Senior Technical Architect - Custody & Securities Services in London

Senior Technical Architect - Custody & Securities Services

Location: Canary Wharf, London (3 days onsite / 2 days remote)
Contract: 12 Months
Rate: Up to £850 per day Inside IR35 (via Umbrella)

The Opportunity

We are seeking an experienced Senior Technical Architect to play a pivotal role in the modernisation of a global Custody and Securities Services technology landscape.

Working within a large-scale financial services environment, you will provide architectural leadership across complex post-trade platforms supporting areas such as Securities Settlements, Asset Servicing, Transaction Management, Cash & FX Processing and Tax Operations.

This is a high-impact role where you will partner with engineering, product and business stakeholders to define architecture strategy, drive platform transformation, establish governance standards and ensure solutions are scalable, resilient and fit for future growth.

What You'll Be Doing

• Lead solution architecture across critical custody and securities services platforms.
• Design and deliver modern microservices and event-driven architectures.
• Define integration patterns using APIs, messaging technologies and cloud-native services.
• Drive application modernisation initiatives, replacing legacy and batch-based systems.
• Establish and govern architecture standards covering performance, resilience, security, scalability and recoverability.
• Lead architecture reviews and support governance processes including Permit to Build (P2B) activities.
• Partner with development teams to ensure architectural alignment throughout delivery.
• Evaluate third-party platforms and contribute to build-versus-buy decisions.
• Identify and manage technical debt whilst defining long-term remediation strategies.
• Build proof-of-concepts to validate new technologies and integration approaches.
• Explore opportunities to leverage Generative AI and emerging technologies to improve engineering productivity and governance processes.

Required Experience

• Extensive experience working as a Technical Architect, Solution Architect or Lead Architect within Financial Services.
• Strong understanding of Custody Services, Securities Services, Capital Markets or Post-Trade processing.
• Experience across one or more of the following domains:
  • Securities Settlements & Clearing
  • Asset Servicing / Corporate Actions
  • Transaction Management
  • Cash Management & FX
  • Tax Processing
• Strong software engineering background with experience of:
  • Java
  • Spring / Spring Boot
  • Oracle, SQL Server or PostgreSQL
• Proven experience designing:
  • Microservices architectures
  • Event-driven systems
  • Domain-driven designs
  • Distributed platforms
• Experience with Kafka, IBM MQ, Solace or similar messaging technologies.
• Strong API and integration architecture experience, including REST and OpenAPI standards.
• Exposure to AWS and modern cloud-native architectures.
• Experience within architecture governance frameworks and technical review boards.

Desirable Experience

• Knowledge of SWIFT Messaging and ISO 20022 standards.
• TOGAF or comparable architecture certification.
• Experience with AWS cloud certifications.
• Exposure to AI, Generative AI or AI-assisted development tooling.
• Experience working within Agile, Scrum or SAFe delivery environments.

About You

You will be a highly credible architect with a strong technical foundation, capable of influencing senior stakeholders and providing clear architectural direction across large-scale transformation programmes. You will combine strategic thinking with hands‑on technical expertise and be comfortable operating in a fast‑paced, complex and highly regulated environment.

Desired Skills and Experience

Technical Architect with extensive experience delivering large-scale architecture and transformation programmes across Securities Services, Custody, Capital Markets and Banking Technology. Proven track record designing and governing complex enterprise platforms supporting securities settlements, transaction management, payments, asset servicing and post-trade processing.

Strong architecture leadership across cloud‑native, microservices and event‑driven environments with expertise spanning Java, Spring Boot, Oracle, REST APIs, Kafka, IBM MQ, Solace, AWS and Snowflake. Experienced in modernising legacy applications, defining target architectures, establishing integration standards and delivering high‑availability, resilient platforms within regulated financial services environments.

Deep understanding of securities processing, SWIFT messaging, ISO 20022 standards, settlement lifecycles, cash management and enterprise data architectures. Skilled in architecture governance, Permit to Build (P2B), technical design authority reviews, non‑functional requirements, technology risk management and technical debt reduction.

Experienced partner to business and technology stakeholders, translating complex regulatory and operational requirements into scalable technical solutions. Comfortable leading proof of concepts, evaluating emerging technologies, supporting build vs buy decisions and driving adoption of AI-assisted architecture and engineering practices.

Key Skills:

• Technical Architecture & Solution Design
• Securities Services & Custody Technology
• Securities Settlements & Post-Trade Processing
• Asset Servicing & Corporate Actions
• Transaction Management
• Cash Management & FX Processing
• SWIFT & ISO 20022 Messaging
• Microservices Architecture
• Event-Driven Architecture
• Kafka, IBM MQ, Solace
• Java, Spring Boot, Oracle, SQL
• AWS & Cloud Architecture
• Snowflake & Enterprise Data Platforms
• API Strategy & OpenAPI
• Architecture Governance & P2B
• Technical Design Authority (TDA)
• Non-Functional Requirements (NFRs)
• Technical Debt Management
• Build vs Buy Assessments
• Generative AI & Emerging Technologies
• Agile, Scrum & SAFe Delivery

Ideal background: Senior Technical Architect, Solution Architect, Lead Architect or Principal Architect currently working within Custody, Securities Services, Asset Servicing, Investment Banking or Capital Markets Technology.

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