Principal Zero Trust Solutions Consultant

For more than a decade, Karthik Consulting has been a reliable and trusted advisor to our Government customers, providing independent and unbiased recommendations and solutions to mitigate risk and help solve IT issues. We bring the innovation, passion, and agility of the commercial sector to meet the unique challenges of this competitive space.

Karthik Consulting is seeking a Principal Zero Trust Solutions Consultant with the below skillset.

Principal Zero Trust Solutions Consultant
Fulltime with Karthik Consulting
Location: National Capital Region
Clearance: Active TS/SCI Clearance


Program Description
Program Scope:

This specific, principal-level position functions as the high-level strategic advisor and architectural orchestrator for enterprise technology onboarding. The primary focus of this role is to ensure that all incoming architectural paths and commercial or government capabilities seamlessly integrate across all seven pillars of Zero Trust to successfully deliver, sustain, and mature a unified enterprise Zero Trust architecture.

Key Responsibilities
Enterprise Zero Trust Architecture and Implementation Strategy
• Serve as the Key Personnel Zero Trust SME and senior technical authority for enterprise Zero Trust architecture, implementation strategy, and mission alignment.
• Evaluate the AF IC Zero Trust Implementation Plan and identify architecture gaps, cross-pillar dependencies, sequencing issues, lifecycle risks, and corrective actions.
• Develop and refine Zero Trust architecture recommendations across user, device, network, application, data, cloud, visibility, analytics, automation, and orchestration domains.
• Translate mission, operational, and cybersecurity requirements into actionable architecture guidance, technical blueprints, implementation priorities, and governance-ready recommendations.

Executive Decision Support and Governance
• Advise senior leaders on cybersecurity architecture, policy implementation, risk-informed architectural decisions, investment considerations, and mission impact.
• Lead technical decision framing for governance boards, whiteboard sessions, portfolio reviews, executive briefings, and architecture decision forums.
• Identify implementation risks and recommend mitigation actions to ensure Zero Trust implementation aligns with Federal, IC, DoD, and AF IC mandates.
• Communicate complex Zero Trust engineering concepts clearly to executive, operational, technical, and non-technical stakeholders.

Cybersecurity Investment and Portfolio Assessment
• Evaluate Zero Trust programs, spend plans, execution plans, vendor solutions, and proposed capabilities for architectural fit, risk reduction, mission impact, and FYDP/PPBE alignment.
• Support acquisition, PPBE, portfolio review, and governance forums with senior-level technical judgment and investment prioritization recommendations.
• Assess COTS, GOTS, and internally developed capabilities against enterprise Zero Trust reference architectures and target capability requirements.
• Provide Go/No-Go or sequencing recommendations for capability onboarding, platform transitions, system implementations, and procurement actions.

Enterprise Collaboration and Agile Alignment
• Partner with mission owners, IT leaders, data and AI stakeholders, operational commanders, and interagency mission partners to integrate Zero Trust into mission design and execution.
• Translate operational feedback from users and stakeholders into architecture, system, policy, and implementation recommendations.
• Guide Agile implementation planning by converting architecture priorities, dependencies, risks, and governance decisions into executable work and measurable milestones.
• Mentor technical teams and leaders on Zero Trust principles, architectural thinking, implementation sequencing, and enterprise risk reduction.

Deliverable Execution and Role Boundary
• Lead the Zero Trust Implementation and Architecture Roadmap Evaluation and Cybersecurity Investment and Portfolio Assessment within required PWS timelines.
• Provide the architecture, risk interpretation, investment implications, and technical recommendations for ZT Executive Risk and Posture Briefings.
• Provide technical outcome inputs to MOP/MOE development while dedicated analytics support owns metric design, dashboard production, and recurring performance reporting.
• Maintain focus on senior architecture leadership and executive advisory responsibilities; this position does not own recurring dashboard engineering or statistical risk modeling production.

Qualifications

Education
• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Systems Engineering, Cybersecurity, Information Technology, or a STEM-related field. Equivalent senior-level DoD, IC, cybersecurity, systems engineering, or enterprise architecture experience may be considered in lieu of a degree.

Professional Certifications
• Active DoD 8140/8570 IASAE Level III certification required, such as CISSP-ISSAP or CISSP-ISSEP.
• Active Agile leadership or project management certification required, such as SAFe Agilist, PMI-ACP, or Certified Scrum Professional.
• Security+ CE or equivalent DoD 8140/8570 foundational certification required when applicable to access and privileged role requirements.
• CISSP, CCSP, TOGAF, Zero Trust, cloud security, enterprise architecture, or related advanced certifications preferred.

Minimum Qualifications
• Active TS/SCI clearance at time of proposal submission and ability to maintain required accesses throughout performance.
• Minimum 10-15 years of progressive IT/cybersecurity experience, including at least five years in enterprise-level cybersecurity architecture, SETA support, or strategic advisory roles.
• Demonstrated experience providing strategic technical advice to senior executives, including SES/General Officer-level stakeholders or equivalent DoD/IC leaders.
• Proven expertise in enterprise-scale Zero Trust implementation, including architecture development, roadmap evaluation, cross-pillar integration, and risk-informed decision support.
• Advanced knowledge of the DoD Zero Trust Reference Architecture, NIST SP 800-207, IC/DoD cybersecurity guidance, ICAM, cloud security, enterprise architecture, and cybersecurity risk management.
• Experience evaluating cybersecurity investments, execution plans, vendor capabilities, and portfolio decisions for architecture alignment, mission impact, risk reduction, and FYDP/PPBE relevance.
• Experience facilitating governance boards, technical whiteboard sessions, executive briefings, decision memos, issue papers, and architecture trade-off discussions.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills with the ability to explain complex architecture, risk, and investment issues to technical and non-technical audiences.

Preferred Qualifications
• Master’s degree in Cybersecurity, Computer Science, Information Technology, Systems Engineering, Data Strategy, or a STEM-related field.
• Familiarity with Headquarters Air Force, AF IC, OSD, Joint Staff, Combatant Command, ODNI, CSA, and interagency coordination environments.
• Experience supporting AF IC CIO, AO, CDO, CTO, CISO, enterprise architecture, portfolio management, or cybersecurity governance functions.
• Expert knowledge of multi-cloud, hybrid cloud, Software-Defined Networking, SASE, data-centric security, enterprise services, and mission system integration.
• Experience aligning Zero Trust architecture roadmaps with acquisition, PPBE, portfolio management, governance boards, Agile delivery, and operational mission outcomes.