Principal Enterprise Architect

Governance & Oversight

• Chair Architecture & Design Review Boards (ARBs) to review, guide, and approve solution designs, ensuring consistency with enterprise standards and strategic objectives.

Define governance processes for architectural compliance, exception

• management, and deviation tracking across business portfolios and technical teams.
• Perform architecture assurance and gap assessments to identify technical risk, misalignment, and opportunities for consolidation or optimization.
• Ensure ongoing enforcement and evolution of architecture policies, design standards, and lifecycle documentation for all enterprise assets.
• Support audit readiness and regulatory compliance by embedding architecture governance in change delivery.

Collaboration & Stakeholder Engagement

• Act as a strategic advisor to Head of Architecture, shaping investment decisions and prioritizing technology initiatives based on architectural insights.
• Work closely with product managers, domain architects, engineers, and business analysts to co-create architectural solutions that meet functional and non-functional requirements.
• Build alignment across multiple delivery streams and business units to ensure architecture decisions enable reusability, resilience, and cost-effectiveness.

Facilitate cross-functional design workshops, architecture forums, and technical deep-dives to enable

• shared understanding and decision-making.
• Represent the enterprise architecture function in vendor evaluations, technology partnerships, and RFP / RFI processes.

Architecture Delivery

• Lead the design and evolution of enterprise-scale platforms, including cloud-native systems, Payment Systems, API gateways, service orchestration layers, event-driven architectures, and data lakes.
• Guide the definition of architecture enablers and technical epics within agile planning cycles
• Ensure timely delivery of architecture artifacts and technical blueprints to support sprint-level execution and platform runway readiness.
• Monitor implementation of architectural designs to ensure conformance with standards and provide hands-on support in resolving complex design challenges.

Foster DevSecOps and platform engineering practices by integrating architecture with CI / CD pipelines, security automation, and observability frameworks

Technical Experience :

Essential :

• Proven track record in defining and evolving enterprise-wide architecture strategies, reference models, and technology roadmaps.
• Deep understanding of enterprise architecture frameworks such as TOGAF, Zachman, or FEAF, and experience applying them in complex organizations.
• Experience driving architecture transformations aligned to digital business models (e.g., omnichannel, platform as a service, composable architectures).
• Demonstrated hands-on experience architecting across multiple domains, including :

o Applications : Monolith to microservices decomposition, modernization, and lifecycle management.

o Data : Master Data Management (MDM), data lakes, streaming pipelines (e.g., Kafka), and analytics platforms.

o Integration : API-led design (REST, GraphQL), event-driven architecture, service mesh, and ESB replacement strategies.

o Infrastructure & Cloud : Hybrid / multi-cloud architectures (AWS, Azure, GCP), container orchestration (Kubernetes), IaaS / PaaS adoption models.

• Deep understanding of architectural implications for regulatory compliance frameworks (e.g., PCI-DSS, GDPR, ISO 27001).
• Experience integrating Zero Trust Architecture, identity management (OAuth2, OpenID, SAML), and encryption protocols into enterprise design.
• Familiarity with architecture risk assessments, threat modelling, and secure-by-design principles.
• Experience of various software engineering playbook frameworks (Agile development, Automated testing, Code reviews, Continuous delivery, Continuous integration, Machine learning. Observability, Privacy, Reliability, Security)
• Strong experience in designing high traffic, scalable, reliable, and secure software systems.
• Knowledge of architectural styles and patterns (e.g., Microservices, SOA, MVC, Event-driven architecture).
• Understanding of cloud architecture and services (e.g., serverless computing, containerization, orchestration).
• Experience with data modelling, data warehousing, and data integration.
• Experience in Mobile App Development and Mini-app Frameworks
• Experience with architectural modeling tools (e.g., ArchiMate, Sparx EA)
• Experience leading or supporting large-scale modernization or transformation programs (e.g., core banking revamp, mobile money overhaul, ERP replacement).

Desirable

• Experience of continuous delivery and release automation processes.
• Experience in Blockchain Software Architecture, AI / ML-driven decision systems, edge computing, etc
• Experience in Orchestration Architectural Patterns
• Knowledge and interest in market leading Payments technologies, suppliers and innovations
• Understanding of technical and architectural policies and ability to transform that policy into detailed technical design.
• Experience in Vendor assessment and technical due diligence for major platform selections.

Must have technical / professional qualifications :

Educational Qualifications :

• Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Computer Science, Information Systems, Engineering, or related field, or equivalent work experience.
• TOGAF, Zachman, or similar EA certification preferred.
• 8 years technical background inclusive of software architecture, software design, software development in a large enterprise environment
• Domain experience in Financial Services and Financial technologies will be an added advantage
• Has demonstrable knowledge and experience in both Agile and Waterfall methodologies