- Company Name
- Robert Half
- Job Title
- Payments Solution Architect
- Job Description
-
**Job Title**
Payments Solution Architect
**Role Summary**
Architect and deliver scalable, secure payment and card solutions for a UK banking programme. Collaborate with product, engineering, security, data, and operations teams to translate regulatory and business requirements into robust technical designs, and govern architectural standards across the project life cycle.
**Expectations**
- Design end‑to‑end payment journeys, including issuance and acquisition flows.
- Produce high‑level and low‑level design artefacts (HLDs, LLDs, API specifications, sequence diagrams).
- Lead API, microservices, and event‑driven integration design.
- Ensure compliance with ISO 20022 and UK payment scheme protocols (Faster Payments, CHAPS).
- Advise on architecture governance, security, resilience, and performance.
- Support delivery teams, resolve technical gate‑keeping issues, and maintain design consistency.
**Key Responsibilities**
- Translate business and regulatory requirements into technical solutions for payment and card platforms.
- Build and maintain detailed design documentation and provide architectural guidance to engineering squads.
- Conduct design reviews, validate against security and compliance standards, and enforce best practices.
- Negotiate design decisions with stakeholders, balancing performance, risk, and cost.
- Maintain architecture artifacts in tools such as Sparx EA, Abacus, or ServiceNow CMDB.
- Mentor developers on API design, sequence flow logic, and integration patterns.
- Collaborate with security, data governance, and ops teams to ensure secure, compliant deployment.
**Required Skills**
- Proven experience as a solution architect in UK banking or regulated financial services.
- Deep expertise in cards (issuer/acquirer) and payments architecture.
- Strong knowledge of ISO 20022 messaging and UK payment scheme protocols (Faster Payments, CHAPS).
- Hands‑on production of HLDs, LLDs, API specs, and sequence diagrams.
- Design experience with APIs, microservices, and event‑driven architectures.
- Familiarity with architecture tools (Sparx EA, Abacus, ServiceNow CMDB).
- Ability to work cross‑functionally with engineering, security, data, and ops.
- Excellent communication and stakeholder management skills.
**Required Education & Certifications**
- Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Computer Science, Information Systems, or related field.
- Professional certifications such as TOGAF, ITIL, or Architecture‑specific credentials are highly desirable.