IPF Solution Architect

Icon Solutions Ltd; Greater London; On-site; GBP 90,000 - 130,000; Full time

Job summary

Icon Solutions is seeking a Solution Architect to lead end-to-end architecture for the Icon Payments Framework (IPF). You will drive solution roadmaps, review designs, and translate business needs into scalable technical architectures for complex, real-time systems.

You will collaborate with clients, product owners, and engineering squads, ensuring security and regulatory requirements are met. A strong backend (Java) background and hands-on architecture experience are essential.

Qualifications

• Proven experience in a Solution Architect/Technical Architect/Lead Engineer role within financial services or payments technology.
• Ability to design end-to-end architectures for highly concurrent, real‑time transactional systems.
• Experience in conceptual, application, integration, and physical modelling.
• Ability to translate functional and non‑functional requirements into architectures.
• Strong back‑end development background (Java) and familiarity with patterns and techniques.
• Experience with Agile, TDD, BDD, CI/CD, DevOps, Cloud, and Microservices Architecture.
• Interest in new technologies and architecture styles with security awareness.
• Familiarity with Payments Industry and regulatory landscape from technical/business perspectives.
• Excellent consulting and stakeholder management in multi‑team client environments.

Responsibilities

• Support pre‑sales proposals with architecture approaches and estimations.
• Review and enrich solution designs for engineering teams, including skeleton payment flows.
• Translate business requirements and non‑functional needs into technical designs.
• Collaborate with clients, squads and product owners to implement features.
• Conduct architecture reviews and communicate findings to stakeholders.
• Organise design authority workshops with clients and IPF stakeholders.
• Participate in technical governance committees and manage architectural risks.
• Create and maintain structured solution documentation and deployment views.
• Engage with product teams to validate feasibility and align with roadmaps.
• Track dependencies and keep the project informed of risks and issues.
• Contribute to IPF practice through knowledge sharing and pattern documentation.

Skills

Solution architecture leadership

Payments technology domain

End-to-end architecture design

Event-driven architectures

Back-end development (Java)

Agile, DevOps, CI/CD

Stakeholder management

Modelling (conceptual, logical, phys)

Tools

IPF connectors

Node design patterns

Job description

The Icon Payments Framework (IPF) provides institutions with faster and more cost-effective access to payments through an advanced and highly flexible payments specific platform which seamlessly integrates with core and back-office banking applications.

Our Solution Architects play a key role in theend-to-end solution design and engineering leadership for IPF client engagements from pre-sales through to go-live. With broad and deep technology background complimented by an excellent consulting repertoire, the Solution Architect will drive the solution road-map from a capability, technology, integrationand infrastructure perspective.

About You

• Proven experience in a Solution Architect, Technical Architect, Lead Engineer role within financial services or payments technology.
• Significant capability in the design & implementation of end-to-end application and technical architectures for highly concurrent, real-time transactional systems .
• Experienced in conceptual, application, integration, logical and physical modelling .
• Experience ofanalysingand implementing solutions to meet both functional and non-functional requirements .
• Strong back-end development background (e.g. Java) and familiarity with common software patterns and techniques.
• Experience across modern architectural / delivery standards and methods including Agile, TDD, BDD, CI/CD automation, DevOps practices, Cloud and Microservices Architecture .
• Technology enthusiast, avid follower ofnew technologies, designpatternsand architecture styles .
• Experience and appreciation for the Payments Industry and regulatory landscape from both a technical, functionaland business perspective .
• Familiarity with event-driven, reactive architectural patterns such as event sourcing, CQRS and hexagonal architecture .
• Security architecture awareness including identity management,authenticationand role-based access design .
• Strong consulting and stakeholder management skills, with the ability tooperateeffectively in complex, multi-team client environments.

What Do Our Solution Architects Do?

Supporting pre-sales proposals and propositions in the form of client meetings,approachand estimation for solutions.

Review, challenge and enrich solution designs to produce engineering-ready designs for the scrum team, including skeleton Payments flows and Node designs leveraging IPF connectors and flows.

Translating business requirements and non-functionals into technical solution designs.

Working with client, Internal Squads and Product Owners to create implementation features that can be coded by our engineering squads, with regular review sessions to ensure implementation meets the design.

Conducting solution architecture reviews of existing system, providing impact analysis from IPF implementation perspective, and communicating the findings of the review back to stakeholders.

Organising design authority workshops with client and IPF product stakeholders.

Activelyparticipatingin internal and external technical governance committees.

Govern IPF client implementation backlog from a technical and architectural perspective.

Creating andmaintainingstructured solution documentation including integration views, deployment views, sequencediagramsand key design decisions.

Engaging with the IPF product team tovalidate solution feasibility, communicate client requirements and ensure alignment with the product roadmap.

Tracking and communicating architectural risks, issues and dependencies to keep the project team and stakeholders informed.

Contributing to the IPF SA practice through knowledge sharing, patterndocumentationand community engagement.

About Us

Icon Solutions is a fintech company that has been designing and implementing state-of-the-art payments solutions since 2009.

Our core product - the Icon Payments Framework (IPF) - is an internationally proven payments development framework that is trusted by Tier 1 banks across the globe such as Citi, NatWest, UBS and BNP Paribas.

This combines with an international team of payments, architecture, data and Artificial Intelligence (AI) experts, who help clients navigate every step of their transformation journey.