Lead Solution Architect – Open Finance & Digital Banking Transformation
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Key skills for this role
About the Role
A leading banking organization in Abu Dhabi seeks an experienced Solution Architect to lead Open Finance and digital banking platform architecture. The role involves defining target architecture, governing API ecosystems, and driving cloud-native initiatives.
Key Skills for This Role
Responsibilities
- Own and evolve the target architecture for Open Finance and digital banking platforms across multiple business domains
- Define and govern enterprise solution architecture covering customer facing platforms, partner ecosystems, developer portals, and API services
- Design scalable, secure, and resilient architectures supporting both regulated Open Finance APIs and commercial partner API offerings
- Lead architecture decision making, documentation, and governance processes across business and technology teams
- Collaborate with product owners, engineering teams, risk, compliance, security, and executive stakeholders
- Define API architecture standards, integration patterns, identity models, security controls, and platform governance frameworks
- Drive cloud native architecture initiatives across AWS environments, including microservices, event driven architectures, and modern API management platforms
- Establish architecture principles for identity, authentication, authorization, consent management, and partner onboarding
- Support regulatory compliance requirements related to Open Finance, information security, risk management, business continuity, and data governance
- Lead architecture reviews, solution assessments, and technology evaluations across multiple programmes
- Define observability, resilience, disaster recovery, monitoring, and operational architecture standards
- Promote AI enabled architecture practices and identify opportunities to leverage AI across architecture, governance, documentation, and delivery processes
Requirements
- Proven experience as a Solution Architect, Enterprise Architect, Lead Architect, or Principal Architect within banking or financial services
- Minimum 10+ years of experience delivering enterprise scale digital transformation, banking technology, or platform modernization programmes
- Strong experience designing and implementing Open Banking, Open Finance, API platforms, or digital banking solutions
- Experience architecting customer facing banking platforms supporting Retail, SME, and Corporate Banking
- Strong knowledge of enterprise integration patterns, API architecture, microservices, and event driven systems
- Experience with API management platforms such as Kong, Apigee, MuleSoft, WSO2, IBM API Connect, or similar
- Strong AWS cloud architecture experience within enterprise or regulated environments
- Experience working with security, compliance, risk, and governance requirements in financial institutions
- Strong stakeholder management skills with ability to engage both executive leadership and technical delivery teams
- Experience producing architecture documentation, standards, ADRs, and governance artefacts
- Demonstrated hands on experience using AI as part of day to day Solution Architecture responsibilities
- Ability to understand, review, and discuss code and technical implementation approaches with engineering teams
Full Job Posting
General Description
- Join a leading banking organization in Abu Dhabi driving the next generation of Open Finance, digital banking platforms, and API led ecosystem transformation.
- We are seeking an experienced Solution Architect – Open Finance & Digital Banking Platforms to lead the end to end architecture of customer facing banking platforms, Open Finance capabilities, and enterprise API ecosystems supporting Retail, SME, and Corporate Banking initiatives.
- This role is ideal for senior architects with strong experience in digital banking, Open Banking/Open Finance, enterprise API platforms, cloud native architectures, regulated financial environments, and the practical application of AI within architecture and delivery practices.
- The successful candidate will work closely with product, engineering, risk, compliance, and executive stakeholders to define and evolve strategic architecture roadmaps while supporting large scale banking transformation programmes.
- This is a contract engagement with an immediate hiring timeline and a hybrid work setup based in Abu Dhabi.
Key Responsibilities
- Own and evolve the target architecture for Open Finance and digital banking platforms across multiple business domains.
- Define and govern enterprise solution architecture covering customer facing platforms, partner ecosystems, developer portals, and API services.
- Design scalable, secure, and resilient architectures supporting both regulated Open Finance APIs and commercial partner API offerings.
- Lead architecture decision making, documentation, and governance processes across business and technology teams.
- Collaborate with product owners, engineering teams, risk, compliance, security, and executive stakeholders to align technology solutions with business objectives.
- Define API architecture standards, integration patterns, identity models, security controls, and platform governance frameworks.
- Drive cloud native architecture initiatives across AWS environments, including microservices, event driven architectures, and modern API management platforms.
- Establish architecture principles for identity, authentication, authorization, consent management, and partner onboarding journeys.
- Support regulatory compliance requirements related to Open Finance, information security, risk management, business continuity, and data governance.
- Lead architecture reviews, solution assessments, and technology evaluations across multiple programmes and workstreams.
- Define observability, resilience, disaster recovery, monitoring, and operational architecture standards.
- Partner with delivery teams to ensure successful implementation and alignment with architecture principles.
Required Experience
- Proven experience as a Solution Architect, Enterprise Architect, Lead Architect, or Principal Architect within banking or financial services environments.
- Minimum 10+ years of experience delivering enterprise scale digital transformation, banking technology, or platform modernization programmes.
- Strong experience designing and implementing Open Banking, Open Finance, API platforms, or digital banking solutions.
- Experience architecting customer facing banking platforms supporting Retail, SME, and Corporate Banking services.
- Strong knowledge of enterprise integration patterns, API architecture, microservices, and event driven systems.
- Experience with API management platforms such as Kong, Apigee, MuleSoft, WSO2, IBM API Connect, or similar technologies.
- Strong AWS cloud architecture experience within enterprise or regulated environments.
- Experience working with security, compliance, risk, and governance requirements in financial institutions.
- Strong stakeholder management skills with the ability to engage both executive leadership and technical delivery teams.
- Experience producing architecture documentation, standards, architecture decision records (ADRs), and governance artefacts.
- Strong understanding of software delivery lifecycles, Agile methodologies, and enterprise architecture practices.
- Demonstrated hands on experience using AI as part of day to day Solution Architecture responsibilities, with the ability to articulate practical use cases and outcomes.
Preferred Experience
- Experience with Open Banking or Open Finance regulatory frameworks.
- Experience within UAE, GCC, or international banking environments.
- Knowledge of API security standards including OAuth 2.0, OpenID Connect (OIDC), FAPI, mTLS, and Strong Customer Authentication (SCA).
- Experience with developer portals, partner onboarding platforms, API monetization, and ecosystem management.
- Experience with event streaming technologies such as Kafka or similar platforms.
- Familiarity with observability platforms such as Dynatrace, CloudWatch, X Ray, or equivalent solutions.
- Experience supporting banking compliance, audit, risk, and governance initiatives.
- Practical experience embedding AI enabled practices into architecture and delivery processes.
- Exposure to AI governance frameworks and the responsible use of AI within regulated financial services environments.
- TOGAF, AWS, Enterprise Architecture, Cloud Architecture, or related certifications are advantageous.
Work Setup
- Hybrid Work Setup – Abu Dhabi, UAE
- Majority Onsite Presence Required
- Contract Engagement (Initial 6 Months, Extendable)
- Immediate Hiring Timeline
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