Head of Platform Architecture

JR United Kingdom; London; Hybrid; GBP 200,000; Full time

Job summary

An established industry player is seeking a Lead Architect to spearhead architectural standards and governance in a dynamic environment. This role offers the opportunity to lead globally distributed teams, ensuring compliance with financial regulations while driving innovation in architecture practices. You'll develop frameworks for technology reference architecture, oversee governance processes, and collaborate with technology delivery teams to create impactful solutions. If you're passionate about architecture and want to make a significant impact in a leading financial organization, this is the perfect opportunity for you.

Benefits

Full Family Health Care

Pension Plan

Equity Options

Performance Bonuses

Qualifications

• Deep understanding of Trading platforms and risk management architecture.
• Proven track record of leading globally distributed architecture teams.

Responsibilities

• Develop enterprise-wide architectural standards and frameworks.
• Ensure adherence to financial regulations and internal policies.

Skills

Leadership in Architecture

Stakeholder Management

Regulatory Compliance

Enterprise Architecture Principles

Agile Methodologies

Risk Management

Education

Degree in Computer Science or Related Field

Tools

Jira

Confluence

ServiceNow

AWS

Terraform

Prometheus

Grafana

Datadog

Charles River

Bloomberg Terminal

Job description

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London | Hybrid | Permanent/Full Time | UK Work Permit is Mandatory

£200K (Inc. Top End - Bonus, Benefits, Equity, Full Family Health Care, Pension +More...

This role requires a Lead Architect or above level candidate with a deep understanding of Trading platforms, portfolio management systems, and risk management architecture, transformation and modernization with an understanding of regulatory compliance processes and technical adherence to FCA/PRA regulations. Experience ensuring COCON compliance and regular audits. + a proven track record of leading globally distributed architecture or technology teams and first class stakeholder management.

KEY DELIEVERABLES:

• Architecture blueprints and guidelines.
• Governance dashboards tracking compliance and quality metrics.
• Regular audit reports for regulatory and internal reviews.
• Collaborating with Technology Delivery teams to create and maintain technology roadmaps
• Dependency matrices and risk assessments.
• Quarterly roadmap review presentations for stakeholders.
• Metrics on technical debt reduction and architecture adoption.
• Build an architecture runway (e.g., reusable APIs, microservices) supporting Agile teams.
• Embed architects in Agile Release Trains (ARTs) - Jira and ArchiMate.

BROADER ROLE PROFILE:

You will Head up and take the lead for:

• Developing enterprise-wide architectural standards - Coding standards (e.g., REST API design principles), security protocols (e.g., OAuth 2.0, encryption standards), and data models (e.g., canonical data models for client data).
• Frameworks for Technology Reference Architecture outlining approved technologies, patterns (e.g., microservices, event-driven architecture), and integration approaches.
• Implement governance processes via Architecture Review Boards (ARBs), to review and approve designs for new systems or changes to existing ones. (Confluence or ServiceNow to document and track compliance).
• Ensure adherence to financial regulations (e.g., FCA/PRA rules, GDPR for client data) and internal policies for customer-facing systems like brokerage platforms.
• Establish metrics (e.g., system uptime, API response times) to monitor the quality of systems and enforce consistency.

CANDIDATE REQUIREMENTS:

• Proven track record of leading globally distributed architecture or technology teams, ideally in a large, complex investment/wealth manager type financial organization.
• Experience in influencing senior stakeholders, demonstrating the ability to align diverse groups around a shared vision.
• Background in financial services ideally wealth management with an understanding of domain-specific challenges like regulatory compliance.
• Deep expertise in enterprise architecture principles, including creating standards and frameworks.
• Familiarity with modern architecture practices, such as microservices, domain-driven design, or event-driven architecture.
• Understanding of Agile methodologies and how to integrate architecture into Agile processes.
• Awareness of global financial regulations. (FCA and PRA)
• Experience with Trading Platforms Proprietary or third-party systems like Charles River or Bloomberg Terminal integrations for trade execution and settlement.
• Risk Management: Solutions like MSCI RiskMetrics or in-house tools for real-time risk assessment (e.g., Value-at-Risk calculations).

CLIENT PLATFORM TECH STACK:

Client-Facing Platforms:

• Web frameworks: React, Angular, or Vue.js for responsive applications.
• Mobile: Swift, Kotlin, or Flutter for iOS/Android apps.
• CMS: Adobe Experience Manager or Contentful for client content.
• Security: Okta or Ping Identity for SSO and authentication.
• Platforms: Proprietary or third-party solutions (e.g., Charles River, BlackRock Aladdin).
• Languages: Java, Python, or C# with Spring Boot or .NET Core.

Data Platforms:

• Warehouses: Snowflake, Google BigQuery, or Amazon Redshift.
• Analytics: Tableau, Power BI, or Looker for client reporting.
• Big Data: Apache Spark or Hadoop for large-scale processing.
• AI/ML: TensorFlow or Databricks for predictive analytics.

Integration Technologies:

• API Management: Apigee, AWS API Gateway, or MuleSoft.
• Middleware: Red Hat Fuse or Kafka for asynchronous communication.
• Providers: AWS (EC2, Lambda), Azure (AKS), or Google Cloud (BigQuery).

DevOps and Automation:

• CI/CD: Jenkins, GitLab CI/CD, or CircleCI.
• IaC: Terraform or AWS CloudFormation.
• Monitoring: Prometheus, Grafana, or Datadog.