product limitations.

Performance Expectations

  • The updated architecture is accepted at the first milestone with enough detail to implement and test.
  • The crypto-agile reference architecture is delivered as a baseline at the third milestone and validated at the sixth, including in-service substitution and rollback.
  • The VIP demonstration runs live between at least two nodes by 30 June 2027 and meets its predefined objectives.
  • Every technical finding traces to measured evidence.

Special Requirements

  • Work model: hybrid. Off-site work is performed at Devis’s headquarters at 2107 Wilson Boulevard, Arlington, Virginia.
  • Travel: about 40 percent of your time on-site at the Mons, Brussels and The Hague pilot laboratories. The contract plans on-site work across the whole team at about 40 percent, concentrated between the second and fifth milestones (roughly May through early November 2027, assuming a 4 January 2027 start).

Devis is an AA/EOE/M/F/Disabled/VET Employer committed to providing equal employment opportunity without regard to an individual’s race, color, religion, age, gender, sexual orientation, veteran status, national origin or disability.

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