Senior Solution Architect M F D

Halian | Managed Services, Recruitment Agency & Contract Staffing; Abu Dhabi; On-site; AED 300,000 - 420,000; Full time

Job summary

Halian Group is seeking a Senior Solution Architect to design and deliver enterprise-scale fintech solutions. The role focuses on RTGS, AML, and high-availability architectures across multi-region cloud environments.

You will lead architecture discussions, collaborate with product, engineering, compliance, and DevOps, and ensure regulatory alignment and security best practices are followed.

Qualifications

• 10+ years of experience in solution architecture, enterprise application design, and software engineering.
• RTGS expertise in clearing and settlement.
• Experience with ISO 20022 messaging and MT/MX awareness.
• Familiarity with PCI-DSS, AML/CTF regulations, and regional mandates.
• Proven capability to design massively scalable, HA/DR architectures.

Responsibilities

• Lead end-to-end solution architecture for mission-critical financial systems, including RTGS, CSU, and AML.
• Architect high-value payment flows using ISO 20022 standards.
• Integrate real-time AML/KYC and fraud detection into workflows.
• Design CSU frameworks with immutable audit trails and data lineage.
• Define multi-region, active-active cloud strategies for zero data loss.
• Drive cloud-native architectures with AWS/Azure/GCP for multi-region resilience.
• Guide SDLC governance and architecture reviews.
• Present architectures to executives and cross-functional teams.

Skills

RTGS Expertise

ISO 20022

Regulatory Knowledge

Distributed Systems

High Availability

Tools

Kafka

RabbitMQ

HSM integration

mTLS

SQL/NoSQL

Distributed Ledgers

Job description

Job Description:

A leading financial technology organization is seeking a Senior Solution Architect specializing in designing and delivering enterprise-scale solutions within the financial services industry. The ideal candidate will have a strong application development background, deep expertise in banking systems, and a proven track record architecting massively scalable, high-availability, and disaster-resilient enterprise applications.

Key Responsibilities

Solution Architecture & Design

• Lead end-to-end solution architecture for mission-critical financial systems, focusing on Real-Time Gross Settlement (RTGS), Customer Service/Operations (CSU), and Anti-Money Laundering (AML). You will be responsible for the "zero-failure" infrastructure that moves and protects high-value assets.
• Payments & Settlement: Architect high-value payment flows using ISO 20022 standards and manage the migration from legacy formats
• Compliance & Risk: Integrate real-time AML/KYC screening and fraud detection engines into transaction workflows without increasing latency.
• Operational Integrity: Design CSU frameworks that support immutable audit trails, data lineage, and complex lifecycle management for financial products.
• Resilience: Define strategies for Zero Data Loss (RPO=0) and sub-minute recovery (RTO) using multi-region, active-active cloud architectures.
• Data Consistency: Ensure strong ACID compliance across distributed systems to maintain ledger integrity.
• Design architectures that meet massive scalability, high availability (HA), and disaster recovery (DR) requirements.
• Develop high-level and detailed architecture designs aligned with enterprise standards, regulatory compliance, and security best practices.
• Evaluate technology options and recommend architectural patterns, integration strategies, and platform selections.
• Drive cloud-native architecture adoption (AWS, Azure, GCP), focusing on elastic scaling, multi-region deployments, and resilient workloads.

Technical Leadership

• Guide engineering teams through all phases of the SDLC, ensuring solutions meet performance, resilience, and regulatory expectations.
• Conduct architecture and design reviews, including performance benchmarking and failure-mode analysis.
• Lead architecture governance sessions and champion best practices for scalable and secure banking applications.

Stakeholder Collaboration

• Engage with business stakeholders to translate complex payment and financial requirements into robust technical architectures.
• Work closely with product, engineering, compliance, DevOps, and QA teams to validate solutions and ensure seamless delivery.
• Present architectures to senior executives and non-technical audiences clearly and effectively.

Integration & Modernization

• Architect complex integrations across enterprise systems, payment gateways, fraud systems, core banking, and third-party fintech partners.
• Ensure low-latency, high-throughput system performance for real-time and near-real-time transaction processing.

Security, Compliance & Risk

• Ensure all payment solutions adhere to strict financial security and regulatory standards (e.g., PCI-DSS, ISO 27001, MAS, SOX, GDPR).
• Lead threat modeling, data protection architecture, and secure-by-design practices.
• Architect HA/DR strategies, including multi-zone/multi-region deployment, RTO/RPO planning, and resilience testing.

Experience

• 10+ years of experience in solution architecture, enterprise application design, and software engineering.
• RTGS Expertise: Deep understanding of clearing and settlement (e.g., SWIFT, Fedwire, or local RTGS systems).
• Financial Standards: Proven experience with ISO 20022, MT/MX messaging, and transaction monitoring.
• Regulatory Knowledge: Familiarity with PCI-DSS, AML/CTF regulations, and regional central bank mandates.
• Demonstrated expertise in massively scalable architectures , distributed systems, and real-time transaction processing.
• Experience with HA (High Availability) and DR (Disaster Recovery) design and implementation.

Technical Skills

• Messaging: ISO 20022, Kafka, RabbitMQ.
• Architecture Patterns: Event Sourcing, Saga Pattern, and Idempotency.
• Data & Security: HSM integration, mTLS, SQL/NoSQL, and Distributed Ledgers.
• Cloud: AWS/Azure/GCP (specifically multi-region resilience)

Halian Group

With over 28 years of experience, we have come to understand that innovation is the only way to provide agile, practical solutions that transform businesses and careers.

Our resourcing and smart services help you to realize tomorrow’s potential. Discover the amazing things possible when you bring the right people and the right technologies together.

At Halian, we recognize that diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) are essential to building high-performing teams for our clients. We are committed to connecting organizations with top talent from all backgrounds, ensuring that every individual feels valued, respected, and empowered to contribute their unique perspectives. We encourage applications from all qualified candidates, regardless of race, gender, disability, or any other characteristic that makes them unique. By fostering diverse and inclusive workplaces, we help our clients drive innovation, enhance collaboration, and better reflect the communities they serve.

Senior Solution Architect in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates

Requirements: