Information Security Architect

American University is a student-centered research institution located in Washington, DC, with highly-ranked schools and colleges, internationally-renowned faculty, and a reputation for creating meaningful change in the world. Learn more about American University

Department:

Information Security

Time Type:

Full time

Job Type:

Regular

FLSA Status:

Exempt

Work Modality:

Hybrid 04 (On Campus 1 day/Month)

Union:

SEIU Local 500 - Provost & Enrollment Division

This position is part of a collective bargaining unit represented by SEIU Local 500 - Provost & Enrollment Division. That means the terms and conditions of your employment are governed by university policy (including the Staff Personnel Policies Manual) and any collective bargaining agreement entered into between American University and SEIU Local 500 - Provost & Enrollment Division.

Job Description:

Summary:

The Information Security Architect serves as the university's senior technical security architect and a key advisor on enterprise security strategy, architecture, and engineering. Reporting to the Chief Information Security Officer, this role leads the design and integration of security controls across a complex technology environment, including cloud platforms, infrastructure, identity, applications, and research computing. The position partners closely with technical and business stakeholders to ensure security is embedded into solutions by design, aligned with institutional priorities, risk management objectives, and regulatory requirements. This role also drives security engineering innovation through automation, Infrastructure as Code, DevSecOps, and platform integration. The architect provides leadership on security reviews, technical standards, and emerging technology assessments while mentoring engineering staff and helping strengthen the overall maturity of the university's security program.

Essential Functions:

1.) Security Architecture and Technical Governance

• Develop and maintain enterprise security architectures, reference architectures, and design patterns that integrate security into technology solutions by design.
• Lead architecture and security design reviews for infrastructure, cloud, networking, identity, data, and application initiatives.
• Establish technical security standards and requirements for technology procurement, implementation, and enterprise initiatives.
• Ensure security architecture aligns with university objectives, risk tolerance, regulatory requirements, and industry best practices.

2.) Security Engineering, Automation, and Platform Strategy

• Design and implement automation solutions using APIs, orchestration technologies, scripting languages, and Infrastructure as Code.
• Define engineering standards, reusable patterns, and technical roadmaps for enterprise security platforms.
• Lead integration efforts between security and enterprise technology platforms.
• Guide adoption of automation, DevSecOps, and Infrastructure as Code practices across the Information Security program.

3.) Security Reviews, Risk Assessment, and Advisory Services

• Lead security assessments of university technologies, cloud services, applications, vendors, and third-party solutions.
• Evaluate security risks associated with strategic initiatives and recommend mitigation strategies.
• Provide technical security guidance to project teams, architects, engineers, and university leadership.
• Participate in Enterprise Architecture activities and strategic technology planning.
• Support compliance, audit, privacy, and regulatory initiatives through architecture and technical review activities.

4.) Security Program Leadership and Engineering Enablement

• Mentor and provide technical guidance to Security Engineers and Senior Security Engineers, building team capability and depth.
• Establish security engineering implementation guidance and operational best practices.
• Support roadmap development and security program planning.
• Contribute to development of security metrics, reporting, and maturity assessments.

5.) Research, Innovation, and Emerging Technology

• Evaluate emerging technologies, threats, and security trends, including the security roadmaps of major enterprise platforms such as Microsoft, Workday, Salesforce, and ServiceNow.
• Assess opportunities to improve security through automation, AI, analytics, and engineering innovation.
• Recommend improvements to university security capabilities and long-term technology strategy.
• Participate in professional organizations, industry working groups, and technical communities.

Competencies:

• Serving Customers.
• Displaying Creativity.
• Prioritizing and Organizing.
• Acquiring and Analyzing Information.
• Supporting Coworkers.

Position Type/Expected Hours of Work:

• Full-time.

• 35 hours per week.

• This position works Monday through Friday with a one-hour lunch break in a hybrid modality with one day a month required to work from the office.

• This position participates in a published on-call rotation, typically one week out of every four weeks, with more frequent rotations possible during staffing shortages or unplanned absences.

• Purpose of on-call rotation: The Information Security on-call rotation ensures timely detection, response, and coordination for security alerts and incidents that occur outside of standard business hours. This rotation is a critical operational responsibility of Information Security staff and supports the institution's overall risk-management and incident-response obligations.

• During an on-call rotation, the designated employee performs their regularly work duties and must be readily available throughout the day (including evenings, weekends, and holidays) to proactively monitor alerts, queues and dashboards and respond to incidents.

• Outside of on-call rotations, all team members are expected to be reasonably available to respond to emergencies and critical or time-sensitive security incidents.

• This role may require frequent interrupted nights and weekends.

• The on-call designee will be required to work remotely, during unplanned closures or weather emergencies. The rest of the team is expected to be on call and available to work remotely to address emergency IT issues.

• OIT staff are prohibited from taking non-emergency leave during the three-week period at the start of each semester, this includes the week before the start of the Fall and Spring term and the first two weeks of classes for the Fall and Spring term. Requests for support peak during these times and system availability is also critical, which requires all staff members to be working during these times.

Salary Range:

• $150,000.00 - $160,000.00 annually.

Required Education and Experience:

• Bachelor's degree or equivalent.
• 8 - 10 years of experience.

Preferred Education and Experience:

• Bachelor's degree.
• Experience working in higher education or similarly complex, decentralized organizations is preferred.
• Relevant industry certifications such as CISSP, CCSP, GIAC, AWS Security Specialty, Azure Security Engineer Associate, Terraform Associate, or equivalent certifications are preferred.

Additional Eligibility Qualifications:

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Cybersecurity, Information Technology, Engineering, or a related field, or an equivalent combination of education and experience.
• 8 - 10 years of experience in cybersecurity, systems engineering, cloud engineering, DevSecOps, infrastructure engineering, or related disciplines.
• Demonstrated experience designing, implementing, and maintaining enterprise security architectures in complex organizations.
• Extensive experience with AWS, Azure, or Google Cloud Platform.
• Experience with Infrastructure as Code and automation technologies, including Terraform, OpenTofu, CloudFormation, Bicep, Ansible, Git, CI/CD platforms, and scripting languages such as Python, PowerShell, or Bash.
• Experience integrating enterprise platforms through APIs, automation frameworks, orchestration tools, and workflow development.
• Experience with security operations, including detection engineering, security automation, and Security Orchestration Automation and Response (SOAR) platforms.
• Experience designing secure research, regulated, or high-assurance computing environments.
• Experience with enterprise security technologies, security engineering practices, and modern cloud-native security controls.
• Knowledge of security standards and frameworks including NIST, ISO 27001, FERPA, HIPAA, and higher education security practices.
• Excellent technical, analytical, problem-solving, written and verbal communication skills.
• Must uphold high standards of personal and professional integrity in a position of trust.

Other Duties:

• Please note this job description is not designed to cover or contain a comprehensive listing of activities, duties or responsibilities that are required of the employee for this job. Duties, responsibilities, and activities may change at any time with or without notice.

Benefits

AU offers a competitive benefits package. Click here to learn about American University's unique benefit options.

Other Details

• Hiring offers for this position are contingent on successful completion of a background check.

• Employees in staff positions at American University must deliver their services to the university from either the District of Columbia, Maryland, or Virginia, or perform work on-site at the university.

• Please note this job announcement is not designed to cover or contain a comprehensive listing of activities, duties or responsibilities that are required of the employee for this job. Duties, responsibilities, and activities may change at any time with or without notice.

• American University is an E-Verify employer.

Current American University Employees

American University current employees must apply through their employee Workday account. If you are a current employee at American University, please log into Workday and select the Find Jobs report which will take you to our internal career listings.

Contact Us

For more information or assistance with the American University careers site, email theworkline@american.edu.

American University is an equal opportunity, affirmative action institution that operates in compliance with applicable laws and regulations. The university does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, religion, sex (including pregnancy), age, sexual orientation, disability, marital status, personal appearance, gender identity and expression, family responsibilities, political affiliation, source of income, veteran status, an individual's genetic information or any other bases under federal or local laws (collectively "Protected Bases") in its programs and activities.