Financial Services - Principal Architect

Job Title: Principal Architect – Financial Services

Company: Synechron

Location: Mississauga, Ontario Canada - Hybrid - 3 days onsite

Experience: 15+ Years

Industry: Banking / Financial Services

Role Type: Technical Leadership / Enterprise Architecture

Job Overview

Synechron is seeking an accomplished Principal Architect to provide strategic and hands-on technical leadership across its Canada Financial Services practice.

The ideal candidate will bring extensive experience in enterprise architecture, financial services technology, cloud transformation, data platforms, AI/ML governance, and regulatory compliance.

This role will drive architectural excellence across complex consulting engagements, define technology standards, lead critical design decisions, and mentor delivery architects and engineering teams. The individual will remain hands-on with architecture design, technical evaluations, proof of concepts, and code-level reviews.

Required Skills & Experience

• 15+ years of experience in enterprise architecture and technology leadership.
• 10+ years of experience in Financial Services, Banking, Capital Markets, Payments, or Wealth Management.
• 8+ years of experience in technology consulting or management consulting.
• Strong experience in enterprise and solution architecture for large-scale financial institutions.
• Hands-on expertise in AWS, Azure, or GCP cloud architecture.
• Strong knowledge of microservices, event-driven architecture, API-first design, and domain-driven design.
• Experience with Kubernetes, Docker, Terraform, and cloud infrastructure automation.
• Strong expertise in data platforms, data lakes, Kafka, real-time streaming, and data governance.
• Experience with AI/ML, Generative AI, LLMs, RAG, MLOps, and responsible AI governance.
• Strong understanding of API management, enterprise integration, ESB, REST, GraphQL, and messaging platforms.
• Hands-on knowledge of programming languages such as Java, Python, Go, or C++.
• Strong expertise in security architecture, IAM, zero-trust, encryption, and application security.
• Experience with banking platforms, payments, capital markets, or wealth management technology.

Regulatory & Compliance Knowledge

• OSFI regulatory guidelines, including Cloud Computing Guidelines and AI Governance Expectations.
• PIPEDA and privacy-by-design architecture.
• AML/KYC, transaction monitoring, and sanctions screening.
• Fair lending controls, AI model risk management, and explainability.
• Audit logging, regulatory reporting, and compliance architecture.

Preferred Qualifications

• AWS Solutions Architect Professional / Security Specialty.
• Google Cloud Professional Architect or equivalent Azure certifications.
• TOGAF 9 or equivalent enterprise architecture certification.
• Certified Kubernetes Administrator (CKA).
• Experience contributing to open-source projects.
• Published technical articles, whitepapers, or conference presentations.
• Previous architecture leadership experience with Tier-1 banks or financial services consulting organizations.

Key Responsibilities

1. Enterprise Architecture & Technical Leadership

• Lead enterprise architecture initiatives across financial services engagements.
• Define and enforce architecture standards, design patterns, and technology best practices.
• Review and validate complex architecture solutions and technical designs.
• Lead Architecture Decision Boards (ADBs) and establish Architecture Decision Records (ADRs).
• Drive architecture workshops and technical discussions with senior client stakeholders.
• Ensure architecture solutions meet scalability, performance, security, and regulatory requirements.

2. Hands-on Technical Delivery

• Participate in solution design, technology evaluations, and proof-of-concept development.
• Review production code, APIs, data models, and infrastructure-as-code.
• Validate architecture implementation across development, testing, and deployment.
• Provide technical guidance on cloud infrastructure, databases, integration platforms, and application architecture.
• Work closely with architects and engineering teams to resolve complex technical challenges.

3. Cloud, Data & AI/ML Architecture

• Lead cloud architecture initiatives across AWS, Azure, and GCP.
• Drive microservices, event-driven architecture, API-first design, and data platform modernization.
• Provide architecture leadership for data lakes, real-time streaming, and enterprise data governance.
• Define AI/ML and Generative AI architecture strategies, including RAG, LLMs, MLOps, and model governance.
• Evaluate emerging technologies and develop reusable frameworks and accelerators.

4. Financial Services Regulatory & Compliance Architecture

• Ensure architecture alignment with Canadian financial services regulatory requirements, including OSFI and PIPEDA.
• Design compliance-first cloud and enterprise architectures.
• Establish security, privacy, auditability, and data governance standards.
• Provide architecture guidance for AML/KYC, transaction monitoring, and fair lending controls.
• Support regulatory compliance assessments and examination readiness.

5. Technical Mentoring & Innovation

• Mentor and guide delivery architects, senior consultants, and engineering teams.
• Establish technical communities of practice and architecture knowledge-sharing forums.
• Develop reusable reference architectures, frameworks, and technical accelerators.
• Drive innovation initiatives involving AI/GenAI, cloud, real-time data, and emerging technologies.
• Contribute to technical thought leadership, research, and architecture best practices.