Principal Solution Architect - AI & Data/Splunk

THE OPPORTUNITY

Iron Bow is seeking Principal Solution Architects with deep Splunk expertise to join the CTO office's AI & Data practice. This role provides technical leadership and pre-sales support for solutions built around Splunk, with emphasis on Security, Observability, and the use of operational data to drive better visibility, insights, automation, and decision-making. The architect will help customers unlock value from machine data and telemetry across their environments, integrating Splunk with Cisco technologies and the customer's broader security, networking, cloud, infrastructure, data, and automation ecosystem. Key technologies include Splunk Enterprise and Splunk Cloud Platform, Splunk Enterprise Security and SOAR, Splunk Observability Cloud, AppDynamics, IT Service Intelligence, the Cisco Data Fabric, and Iron Bow's strategic partner technologies and services.

HOW YOU'LL MAKE AN IMPACT

• Research and evaluate Splunk, Cisco, and adjacent security, observability, and data technologies that address customer mission and business requirements
• Build relationships with Splunk and Cisco account, architecture, and product teams, as well as strategic partners across security, networking, cloud, and data
• Lead customer discovery, assessments, architecture, and solution development for SIEM modernization, SOC transformation, observability, AIOps, and machine data strategy
• Architect Splunk Enterprise and Splunk Cloud Platform deployments, including hybrid designs, indexer and search head clustering, multisite resiliency, capacity sizing, data retention and tiering, and federated search across cloud storage and data platforms
• Design data onboarding and pipeline strategies covering source prioritization, forwarder and OpenTelemetry collection, edge and ingest processing, normalization to CIM and OCSF, data quality, and cost control
• Architect security operations solutions on Splunk Enterprise Security, including risk-based alerting, detection engineering, threat intelligence, UEBA, SOAR playbooks, case management, and integration with Cisco XDR, Cisco Secure Firewall, Talos, and third-party security tools
• Design observability solutions spanning Splunk Observability Cloud, AppDynamics, IT Service Intelligence, and ThousandEyes, connecting infrastructure, application, network, and digital experience telemetry to service health and mission or business impact
• Apply Splunk and Cisco AI capabilities, including Splunk AI Assistant, the AI Toolkit, Model Context Protocol integrations, agentic workflows, and the Cisco Data Fabric, to anomaly detection, forecasting, triage, and automation with appropriate governance and human oversight
• Architect Splunk for government and regulated environments, including FedRAMP and DoD Impact Level 5 cloud offerings, on-premises and air-gapped deployments for classified networks, and use cases supporting RMF, continuous monitoring, Zero Trust, and CMMC
• Develop migration and modernization plans for customers moving from legacy SIEM, logging, or monitoring tools, or from Splunk Enterprise to Splunk Cloud Platform, covering content conversion, parallel operations, cutover, rollback, and operational handoff
• Provide pre-sales support for Splunk, security, observability, and data engagements, and serve as a technical point of contact for critical customer escalations and post-sales consultations
• Support RFQs, RFPs, technical proposal volumes, LOEs, bills of material, ingest and licensing models, sizing assumptions, and high-level and low-level design documentation
• Develop and deliver technical proposals, whitepapers, presentations, demonstrations, workshops, reference architectures, and sales collateral
• Enable sales teams, post-sales architects, engineers, and partners through reusable architecture, lab and proof-of-concept environments, and technical mentoring
• Brief Iron Bow business units on Splunk and Cisco roadmaps, licensing and pricing models, support models, and customer impact

SKILLS THAT DRIVE SUCCESS

• 12+ years of engineering or consulting experience across security operations, IT operations, data platforms, or infrastructure in pre-sales and post-sales roles, including at least 7 years designing and deploying Splunk in enterprise or government environments
• 12+ years of IT consulting experience supporting a diverse client base, with an emphasis on Department of War customers and complex, mission-critical environments
• Ability to architect multivendor security, observability, and data solutions for large government and enterprise customers
• Expert-level architecture and hands-on experience with Splunk Enterprise and Splunk Cloud Platform, including distributed deployment design, indexer and search head clustering, multisite design, sizing and performance tuning, SPL, data models, apps and add-ons, and lifecycle management
• Strong expertise with Splunk Enterprise Security and SOAR, including risk-based alerting, detection engineering, UEBA, threat intelligence management, playbook development, and SOC workflow design
• Strong expertise with Splunk Observability, including Observability Cloud (APM, infrastructure monitoring, RUM, and synthetics), AppDynamics, IT Service Intelligence, and OpenTelemetry instrumentation and collection
• Experience integrating Splunk with Cisco technologies, including Cisco XDR, Secure Firewall, Secure Network Analytics, Duo, ISE, ThousandEyes, and Cisco networking telemetry
• Working knowledge of security frameworks and federal requirements, including MITRE ATT&CK, NIST CSF, NIST SP 800-53, RMF, Zero Trust, CDM, FedRAMP, and DoD Impact Levels
• Working knowledge of AWS, Azure, and GCP (including government regions), Kubernetes, and data platforms such as object storage, Snowflake, and Databricks as data sources and federation targets
• Practical understanding of AI and machine learning as applied to machine data, including anomaly detection, forecasting, LLM-based assistants, agentic workflows, and AI governance
• Scripting and automation experience with Python, REST APIs, and infrastructure-as-code tools such as Ansible and Terraform
• Strong capacity-planning and resiliency skills across ingest volume, storage, retention, search workload, and licensing, including cost optimization and growth planning
• Experience with technical architecture, implementation planning, project leadership, proofs of concept, and high-level and low-level design documentation, including translating mission and security requirements into Splunk specifications
• Excellent oral and written communication skills, including executive presentations, whiteboarding, technical diagrams, proposals, spreadsheets, and slide presentations
• Strong attention to detail, with the ability to manage multiple pursuits and projects, prioritize competing deadlines, validate technical assumptions, and follow through on commitments
• Bachelor's degree in computer science, cybersecurity, mathematics, electrical engineering, information technology, or an equivalent technical discipline required
• Relevant expert and vendor certifications are highly desired, including Splunk Enterprise Certified Architect, Splunk Certified Cybersecurity Defense Architect or Engineer, Splunk Enterprise Security Certified Admin, Splunk SOAR Certified Automation Developer, Splunk ITSI Certified Admin, Splunk O11y Cloud Certified Metrics User, Splunk Core Certified Consultant, CISSP, CCIE Security, and cloud certifications
• US Citizenship is required and a Top Secret security clearance is highly desired

WHAT SETS YOU APART

• A record of planning and leading large SIEM or observability modernizations for business- or mission-critical environments, including classified or air-gapped deployments
• Ability to explain how architecture choices affect ingest cost, licensing, retention, detection coverage, and operations, and to turn security, mission, and operational requirements into practical Splunk designs
• Experience building reusable reference architectures, detection content libraries, migration playbooks, lab and proof-of-concept environments, and enablement programs

TRAVEL REQUIREMENTS: Candidates must reside in a reasonable commuting distance to the VA/MD/DC metropolitan area, with up to 33% travel required

WHY YOU'LL LOVE IT

The Iron Bow CTO office develops new ideas and brings them to market for customers and strategic OEM partners. The team includes experienced pre-sales architects and recognized thought leaders who influence products and solutions across several markets. This role will help shape Iron Bow's growing AI & Data practice and its Splunk and Cisco offerings.

COMPENSATION AND BENEFITS INFORMATION

The initial base salary range for this position is $180,000 - $225,000.  In addition to base salary, this role offers a competitive on-target earnings (OTE) structure, with strong upside potential.Our compensation plans are designed to reward success, drive growth, and recognize the impact our sales teams make in the market.

At Iron Bow, we invest in our people and their success. We offer a comprehensive benefits package that may include medical, dental, and vision coverage, a 401(k) plan, paid time off, and additional wellness and financial benefits. An overview of our benefits is available on our careers page.

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