Assistant Vice President, Application Architect

About CLS:

CLS is the trusted party at the centre of the global FX ecosystem. Utilized by thousands of counterparties, CLS makes FX safer, smoother and more cost effective. Trillions of dollars’ worth of currency flows through our systems each day.

Created by the market for the market, our unrivalled global settlement infrastructure reduces systemic risk and provides standardization for participants in many of the world’s most actively traded currencies. We deliver huge efficiencies and savings for our clients: in fact, our approach to multilateral netting shrinks funding requirements by over 96% on average, so clients can put their capital and resources to better use.

CLS products are designed to enable clients to manage risk most effectively across the full FX lifecycle – whether through more efficient processing tools or market intelligence derived from the largest single source of FX executed data available to the market.

Our ambition to make a positive difference starts with our people. Our values – Protect, Improve, Grow – underpin everything that we do at CLS and define and shape a supportive and inclusive working environment in which everyone is encouraged to be open and forward-thinking

Please ensure you read the below overview and requirements for this employment opportunity completely.

Job information:

• Functional title – Application Architect
• Department – Technology
• Corporate level – Associate Vice President
• Location – London, onsite 2 days per week

Job purpose:

The purpose of this role is to act as a member of the Application Architect team for CLS’ in-house developed and hosted 3rd party applications supporting CLS’ product offerings.

Key responsibilities include:

• Act as a solution architecture supporting change initiatives including the production of High Level Design documentation describing the overall technical design and demonstrating compliance to specific functional and non-functional requirements and alignment to technology standards, principles, and policies.
• Support the application lifecycle management processes, including the analysis of application dependencies and development of maintenance roadmaps.
• Provide feasibility & impact assessments of IT solutions to business and IT led initiatives.

Knowledge, skills and abilities:

• Experience with the design and integration of highly resilient distributed systems including familiarity a variety of software design and integration patterns.
• Experience with several of the following technologies: Java, C++, Red Hat Linux, Windows Server, .NET, MS SQL Server, IBM Db2, Oracle Database, AWS Cloud Services, IBM MQ,
• Experience of post-trade Foreign Exchange and Market Infrastructure Payment systems including SWIFT messaging and Central Bank RTGS connectivity desirable.
• Familiarity with regulatory frameworks relating to Financial Market Utilities including RegulationHH and PFMI desirable.

Qualifications and certifications:

• Bachelor’s degree in Business, Finance, Computer Science or related field, or equivalent experience
• AWS Certified Solutions Architect at the Associate Level or equivalent Cloud-related solution architecture qualification
• Solution Architect qualification or certification in Architecture methodology or technology solutions such as TOGAF

Soft skills:

• Strong interpersonal and influencing skills with excellent stakeholder management capabilities.
• Strong presentation skills, both written and verbal
• Proactive self-starter with the ability to learn quickly and work independently, adept at managing multiple projects simultaneously.
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills with an attention to detail
• Demonstrates and promotes a risk culture appropriate for a critical market infrastructure.

Our commitment to employees:

We are a small company with a big mandate, so every person is essential to our success. We are also committed to employing and retaining the most talented and dedicated people.

What makes us interesting goes beyond our competitive salaries and great benefits. Our work environment is designed around quality outcomes, not output. The FX market would cease to function without our services, and we take pride in being responsible for keeping it running smoothly.

We are different from other financial institutions in that we have a flatter and more transparent structure with accessible leadership. You will be seen, heard and empowered to develop your career.

We are a purpose-driven organization, with an inclusive culture that focuses on doing what is right. The well-being of our people is as important to us as the resilience of our systems. In addition to encouraging our people to ‘locate for their day,’ we run a range of initiatives that support employees’ sense of belonging and physical, emotional and mental well-being.

Our extensive benefits for employees typically include:

• Vacation/annual leave: 25 days in UK/Asia + 3 life days, 23 in US + 3 life days
• Private medical and dental cover and life insurance
• Generous pension contributions in the UK and Asia; matching 401(k) in the US
• Paid volunteer days
• ‘Locate for your day’ hybrid working – 2 days a week in office.
• Access to Discover – our learning platform with 1000+ courses from LinkedIn Learning.
• Paid parental leave / Coaching and support services
• Career development / LinkedIn Learning
• ‘Heads down days’ with no meetings on the last Friday of every month
• Wellbeing / Mental health support
• Diversity Council / Affinity groups (Women’s Forum, Black Employee Network, Pride Network, Parents & Caregivers Network, Sustainability Network)
• Social events

Awards:

• The Sunday Times Best Places to Work 2023 & 2024 / Big Company / The Sunday Times Awards
• Third place in Britain’s Healthiest Workplace 2022 / Medium Company / Vitality Awards