Director Enterprise Financial Application Architecture

Request Technology, LLC; Chicago (IL); On-site; USD 150,000 - 200,000; Full time

Job summary

Request Technology, LLC is looking for a Director of Enterprise Application Architecture in Chicago, IL. This role requires a proven track record in defining application architecture standards and leading a team of architects in the financial services industry. You will collaborate across the organization to ensure architectural decisions support business requirements and regulatory standards. A strong background in APIs, microservices, and cloud-native development is essential. The position offers significant leadership responsibilities within a prestigious financial institution.

Qualifications

• Demonstrated experience defining and enforcing application architecture standards at organizational scale.
• Experience with both legacy modernization and greenfield cloud-native development.
• Familiarity with Regulation SCI and equivalent regulatory frameworks.

Responsibilities

• Lead and develop a team of application architects across various domains.
• Establish and enforce architecture standards across applications and integrations.
• Serve as the primary architecture partner to relevant stakeholders across the organization.

Skills

Application architecture standards

APIs

Integration patterns

Distributed systems

Microservices

CI/CD

Automated testing

Financial services experience

Excellent communication

Leadership

Education

BS degree in Computer Science or related field

Tools

Java

Kafka

Kubernetes

AWS

Job description

Overview

Prestigious Financial Institution is currently seeking a Director of Enterprise Application Architecture with strong Financial Services / Capital markets experience. Candidate will set the architectural standard for how software builds, not as a review function that approves designs after the fact, but as an embedded strategic partner that drives resilient design from the start. Candidate will lead a team of experienced architects, align with Platform Architecture and Engineering, and ensure that every system company builds or acquires is architected to withstand stress, change, and uncertainty.

The team candidate will lead includes architects with deep domain knowledge across clearing, risk, data, and integration. Your job is to make that expertise coherent, consistent, and actionable across the application portfolio spanning the legacy and next-generation platforms.

Responsibilities

Lead the Application Architecture Function

• Lead, develop, and set direction for a team of application architects, each retaining individual domain focus across clearing, risk, data, APIs, and integrations
• Establish and enforce architecture standards across applications, integration patterns, API design, tech stack selection, and software design patterns
• Own the Application Architecture vision: shape the technology strategy for the applications and integrations by architecting systems built to withstand stress, change, and uncertainty, where resilient design is the standard for every solution we deliver
• Ensure consistent application of enterprise standards across all delivery teams

Define and Enforce Standards

• Develop and maintain Solution Design documentation standards in collaboration with the rest of the OTSI team
• Enforce design patterns and architectural guardrails across teams delivering on both legacy and greenfield systems
• Establish non-functional requirements standards: performance, scalability, fault tolerance, observability as first-class architecture concerns
• Coordinate with Platform Architecture to ensure application designs reflect infrastructure reality and operational constraints

Partner Across the Organization

• Serve as the primary architecture partner to Engineering, Product, Financial Risk Management, Management, and Quantitative Risk Management
• Collaborate with Security, QA, and Governance/Risk to ensure architectural decisions satisfy regulatory requirements including Regulation SCI and CPMI-IOSCO principles
• Engage with Product Owners, Technology Leads, and senior leadership to translate business requirements into durable architectural strategies
• Provide architecture input and review for vendor selections, technology evaluations, and major program decisions
• Conduct architecture and design reviews with enough rigor to catch problems before they reach production
• Establish feedback loops between operational incidents, post-mortems, and forward looking architecture decisions
• Drive team engagement with industry trends, emerging patterns, and evolving standards ensuring the architecture practice does not fall behind the curve
• Track and report on architecture health metrics and standards adoption across the portfolio
• Manage and develop a team

Qualifications

• Demonstrated experience defining and enforcing application architecture standards at organizational scale across complex, multi-system portfolios
• Deep hands-on background in application architecture APIs, integration patterns, distributed systems, event-driven architecture, and microservices
• Experience with both legacy/brownfield modernization and greenfield cloud-native development
• Strong working knowledge of CI/CD, automated testing, and quality gate enforcement as architecture concerns
• Ability to lead through influence as well as authority building alignment across Engineering, Security, QA, and Governance without losing the ability to make hard calls
• Excellent communication skills able to represent architecture decisions to executive leadership and translate strategy into actionable standards for development teams
• Experience in financial services, particularly regulated environments (SIFMU, clearinghouse, exchange, or bank)
• Familiarity with Regulation SCI, CPMI-IOSCO, or equivalent financial market infrastructure regulatory frameworks
• Hands-on experience with Java, Kafka, Kubernetes, and cloud-native architectures on AWS or equivalent
• Experience with scaled agile frameworks (SAFe) in large enterprise delivery programs
• Familiarity with AI-assisted development practices and their implications for architecture and standards
• BS degree in Computer Science, Information Systems Management, Mathematics, or a similar technical field.