Solutions Architect

Topsys IT; Atlanta (GA); Remote; USD 180,000 - 260,000; Full time

Job summary

Topsys IT is seeking a Lead Solution Architect to own the end-to-end technical strategy for migrating legacy mainframes to modern cloud environments. You will bridge mainframe concepts with cloud-native systems, acting as a client-facing architect and product contributor.

Responsibilities include designing scalable migration pipelines, engaging clients, and shaping the core product architecture for the fintech-focused modernization engine.

Qualifications

• Hands-on experience with legacy data structures and mainframe migration patterns.
• Design and implement CDC and ETL/ELT pipelines for high-volume data.
• Experience migrating mainframe workloads to cloud platforms (AWS/Azure/GCP).
• 7+ years in solution architecture or technical leadership, fintech preferred.
• Familiarity with modern databases and data governance standards.

Responsibilities

• Design resilient cloud architectures for mainframe data migration pipelines.
• Lead client discovery sessions and define migration roadmaps.
• Translate migration pain points into automated product features.
• Ensure data integrity, auditing, and regulatory compliance in migrations.

Skills

VSAM

DB2

EBCDIC

Copybooks

Flat Files

Tools

Debezium

Qlik

IBM InfoSphere

Kafka

Spark

PostgreSQL

Snowflake

MongoDB

Docker

Kubernetes

Job description

Job Title: Lead Solution Architect – Financial Services & Mainframe Modernization

Location: Remote

Long Term Contract

About Us

We are an ambitious, fast-growing startup built to tackle one of the most complex challenges in fintech: helping financial institutions break free from legacy infrastructure. Our core product transforms and migrates complex data and workloads from legacy mainframe systems to high-performance, modern cloud architectures. We are looking for a founding Lead Solution Architect to design our target technology landscape, drive customer migrations, and guide our product team in building scalable modernization tools.

Role Overview

As our Lead Solution Architect, you will own the end-to-end technical strategy for migrating high-volume, mission-critical financial data from legacy mainframes (COBOL, DB2, VSAM, EBCDIC formats) to modern cloud environments (AWS/Azure/GCP, relational/NoSQL databases, and event-driven architectures).

You will bridge the gap between deep mainframe concepts and modern cloud-native systems, serving as both a client-facing architect and an internal product key contributor.

Key Responsibilities

• Architecture & Strategy: Design resilient, scalable cloud architectures for complex mainframe data conversion and real-time/batch migration pipelines in compliance with banking regulations (SOC2, PCI-DSS, GDPR).
• Data Transformation & Ingestion: Architect high-throughput Change Data Capture (CDC) and ETL/ELT pipelines capable of parsing legacy mainframes, schema mapping, data validation, and automated reconciliation.
• Client Engagement: Lead technical discovery sessions with financial services clients, assess legacy mainframe landscapes, and define cloud migration roadmaps.
• Product Collaboration: Translate client migration pain points into automated features for our core migration engine, partnering closely with engineering and product leaders.
• Data Integrity & Governance: Design automated reconciliation, auditability, and data lineage mechanisms to guarantee 100% precision for mission-critical financial ledgers and records.
• Required Qualifications

Domain

Key Experience & Technical Requirements

Mainframe Knowledge

Hands-on background with legacy data structures (VSAM, DB2, Flat Files, EBCDIC encoding, Copybooks) and migration patterns from mainframe environments (IBM z/OS).

Data Modernization

Proven expertise in CDC (Change Data Capture) technologies (e.g., Debezium, Qlik, IBM InfoSphere), Kafka, Spark, and modern databases (PostgreSQL, Snowflake, MongoDB).

5+ years designing enterprise architectures on AWS, Azure, or GCP using microservices, containers (Docker/Kubernetes), and serverless patterns.

Strong grasp of financial data standards, transactional consistency (ACID vs. eventual consistency), data security, encryption, and regulatory compliance.

Track Record

7+ years of experience in solution architecture or technical leadership, preferably within fintech, enterprise SaaS, or digital transformation consulting.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience with automated code translation, AI-assisted migration tools, or reverse-engineering COBOL business logic into Java/Python/Go.
• Former experience at an early-stage startup or fast-growing B2B enterprise SaaS vendor.
• Cloud or Architecture Certifications (AWS Certified Solutions Architect – Professional, Azure Solutions Architect Expert, or TOGAF or equivalent).
• High Impact: Shape the core product architecture and engineering culture from the ground up.