At a Glance
- Tasks: Lead the design of innovative financial crime technology architecture and integration.
- Company: Join a leading financial services firm focused on compliance and risk management.
- Benefits: Competitive salary, flexible working options, and opportunities for professional growth.
- Other info: Dynamic work environment with a focus on innovation and collaboration.
- Why this job: Shape the future of financial crime technology and make a real impact.
- Qualifications: Experience in financial crime architecture and strong stakeholder management skills.
The predicted salary is between 75600 - 92400 £ per year.
- Role Title: Financial Crime Architecture Lead (2783)
- Division: Digital Functions and Technology
About the Role
The Financial Crime Architecture Lead is a senior architecture role responsible for shaping the target-state financial crime technology ecosystem across transaction monitoring, client screening, onboarding, client risk, suitability, and investment mandate processes.
The role is central to creating a unified financial crime layer that brings together data, workflow, decisioning and user experience across Comply Advantage, OCS, Salesforce, Snowflake and supporting integration platforms.
The role will suit an experienced architecture leader who can combine financial crime domain understanding, platform strategy, integration design, data architecture, AI awareness and senior stakeholder influence to deliver a coherent, resilient and future-ready capability.
- What you’ll be responsible for
- Own the end-to-end target architecture for financial crime technology, including transaction monitoring, client screening, onboarding, client risk rating, suitability and investment mandate integration.
- Define the strategic architecture for a unified financial crime data, workflow and user experience layer, ensuring clear separation of system-of-record, orchestration, decisioning, analytics and presentation responsibilities.
- Lead architectural assessment and rationalisation of OCS, Comply Advantage, Salesforce, Snowflake and other relevant platforms, identifying where capabilities should be consolidated, integrated or retired over time.
- Set the integration patterns, APIs, event flows, data contracts and security guardrails needed to connect screening, monitoring, onboarding, mandate and CRM journeys into a coherent operating model.
- Define the architecture for AI-enabled financial crime capabilities, including explainable alert optimisation, investigation summarisation, adverse media triage, anomaly detection and operational decision support.
- Partner with Risk, Compliance, Operations, Product, Data, Architecture, Cyber and delivery teams to translate financial crime outcomes into scalable technology patterns and delivery roadmaps.
- Ensure architecture decisions reduce operational friction, duplicate data entry, fragmented case handling and manual reconciliation across financial crime processes.
- Define architecture guardrails for resilience, security, auditability, data lineage, model governance, regulatory traceability and operational control across the financial crime ecosystem.
- Support vendor and sourcing decisions by assessing platform capability, AI readiness, integration effort, data coverage, extensibility, user experience, cost and long-term strategic fit.
- Act as the senior architecture voice in programme governance, ensuring short-term delivery choices remain aligned to the longer-term strategic platform ambition
About you
If you meet some of these criteria and are excited about the role, we encourage you to apply
- Significant experience shaping target architectures in complex, regulated financial services environments, ideally across financial crime, risk, compliance, client lifecycle or wealth management domains.
- Strong understanding of financial crime processes including AML, sanctions, PEP/adverse media screening, client risk rating, transaction monitoring, alert triage and case management.
- Strong command of enterprise architecture, solution architecture, CRM workflow, data platforms, API integration, event-driven patterns, cloud architecture and platform rationalisation.
- Good knowledge of Salesforce Financial Services Cloud or similar CRM/orchestration platforms, particularly where used for onboarding, servicing, tasks, cases and audit trails.
- Good appreciation of data architecture, data governance, lineage, controls, quality management and the operational implications of fragmented or duplicated data sources.
- Ability to evaluate vendor platforms pragmatically, balancing business capability, risk reduction, implementation complexity, integration effort and long-term maintainability.
- Confident senior stakeholder influencer, able to align Technology, Risk, Compliance, Operations and business stakeholders behind a clear architectural direction.
- Experience operating in product-centric and agile delivery environments, with the judgement to balance strategic architecture with incremental delivery.
- Technical Skills & Engineering Requirements
- Strong technical understanding of SQL-based data platforms and modern analytical stores, ideally including Snowflake, with the ability to challenge data models, integration designs, performance patterns and governance controls.
- Good working knowledge of Python-based engineering and analytics patterns, including data transformation, automation, API interaction, model prototyping and reusable engineering practices.
- Strong understanding of REST APIs, event-driven integration, data contracts, canonical data models, message queues, batch processing and near-real-time data movement between vendor, CRM and enterprise data platforms.
- Experience defining cloud-native architecture patterns across identity, network, secrets management, encryption, monitoring, logging, observability, resilience and disaster recovery.
- Understanding of Dev Sec Ops and engineering governance, including CI/CD, automated testing, code quality controls, infrastructure as code, release controls and environment management.
- Good appreciation of AI and machine learning architecture, including feature engineering, model lifecycle, explainability, human-in-the-loop controls, drift monitoring, model risk and responsible AI guardrails.
- Awareness of Gen AI and LLM architecture patterns, including retrieval-augmented generation, prompt orchestration, vector search, grounding, hallucination controls, audit logging and secure use of sensitive data.
- Ability to design data and AI capabilities that are explainable, auditable, regulator-ready and aligned to financial crime risk appetite rather than black-box automation.
- Understanding of data privacy and security controls for sensitive financial crime data, including least privilege, role-based access, segregation of duties, retention, masking and controlled analytical access.
- Ability to produce architecture artefacts including capability maps, logical and physical architecture diagrams, sequence diagrams, data flow diagrams, integration catalogues and decision records.
- Measures of Success
- A clear and agreed target architecture for the unified financial crime layer, understood by Technology, Risk, Compliance and Operations stakeholders.
- Reduced fragmentation across screening, monitoring, onboarding, mandate and CRM workflows through reusable integration and architecture patterns.
- Robust architecture decisions that improve resilience, auditability, security, data quality, model governance and operational control.
- A credible multi-year roadmap that connects tactical Blossom delivery with the longer-term financial crime platform strategy.
- Improved confidence in vendor, platform and AI-enabled capability choices, supported by clear architectural rationale and transparent trade-offs.
- Evidence of reduced manual workarounds, duplicated data capture and disconnected case handling across financial crime journeys.
- Strong alignment to enterprise architecture with scalable, future-ready capabilities that support automation and AI over time.
Financial Crime Architecture Lead in London employer: Rathbones
Rathbones in Sheffield is an exceptional employer, offering a dynamic and collaborative work culture that prioritises employee growth and development. As a Client Services Executive, you will not only gain invaluable experience in wealth management but also benefit from a supportive team environment that fosters professional advancement and a commitment to high-quality client service.
StudySmarter Expert Advice🤫
We think this is how you could land Financial Crime Architecture Lead in London
✨Tap into Campus Networks
If you're still in uni, don’t forget to engage with your campus's career services and attend finance-related events. Banks often do presentations and recruitment drives on campus, so put yourself out there and make use of these opportunities to show off your passion for the field.
✨Get Certified
Consider pursuing relevant certifications like the CFA or ACCA while you’re job hunting. They not only beef up your CV but also connect you with professional bodies which can lead to networking opportunities and even job openings in banking and financial services.
✨Connect on Professional Platforms
Join finance-focused groups on platforms like LinkedIn and engage in discussions. This can really help you stand out from the crowd, allowing potential employers to see your knowledge and interest in industry trends. Plus, you might stumble upon job postings shared exclusively within the group.
✨Apply Directly and Be Proactive
Don’t shy away from reaching out directly to firms like Rathbones. Use their websites and apply through them, but also consider following up with a polite email to express your enthusiasm. Being proactive can make a huge difference in getting noticed in the competitive financial services sector.
We think you need these skills to ace Financial Crime Architecture Lead in London
Some tips for your application 🫡
Show Off Your Numbers!:In the banking and financial services world, quantifiable achievements are key. Make sure your CV highlights your grades in relevant subjects, any financial certifications you hold, and specific projects where you've delivered measurable results. Employers love to see how your skills translate into real-world success.
Tailor Your Cover Letter to the Role:When applying for a full-time position, your cover letter should make a direct connection between your experience and the job description. Don't just state your enthusiasm for finance—dive into how your background in banking or financial analysis sets you apart. Let your passion shine through while being specific about what you can bring to Rathbones.
Include Relevant Financial Software Experience:If you've worked with financial modelling tools or software like Excel, SAP, or specific analytical tools during your studies or internships, bring that up! Highlighting your proficiency can really make your application pop and show you're ready to hit the ground running in a full-time role.
Research and Reflect:Before hitting that 'apply' button on Rathbones's website, do a little digging. Look up their recent projects, values, and culture. Reflecting their ethos in your application can make a huge difference and show you’re genuinely interested in being part of the team!
How to prepare for a job interview at Rathbones
✨Brush Up on Financial Analysis Skills
Make sure you're well-versed in financial concepts and analytical techniques relevant to banking and financial services. Get comfortable with tools like Excel for modelling or financial forecasting, as technical questions in this area are common during interviews with Rathbones.
✨Prepare for Case Studies
Expect to tackle case studies that demonstrate your problem-solving skills in real-world banking scenarios. Familiarise yourself with the types of problems you might face—think risk assessments or investment evaluations—and be ready to articulate your thought process clearly.
✨Show Your Passion for Finance
Since this is a full-time position, employers at Rathbones will be keen to see your genuine interest in finance. Be prepared to discuss recent industry trends or news articles that excite you, showcasing your enthusiasm and engagement with the field.
✨Network with Industry Professionals
Before your interview, reach out to current or former Rathbones employees on platforms like LinkedIn. They'll offer unique insights into the company's culture and the interview process, which can give us a delightful edge in showcasing a good fit for the team.
