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- Tasks: Lead the design of innovative card processing solutions in a dynamic environment.
- Company: Join a leading financial services firm with a focus on cutting-edge technology.
- Benefits: Competitive contract rate, flexible working arrangements, and opportunities for professional growth.
- Why this job: Make a significant impact on large-scale card systems and drive technological advancements.
- Qualifications: 15 years in software engineering with expertise in banking and payments systems.
- Other info: Collaborate globally and mentor teams while tackling complex technical challenges.
The predicted salary is between 72000 - 108000 £ per year.
We are seeking two highly experienced Senior Solution Architects with deep expertise in card processing platforms to drive architecture and design across a large-scale commercial cards ecosystem.
Key Responsibilities
- Own and deliver end-to-end solution architecture for card-based systems, ensuring alignment with enterprise architecture principles and platform roadmaps.
- Translate business requirements (BRDs) into solution designs, decomposing into MVPs, epics, and detailed technical stories.
- Design and implement scalable, resilient, and secure architectures across distributed systems.
- Define integration patterns (REST APIs, messaging, event-driven architecture) across internal platforms and external partners.
- Provide hands-on architectural leadership to engineering teams, ensuring design consistency and adherence to standards.
- Govern solutions through architecture review boards, ensuring compliance with security, data, and infrastructure standards.
- Identify and mitigate technical risks, including performance, scalability, and security concerns.
- Collaborate with vendors and third parties to define interoperability models and integration contracts.
- Contribute to technology strategy, including cloud adoption, modernization, and legacy transformation initiatives.
- Promote adoption of modern engineering practices including microservices, API-first design, and domain-driven design.
Required Experience
- 15 years of experience in software engineering and solution architecture, with a strong focus on banking and payments systems.
- Deep domain knowledge of card processing systems (e.g., authorization, clearing, settlement, dispute management).
- Proven experience designing high-throughput, low-latency transactional systems.
- Experience operating within large-scale, matrixed enterprise environments.
- Strong background in cloud-native architecture (AWS, Azure, or GCP), including relevant certifications.
- Demonstrated ability to handle complex, ambiguous technical problems and translate them into structured solutions.
- Strong stakeholder engagement across business, engineering, and infrastructure teams.
Technical Skills
- Architecture & Design: Microservices, event-driven architecture, domain-driven design (DDD), layered architecture.
- Integration: RESTful APIs, OpenAPI specs, messaging systems (Kafka, MQ), asynchronous processing.
- Cloud & Infrastructure: Cloud-native design, containerisation (Docker, Kubernetes), CI/CD pipelines.
- Data: Distributed data systems, RDBMS/NoSQL, data modelling, data consistency patterns.
- Security: Secure-by-design principles, IAM, encryption, threat modelling, regulatory compliance.
- Resilience: High availability, fault tolerance, disaster recovery, observability (logging, monitoring, tracing).
- Channels: Experience designing across web, mobile, API gateways, and backend orchestration layers.
- Legacy Integration: Exposure to mainframe systems (desirable but not essential).
Additional Capabilities
- Strong focus on cybersecurity and secure architecture practices.
- Experience designing mission-critical systems with strict uptime and performance SLAs.
- Ability to mentor engineers and architects, driving technical best practices and governance.
- Comfortable working across global teams with distributed stakeholders.
Locations
Card Solutions Architects - Contract role - Sheffield - Immediate employer: StrategicsIQ Ltd
Contact Detail:
StrategicsIQ Ltd Recruiting Team
StudySmarter Expert Advice 🤫
We think this is how you could land Card Solutions Architects - Contract role - Sheffield - Immediate
✨Network Like a Pro
Get out there and connect with folks in the industry! Attend meetups, webinars, or even local tech events. The more people you know, the better your chances of landing that dream role.
✨Show Off Your Skills
Don’t just talk about your experience; showcase it! Create a portfolio or a personal website where you can display your projects and achievements. This gives potential employers a taste of what you can bring to the table.
✨Ace the Interview
Prepare for those interviews like it’s a big game day! Research the company, practice common questions, and be ready to discuss how your skills align with their needs. Confidence is key!
✨Apply Through Our Website
Make sure to apply directly through our website for the best chance at getting noticed. We love seeing candidates who take that extra step to engage with us directly!
We think you need these skills to ace Card Solutions Architects - Contract role - Sheffield - Immediate
Some tips for your application 🫡
Tailor Your CV: Make sure your CV is tailored to the role of Card Solutions Architect. Highlight your experience with card processing platforms and any relevant projects you've worked on. We want to see how your skills align with our needs!
Craft a Compelling Cover Letter: Your cover letter is your chance to shine! Use it to explain why you're the perfect fit for this contract role. Share specific examples of your past work that demonstrate your expertise in architecture and design.
Showcase Your Technical Skills: Don’t forget to highlight your technical skills in your application. Mention your experience with microservices, cloud-native architecture, and any relevant certifications. We love seeing candidates who are up-to-date with modern engineering practices!
Apply Through Our Website: We encourage you to apply through our website for a smoother process. It helps us keep track of your application and ensures you don’t miss out on any important updates from us!
How to prepare for a job interview at StrategicsIQ Ltd
✨Know Your Card Processing Inside Out
Make sure you brush up on your knowledge of card processing systems, including authorization, clearing, and settlement. Be ready to discuss how you've designed high-throughput, low-latency transactional systems in the past, as this will show your deep expertise in the field.
✨Demonstrate Your Architectural Leadership
Prepare examples of how you've provided hands-on architectural leadership to engineering teams. Highlight instances where you've ensured design consistency and adherence to standards, as this is crucial for the role.
✨Showcase Your Integration Skills
Be ready to talk about your experience with integration patterns, especially REST APIs and event-driven architecture. Discuss specific projects where you've defined interoperability models and integration contracts with vendors or third parties.
✨Emphasise Your Cloud-Native Experience
Since cloud-native architecture is a key requirement, make sure to highlight your experience with AWS, Azure, or GCP. Bring up any relevant certifications and discuss how you've contributed to cloud adoption and modernization initiatives in previous roles.