Senior Elastic Defend Architect

Zachary Piper Solutions is seeking a Sr. Elastic Defend Architect to support a high-visibility federal cybersecurity program within a leading Managed Security Service Provider (MSSP) in Colorado Springs, CO. This senior-level role focuses on architecting and deploying advanced endpoint security capabilities using Elastic Defend, Elastic Security, and Elasticsearch. The ideal candidate brings deep expertise in endpoint detection and response (EDR), scalable Elastic Security architectures, and high-performance Elasticsearch environments. You will collaborate with cross-functional engineering, SOC, IR, and cloud teams to build and optimize mission-critical Elastic Defend solutions. The position is contingent upon additional funding.




Responsibilities of the Sr. Elastic Defend Architect include:

• Architect, design, and deploy Elastic Defend across large, distributed enterprise environments
• Configure and manage Fleet Servers , agent enrollment workflows, endpoint policies, and security integrations
• Design and maintain scalable Elasticsearch clusters supporting Elastic Security workloads
• Build and optimize ingestion pipelines for endpoint telemetry, audit logs, alerts, and security-relevant data
• Improve Elastic Security performance through index management , ILM tuning , ECS mapping , and ingest pipeline enhancements
• Develop and maintain observability frameworks using Kibana and related tooling
• Implement logging, metrics, and tracing systems for real-time monitoring and detection
• Analyze and visualize datasets to support threat hunting , anomaly detection, and operational insights
• Troubleshoot Elastic Defend agent behavior, endpoint policy issues, and integration failures
• Ensure data integrity, security, and compliance across all Elastic Security components
• Collaborate with SOC, Incident Response, DevOps, cloud, and platform engineering teams
• Provide technical guidance, mentoring, and subject-matter expertise to internal teams and stakeholders
• Document architectures, runbooks, deployment patterns, and best practices
• Stay current on emerging Elastic Security capabilities, endpoint threat trends, and cybersecurity technologies

Qualifications for the Sr. Elastic Defend Architect include:

• Active Secret clearance (minimum)
• Valid U.S. Passport
• Outstanding written and verbal communication skills
• Ability and willingness to support domestic or international on-site travel as needed
• Experience demonstrating proficiency in:
  • Elastic Security / Elastic Defend architecture or administration
  • Elasticsearch cluster design, scaling, and performance optimization
  • SIEM and EDR concepts across platforms such as Elastic, Splunk, QRadar, LogRhythm, or Sentinel
  • Linux/Unix systems, networking fundamentals, and cloud environments (AWS, Azure, GCP)
  • Scripting languages such as Python, PowerShell, or Bash
  • Modern threat landscapes, endpoint attack techniques, and defensive controls

Preferred Qualifications:

• Certifications such as:
  • Elastic Certified Engineer
  • Elastic Certified Analyst
  • Elastic Security Engineer
• Experience with DevOps/SRE methodologies (automation, CI/CD, IaC, configuration management)
• Familiarity with search/indexing technologies such as Solr or Lucene
• Background supporting large-scale, mission-critical cybersecurity environments

Position Details:

• Location: Colorado Springs, CO
• Schedule: On-site, 4-5 days per week
• Collaboration with SOC, IR, cloud, DevOps, and platform engineering teams
• Position is contingent upon additional funding

Compensation for the Sr. Elastic Defend Architect includes:

• Salary Range: $150,000 - $200,000
• Benefits: Medical, Dental, Vision, 401K, PTO, Sick Leave (as required), Holidays

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