Architect – Wholesale Banking Transaction Services

Cognizant; Amsterdam; On-site; EUR 120,000 - 165,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health insurance

Laptop and smartphone

25 days paid holiday

Global technology backbone

Skillspring / Cognizant Academy access

Job summary

Cognizant in Amsterdam seeks an accomplished Architect to shape a future-ready technology landscape for critical banking services. You translate strategy into architecture and work with Product Owners, Tribe Leads and engineering teams to deliver scalable, secure solutions that align with an integrated technology platform.

You will lead end-to-end design across payments, cash management, liquidity and trade finance, promoting API-first and event-driven patterns while guiding migration toward ISO

Qualifications

• 10+ years IT experience with at least 5 years in architecture roles.
• Strong payments, cash management, liquidity or trade finance background.
• Experience delivering large-scale mission-critical platforms.
• Led or significantly contributed to legacy modernization initiatives.
• Expertise in API-first and event-driven architectures.
• Knowledge of ISO 20022, SWIFT, SEPA and related standards.
• Proficient in REST APIs, OpenAPI, Kafka and cloud-native tech.
• Security, IAM, encryption and zero-trust principles, data architecture.

Responsibilities

• Shape architecture vision and roadmaps for transactions domains.
• Translate business strategy into architecture roadmaps and priorities.
• Lead end-to-end solution design across channels, APIs and processing engines.
• Promote interoperability, data quality and industry standards.
• Ensure 24/7 availability, recoverability, observability and performance.
• Collaborate with Security, Risk, and Enterprise Architecture across countries.
• Coach engineers and participate in governance and design reviews.

Skills

Payments domain expertise

Domain Architect

Enterprise Architecture

API-first design

Event-driven architecture

ISO 20022 / SWIFT

Cloud-native / Kubernetes

Security architecture

DORA / PSD2 compliance

REST APIs / OpenAPI

Kafka / streaming

Migration planning

Architecture governance

Tools

Kafka

Kubernetes

REST / OpenAPI

SWIFT / ISO 20022 tooling

Cloud platforms (private/public)

Job description

As an Architect, you help shape a future-ready technology landscape that supports critical banking services.

You translate business and product strategy into coherent architecture and work closely with Product Owners, Tribe Leads, engineering teams, Security, Risk and Enterprise Architecture. Your goal is to ensure solutions are scalable, resilient, secure and compliant, while forming part of an integrated technology platform rather than operating as individual point solutions.

This is a role for someone who combines strategic thinking with practical technical leadership. You should be equally comfortable discussing target architecture with senior stakeholders and reviewing API designs or event models together with engineers.

What you will do

Shape the architecture vision and roadmap

• Define and maintain target architecture across one or more Transaction Services domains, including payments processing, cash management and liquidity, trade finance, client channels or connectivity.
• Translate business and product strategy into architecture roadmaps, transition states and clear priorities.
• Identify opportunities to simplify the technology landscape, increase reuse and retire legacy applications.

Design scalable solutions

• Lead end-to-end solution design across client channels such as host-to-host connectivity, APIs and portals, as well as processing engines, clearing and settlement connections and back-office systems.
• Work with technologies and infrastructures including SWIFT, SEPA, TARGET2/T2 and instant-payment schemes.
• Promote API-first and event-driven architecture, including domain modelling, integration patterns and data flows.
• Support migration towards ISO 20022 and other relevant industry standards, with a focus on interoperability and data quality.
• Balance performance, availability, cost, security and time-to-market, documenting key trade-offs through architecture decision records.

Build resilience, security and compliance into the architecture

• Incorporate non-functional requirements from the outset, including 24/7 availability, low latency, throughput, recoverability and observability.
• Partner with Security and Risk stakeholders on requirements related to DORA, PSD2/PSD3, sanctions screening, AML/KYC controls and data privacy.
• Contribute to operational resilience through scenario planning, capacity planning and disaster-recovery design.

Lead, collaborate and influence

• Serve as an architecture point of contact for squads and tribes.
• Coach engineers and encourage strong engineering practices.
• Participate in architecture governance and design reviews, providing pragmatic technical guidance and constructive challenge.
• Work with Enterprise Architecture and architecture peers across countries to align standards, reference architectures and shared platforms.
• Follow developments including real-time payments, open banking, embedded finance, digital trade, tokenisation and AI, translating relevant developments into concrete opportunities.

What you bring

• 10+ years of professional IT experience, including at least 5 years in an architecture role, such as Solution Architect, Domain Architect or Enterprise Architect.
• Strong experience within payments, cash management, liquidity or trade finance, preferably in a wholesale or transaction-banking environment.
• Demonstrated experience delivering large-scale, mission-critical technology platforms.
• Experience leading or playing a significant role in legacy-modernisation initiatives
• Technical expertise
• Payment flows, clearing and settlement
• ISO 20022 and SWIFT MT/MX
• SEPA, including SCT, SCT Inst and SDD
• REST APIs and OpenAPI
• Event streaming technologies such as Kafka
• Cloud-native technologies, including containers and Kubernetes
• Private and public cloud environments
• DevOps and CI/CD practices
• Data architecture and security architecture, including IAM, encryption and zero-trust principles
• Observability

What will help you succeed

In addition to your technical background, this position suits someone who can operate between strategy and implementation. You can communicate architecture choices clearly to different audiences and work effectively across product, engineering, security, risk and architecture disciplines.

You take a pragmatic approach to architecture: setting clear direction while remaining close enough to engineering to understand the implications of technical decisions.

What we offer

• A competitive salary based on your qualities and experience
• NS business card to cover your commute expenses
• 25 days of paid holiday per year
• A laptop and a smartphone
• Health insurance
• Organization driven by technology - we have a tremendous technology backbone
• Access to Skillspring, Cognizant Academy digital libraries for your continuous learning
• Open, 'can do' team spirit and international environment that encourages making your ideas reality!