Senior Security Solutions Architect

We are seeking a customer-facing Senior Security Solutions Architect to serve as a technical leader across our security practice. The role is heavily focused on pre-sales architecture and customer engagement, partnering with account teams from discovery through solution design, presentations, demonstrations, proof-of-concepts, proposals, and statements of work. The Architect will also serve as senior technical escalation point, providing a subject matter expert (SME) level guidance and hands-on technical support when complex design, implementation, or operational issues require deeper expertise.

Essential Responsibilities

• Serve as a senior technical lead and trusted advisor for customers, account teams, engineers, and technology partners.
• Lead technical discovery, architecture, and solution development for complex enterprise security opportunities.
• Design modern security solutions spanning identity, network security, SASE/SSE, cloud, endpoint, and security operations.
• Spend significant time directly with customers leading workshops, whiteboarding sessions, architecture reviews, technical presentations, demonstrations, and executive-level discussions.
• Translate customer business objectives, security requirements, technical challenges, and operational constraints into practical solution architectures.
• Develop solution designs, bills of materials, technical proposals, scopes of work, and implementation approaches.
• Partner with account teams and OEMs to develop technical strategies, differentiate solutions, validate licensing and architecture, and advance opportunities through the sales cycle.
• Provide technical leadership and guidance to Security Solutions Engineers without serving as their direct manager.
• Maintain technical ownership through handoff to delivery teams and serve as an escalation point for complex post-sales architecture, implementation, integration, and troubleshooting issues.
• Remain hands-on enough to validate designs, lead proof-of-concepts, troubleshoot critical issues, and provide SME-level technical support when required.

Technical Experience

Candidates should demonstrate deep expertise in multiple security domains with the technical breadth to lead architecture across a modern enterprise security environment.

Identity & Access Security: Microsoft Active Directory and Entra ID, Okta, Cisco Duo, MFA, passwordless authentication, Conditional Access, SAML, OAuth/OIDC, PKI, PAM, IGA, ITDR/ISPM, Non-Human Identity, Cisco ISE/NAC, and Zero Trust identity architectures.

Network Security & SASE: Palo Alto Networks, Cisco Secure Firewall, Fortinet, Zscaler, Cisco Secure Access, Prisma Access, NGFW, IPS, VPN, segmentation, NAC, SASE, SSE, and ZTNA. Strong understanding of networking technologies affect security architecture and troubleshooting.

Cloud & SaaS Security: Microsoft Azure, AWS, Microsoft Defender, cloud IAM, CSPM, CIEM, workload protection, SSPM, cloud-native security monitoring, and hybrid-cloud security architectures.

Endpoint & Security Operations: Microsoft Defender XDR/Endpoint, CrowdStrike, Palo Alto Cortex, SIEM, SOAR, EDR/XDR, vulnerability management, threat detection, security analytics, and automation. Experience with Microsoft Sentinel, Splunk, Cortex, FortiSIEM, or similar platforms.

Candidates are not expected to be experts in every technology listed. The ideal Architect will have recognized SME-level depth in two or more major security disciplines, broad architectural knowledge across adjacent technologies, and the ability to become the technical escalation point when customer environments become complex.

Automation & Security Engineering

• Working knowledge of APIs, Python, PowerShell, Ansible, Terraform / OpenTofu, GitHub / GitLab, JSON, YAML, and Infrastructure as Code.
• Ability to identify and demonstrate where automation, integrations, APIs, and AI-assisted workflows can improve customer security outcomes and operational efficiency.

Architecture & Consulting Skills

• Establish technical credibility with engineers, architects, IT leadership, CIOs, CTOs, and CISOs.
• Lead discovery that uncovers business drivers, technical requirements, security risks, operational constraints, and desired outcomes.
• Translate complex requirements into clear architectures, solution recommendations, roadmaps, and customer-facing presentations.
• Communicate technical value and differentiation to both highly technical teams and executive audiences.
• Provide technical leadership across identity, endpoint, network, cloud, and security operations and understand how those domains intersect.
• Evaluate technologies objectively and develop multi-vendor solutions based on customer requirements rather than a single-vendor approach.
• Guide engineers through complex designs and technical challenges while remaining capable of stepping in directly when SME-level expertise is required.
• Build long-term trusted-advisor relationships and maintain technical continuity from pre-sales strategy through successful post-sales outcomes.

Professional Certifications We Value

Professional-level certifications are strongly valued but may be substituted with equivalent architecture, engineering, and customer-facing experience.

• Cisco: CCNP Security, CCIE Security, Cisco security specializations
• Palo Alto Networks: Professional or advanced Network Security, SASE, Cortex, or Cloud Security certifications
• Fortinet: FCP, FCSS
• Microsoft: Azure Security Engineer, Identity and Access Administrator, Cybersecurity Architect, Security Operations Analyst
• AWS: Security Specialty, Solutions Architect Professional
• Industry: CISSP, CCSP, GIAC or equivalent advanced security certifications

The pay range for this position is $155,000 – $175,000 per year.
This range reflects the annual salary that Continental Resources reasonably and in good faith expects to pay for this position at the time of posting, consistent with the Massachusetts Pay Transparency Law (M.G.L. c. 149, § 105E).

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