Chief Architect

Charles Schwab Corporation; Austin (TX); On-site; USD 180,000 - 300,000; Full time

Job summary

Charles Schwab Corporation in Austin, TX seeks a Chief Architect for Retail, Bank and Corporate Technology (RBCT) to provide senior architecture leadership across a broad portfolio and modernization initiatives. You will shape and drive the long-term architectural vision for cross-enterprise platforms, aligning with Schwab’s technology strategy and business goals.

You will lead enterprise-level programs, mentor engineers, and partner with senior business and technology leaders to set strategic

Qualifications

• Proven ability to lead complex, large enterprise, architectural initiatives across multiple teams, domains, or business areas.
• Ability to perform solution architecture for highly complex programs involving multiple systems, emerging technologies, or substantial investment.
• Proven ability to architect systems for availability, disaster recovery, observability, performance, scalability, and incident prevention across mission-critical platforms.
• Demonstrated accountability for ensuring modernization strategies and blueprints are executed as designed.
• Experience providing feedback and ongoing guidance to fine-tune systems and implementations based on real-world scenarios.

Responsibilities

• Lead enterprise-level architectural initiatives across RBCT domains, shaping long-term vision and cross-enterprise platforms.
• Guide modernization efforts and ensure tech decisions align with business outcomes, risk expectations, and operational excellence.
• Act as trusted advisor to senior leaders, offering strategic insight on tech trends and opportunities to innovate.
• Mentor developing engineers and foster pragmatic, scalable, and well-governed architecture across teams.

Skills

Architecture Leadership

Strategic Thinking

Tech Direction

Portfolio Governance

Cloud Modernization

Java/.NET

SQL/NoSQL

APIs & EDA

Executive Communication

Leadership Courage

Tools

Container Platforms

Job description

Your Opportunity

At Schwab, you’re empowered to make an impact on your career. Here, innovative thought meets creative problem solving, helping us \"challenge the status quo\" and transform the finance industry together.

We believe in the importance of in-office collaboration and fully intend for the selected candidate for this role to work on site in the specified location(s).

Schwab Technology Services enables the future of how clients manage their money by providing innovative and reliable technology products and services as a part of our ongoing commitment to democratize access to investing and financial planning.

Our organization, Retail, Bank and Corporate Technology (RBCT) builds and maintains technology solutions that are mission critical, and integral to providing world-class service to our external and internal clients.

As the Chief Architect for RBCT, you will provide senior level architecture and technology leadership across a complex portfolio of applications, platforms, and modernization initiatives. In this role, you will shape, communicate, and drive the long-term architectural vision for the RBCT domains that provide cross-enterprise platforms (serves all lines of businesses and channels) while ensuring alignment to Schwab’s broader technology strategy.

You will lead enterprise level architectural initiatives, guide modernization efforts, and ensure that all technology decisions support business outcomes, risk expectations, and operational excellence. As a trusted advisor, you will work closely with senior business and technology leaders, offering strategic insight on technological trends, competitive differentiators, and opportunities to innovate.

This role represents both a deep technical expert and a broad strategic leader—someone who is the \"first among equals\" in environments with other Distinguished Engineers, Chief Architects and technical leaders. You will influence decision making beyond organizational boundaries, mentor developing engineers, and create a culture of pragmatic, scalable, and well governed architecture across the RBCT organization.

What you have

Required Qualifications:

Architecture Leadership

• Proven ability to lead complex, large enterprise, architectural initiatives across multiple teams, domains, or business areas.
• Ability to perform solution architecture for highly complex programs involving multiple systems, emerging technologies, or substantial investment.
• Proven ability to architect systems for availability, disaster recovery, observability, performance, scalability, and incident prevention across mission-critical platforms.
• Demonstrated accountability for ensuring modernization strategies and blueprints are executed as designed.
• Experience providing feedback and ongoing guidance to fine-tune systems and implementations based on real-world scenarios.

Strategic Thinking & Technology Direction

• Experience analyzing current vs. target state capability gaps and formulating domain level technology strategies.
• Ability to establish and maintain technology blueprints, roadmaps, and a three-year technology strategy.
• Ability to evaluate technical debt, modernization tradeoffs, investment sequencing, cost optimization, and business value realization.
• Demonstrated ability to build and lead a community of practice across architects and technical leaders, fostering collaboration, knowledge sharing, and collective ownership of architectural standards.
• Experience creating forums and mechanisms that promote teamwork, continuous improvement, and innovation across distributed or matrixed technical teams.

Portfolio & Governance

• Experience providing technical leadership across portfolios, strategic programs, and functional domains.
• Strong understanding of technology governance, risk tolerances, exception processes, and compliance requirements.
• Skilled at mediating and escalating design disagreements to drive aligned outcomes.

Business & Technology Acumen

• Expertise in cloud modernization, Java/.Net, SQL and NoSQL DBMS technologies, AI-centric software development, and containerized application hosting platforms.
• Experience defining reusable platform capabilities, integration patterns, APIs, event-driven architectures, and shared services that support multiple business domains.
• Ability to build and maintain strong business relationships and act as the first point of architectural guidance for the domain.
• Strong executive presence, including the ability and experience to build and deliver presentations, materials, and communication to executive level leadership.
• Leadership courage to respectfully challenge decisions when necessary and fully commit once decisions are made.

In addition to the salary range, this role is also eligible for bonus or incentive opportunities.