At a Glance
- 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.
- Other info: Collaborate with global teams and drive modern engineering practices.
- Why this job: Make a significant impact on the future of card processing systems.
- Qualifications: 15+ years in software engineering with expertise in banking and payments.
The predicted salary is between 72000 - 88000 £ 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.
Card Solutions Architects - Contract role - Sheffield - Immediate in Yorkshire employer: StrategicsIQ Ltd
This highly respected travel company offers an exceptional working environment where employees can thrive in their careers. With a strong focus on collaboration and support, the company provides excellent opportunities for growth, flexible working arrangements, and a variety of benefits including travel perks and a pension scheme. Located in a vibrant area, this role as an Inbound Travel Quotation Executive allows you to engage with diverse clients and suppliers while crafting unforgettable travel experiences.
StudySmarter Expert Advice🤫
We think this is how you could land Card Solutions Architects - Contract role - Sheffield - Immediate in Yorkshire
✨Get Involved in Open-Source Projects
Diving into open-source projects is a brilliant way to showcase your skills and connect with other developers in the community. Not only will you beef up your GitHub profile but you might also catch the eye of someone at StrategicsIQ Ltd who values hands-on experience over just theory.
✨Attend Local Tech Meetups
Tech meetups are gold mines for networking and discovering job opportunities, especially in the fast-paced world of software engineering. Check out local listings for events in your area and don’t shy away from introducing yourself. This could lead directly to a temporary position at StrategicsIQ Ltd!
✨Showcase Your Work Online
With temporary roles, it’s all about standing out in a short space of time. Create a portfolio website where you highlight your projects and skills. Talk about your code, and provide links to your GitHub repositories. This will not only demonstrate your abilities but will also make it easier for recruiters at StrategicsIQ Ltd to see what you bring to the table.
✨Leverage Temporary Job Boards
Don’t forget to check specialised job boards for temporary software development roles. Websites like We Work Remotely or Remote OK often list short-term gigs that can be a perfect fit. Apply directly through our website as well, making sure your application is sharp—temporary roles can move fast!
We think you need these skills to ace Card Solutions Architects - Contract role - Sheffield - Immediate in Yorkshire
Some tips for your application 🫡
Show Off Your Tech Skills:Make sure your CV highlights your tech stack and any programming languages you’re proficient in. Include specifics about any frameworks or technologies you’ve worked with; they can make you stand out in the sea of applicants. It’s all about showing that you have the chops we need at StrategicsIQ Ltd!
Portfolio 2.0:Since you’re applying for a temporary gig, it’s super important to showcase a portfolio that highlights your best projects. Include links to GitHub or any personal projects that demonstrate what you can do in a real-world environment. This gives us a taste of your style and your problem-solving approach!
Keep It Brief and Relevant:With a temporary position, we want to see your ability to hit the ground running. Be concise in your CV and cover letter; stick to experiences that directly relate to the role. Highlight any previous temporary roles or freelance gigs that show your adaptability and quick learning!
Tailor Your Cover Letter:Don’t just send a generic cover letter. Personalise it for Card Solutions Architects - Contract role - Sheffield - Immediate at StrategicsIQ Ltd! Mention why this temporary role excites you and how you see yourself contributing in the short run. Show us what you've got and why you're the one for this quick turn-around!
How to prepare for a job interview at StrategicsIQ Ltd
✨Nail the Technical Skills
For a software engineering role, you'll likely face technical questions or coding tasks during your interview. Brush up on the relevant programming languages and frameworks that StrategicsIQ Ltd uses, and don’t forget to practice some coding challenges on platforms like LeetCode or HackerRank. Showing your coding prowess can really make you stand out!
✨Prepare for System Design Questions
Even for a temporary role, having a grasp of system design principles can be crucial. Be ready to discuss how you would architect a software solution, including discussing trade-offs, scalability, and performance considerations. Having examples from previous projects can really show off your analytical thinking.
✨Demonstrate Your Adaptability
Since this is a temporary role, you'll want to emphasise your ability to hit the ground running. Highlight experiences where you quickly adapted to new technologies or teams. Let’s make it clear to the interviewers at StrategicsIQ Ltd that you can learn on the job and deliver results in a short timeframe!
✨Show Off Your Portfolio
Make sure to have a portfolio or GitHub ready showcasing your projects. Having tangible evidence of what you've done—be it personal projects, contributions to open-source, or previous work—can convey how capable you are. Tailor this for what might interest StrategicsIQ Ltd, so it's relevant and sparks conversation during your interview.
