Solution Architect

We are seeking an experienced Technical Architect – Applications to design and govern scalable, secure and resilient application architectures within a banking environment. The successful candidate will have a strong software engineering background combined with at least 5 years' hands‐on experience in an architecture role, ideally within a bank, financial institution or other highly regulated environment. This is an application‐focused architecture position covering enterprise applications, APIs, microservices, integration, cloud‐native technologies, security and modernisation of legacy banking platforms. The Technical Architect will work closely with engineering teams, solution and enterprise architects, cybersecurity, infrastructure, data teams and business stakeholders to translate business requirements into robust technical solutions.

Key Responsibilities:

Design end‐to‐end technical and application architectures for complex banking applications and digital platforms.

Define architecture patterns, technical standards, integration approaches and engineering best practices.

Translate business and functional requirements into scalable and secure technical solutions.

Produce architecture documentation including High‐Level Designs (HLD), Low‐Level Designs (LLD), architecture diagrams, integration designs and technical specifications.

Design modern applications using microservices, APIs, event‐driven architecture and cloud‐native patterns.

Define API and integration architecture between core banking platforms, digital channels and third‐party systems. Lead technical design reviews and ensure solutions comply with enterprise architecture and security standards.

Provide architectural guidance to software engineering and development teams throughout the SDLC.Review code structures, application frameworks and technical designs and provide guidance on engineering quality.

Support the modernisation and migration of legacy banking applications to modern architectures.

Design applications for high availability, scalability, performance, resilience and disaster recovery.

Ensure appropriate security controls are incorporated into application architecture from the design stage.

Identify technical risks, architectural dependencies and potential performance or security issues.

Evaluate new technologies, frameworks and platforms and determine their suitability for the bank.

Support DevSecOps, CI/CD and automated deployment strategies.

Work closely with cybersecurity, infrastructure, cloud, data and DevOps teams. Participate in architecture governance and technical design authorities.

Provide technical leadership and mentoring to engineering teams. Banking Experience: Core banking systemsDigital and mobile bankingInternet banking platformsPayments and payment gatewaysCards and transaction processingCustomer onboarding and KYCAML and compliance systemsCRM and customer platformsLending and credit applicationsIntegration with third‐party financial servicesBanking security and regulatory requirementsHigh‐availability and business‐critical transactional systemsTechnical Skills (Combination of the following):Application Architecture & Development: Java / Java EE / Spring Boot, .NET / .NET Core / C#, RESTful APIs, Microservices architecture, Domain‐Driven Design (DDD), Event‐driven architecture, Design patterns and SOLID principles, API‐first architecture, Distributed systems, Web and mobile application architectures. API & Integration Technologies: REST / JSON, SOAP / XML, OpenAPI / Swagger, Kafka, RabbitMQ, IBM MQ, API gateways, Enterprise Service Bus (ESB), Integration platforms, OAuth 2.0 / OpenID Connect. Experience with MuleSoft, IBM App Connect, Kong, Apigee or equivalent advantageous.

Cloud & Containerisation: Microsoft Azure and/or AWS, Kubernetes, Docker, OpenShift, Containerised application architecture, Serverless technologies, Infrastructure‐as‐Code concepts. Experience designing hybrid cloud architectures valuable.

DevOps / DevSecOps: Git, GitLab / GitHub / Bitbucket, Jenkins, Azure DevOps, CI/CD pipelines, SonarQube, Maven / Gradle, Nexus / Artifactory, Automated testing and deployment.

Databases & Data Technologies: Oracle, SQL Server, PostgreSQL, NoSQL databases, Redis, Database design and optimisation, Data integration and messaging.

Architecture & Modelling: UML, ArchiMate, TOGAF principles, C4 Model, Enterprise Architect, Visio / Draw.io, Confluence / Jira.

Security: Secure application architecture, OWASP Top 10, IAM, OAuth 2.0 / OIDC, SAML, Encryption and key management, API security, Secrets management, Zero Trust principles, Secure SDLC / DevSecOps.

Candidate Requirements: Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, Information Technology or a related discipline.

Minimum 10 years' overall IT/application development experience.

Minimum 5 years' ex