Chief Architect

Candescent; United States; On-site; USD 70,000 - 250,000; Full time

Job summary

Candescent is looking for a Chief Architect to lead the transformation of their SaaS platform into a modern, AI-powered architecture. This role involves defining technology strategy, ensuring platform scalability, and mentoring engineering teams while integrating AI and personalization into product capabilities.

Benefits

Vision insurance

401(k)

Paid maternity leave

Disability insurance

Paid paternity leave

Medical insurance

Qualifications

• 15+ years of experience in software engineering and enterprise architecture.
• 5+ years in a senior architecture leadership role, ideally within SaaS or FinTech.
• Proven experience in platform consolidation and large-scale system modernization.

Responsibilities

• Define end-to-end platform architecture strategy focused on scalability.
• Lead platform consolidation and modernization journey.
• Design and govern secure API ecosystems.

Skills

API management

Strategic influence

Cross-functional collaboration

Cloud principles

AI/ML integration

Event-driven architecture

Job description

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About Candescent

Candescent is the largest independent digital banking platform in the United States, serving over 1,300 financial institutions and more than 29 million registered users. Our digital-first product suite empowers banks and credit unions to deliver seamless, secure, and scalable experiences across digital and physical channels. With strong backing from Veritas Capital, we are on a mission to modernize the future of banking through cloud-native architecture, AI, and data-driven personalization.

Role Summary

We are seeking a visionary Chief Architect to lead the evolution of our SaaS platform into a modern, resilient, and AI-powered architecture. This role will shape our long-term technology strategy, provide technical leadership across engineering teams, and ensure our platform is scalable, secure, performant, and data driven.

A key priority will be driving platform transformation by consolidating multiple banking products into a unified, extensible platform with a shared architecture—enabling cross-product consistency, operational efficiency, and faster innovation. This role will also be instrumental in designing scalable APIs, improving developer experience, and enabling seamless integration with fintech partners, core banking systems, and third-party providers.

Key Responsibilities

• Define and drive end-to-end platform architecture strategy with a focus on scalability, modularity, security, and resilience
• Lead the platform consolidation and modernization journey, transitioning current solutions to a unified architecture
• Champion architecture excellence using domain-driven design, event-driven systems, and well-architected cloud principles
• Design and govern robust, secure, and extensible API ecosystems that support internal teams, external developers, and fintech partners
• Define and elevate developer experience standards including sandbox environments, API documentation, and onboarding flows
• Partner with Product, Engineering, and Data teams to embed AI/ML, analytics, and personalization into platform capabilities
• Define and enforce standards for API governance, observability, system design, and security
• Serve as a technical mentor and leader for principal engineers, enterprise architects and entire engineering team.
• Evaluate emerging technologies for future-readiness
• Collaborate with InfoSec, SRE, and DevOps to ensure platform reliability, compliance, and operational health
• Represent technology strategy in executive, partner, and customer-level discussions

What We’re Looking For

• 15+ years of experience in software engineering and enterprise architecture
• 5+ years in a senior architecture leadership role, ideally within SaaS or FinTech
• Proven experience in platform consolidation and large-scale system modernization
• Deep expertise in designing and managing API-first platforms, developer ecosystems, and partner integrations
• Familiarity with banking ecosystem integration standards (e.g., ISO 20022, Open Banking, FDX)
• Strong knowledge of distributed systems, multi-tenancy, and event-driven architecture
• Hands-on experience with AI/ML integration into product and platform architecture
• Understanding of regulatory, security, and data compliance in financial services
• Excellent communication, cross-functional collaboration, and strategic influence
• Track record of inspiring and guiding high-performance engineering teams

Why Join Candescent

• Lead platform reinvention at the largest digital banking SaaS provider in the U.S.
• Shape the AI-driven and API-first future of banking
• Collaborate with a high-caliber leadership team and top engineering talent
• Competitive compensation, equity, and comprehensive benefits

Seniority level

• Seniority level

  Director

Employment type

• Employment type

  Full-time

Job function

• Industries

  Banking

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Inferred from the description for this job

Vision insurance

401(k)

Paid maternity leave

Disability insurance

Paid paternity leave

Medical insurance

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