Head of Architecture

Overview

We are seeking a visionary Head of Architecture based in London to lead the Banks architectural strategy and play a pivotal role in our multiyear transformation toward an agentic intelligencedriven Target Operating Model (TOM). You will own the endtoend enterprise architecture modernise our design principles and guide a talented team of architects through this evolution.

The Team

You will lead a small team of enterprise and domain architects and report directly to the CTO working within a collaborative Technology Leadership Team. Technology is foundational to our transformation and architecture plays a central integrative role in replatforming the Bank for an intelligent future.

The Role

As Head of Architecture you will:

• Define and own the currentstate transitional and targetstate architectures across business data applications and technology domains.
• Design and implement the architecture needed to support an agentic AIenabled Target Operating Model including autonomy layers orchestration patterns and humanintheloop principles.
• Update the architecture function with modern workflows flexible governance and streamlined guardrails for continuous delivery.
• Lead mentor and develop a highperforming architecture team fostering modern engineering practices and capability maturity.
• Shape strategic technology roadmaps partnering with senior stakeholders to identify transformational opportunities across Payments FX Data AI and Platform domains.
• Lead complex multidisciplinary change across legacy and modern systems driving architectural simplification and scalable patterns.
• Work closely with engineering and change teams to deliver measurable business outcomes translating architectural intent into practical execution frameworks and incremental value.

Responsibilities

• Develop enterprise architecture models reference architectures and standards aligned to our agentic TOM.
• Translate roadmaps into modular work packages enabling iterative continuous value delivery.
• Champion eventdriven microservicesbased cloudnative architectures and their associated patterns.
• Foster adaptive design engineering excellence and feedbackdriven evolution across teams.
• Govern architectural decisions pragmaticallybalancing innovation technical debt and regulatory expectations.
• Act as a trusted advisor to senior executives on strategic technology decisions and businessarchitecture alignment.

Qualifications :

Essential

• Proven experience leading architecture functions in highchange transformationheavy environments.
• Deep expertise in Payments FX or highscale transactionprocessing platforms.
• Handson experience architecting distributed eventdriven microservicesoriented systems.
• Strong communication and stakeholderinfluencing skills with senior leadership.
• Experience working across modern and legacy technologies including pathways for modernisation.
• Comfortable in regulated environments with strong crossfunctional engagement.
• Familiarity with architecture frameworks such as TOGAF ArchiMate or similar.

Highly Desirable

• Experience with AI agentic architectures intelligent orchestration or autonomous workflows.
• Experience in crossborder FX and payments.
• Background in systems engineering data architecture or platform engineering.
• Technical degree required.

Additional Information :

• Hybrid working (4 days on-site)
• Contributory personal pension plan: - Minimum: Employee 2% and Employer 7%. Employer matches contributions in 1% increments to a maximum of: Employee 5% and Employer 10%
• Life Assurance 4 times annual salary
• Group Income Protection
• Private Medical Insurance this may include cover for partner and or children at company cost. Cover includes Optical Dental and Audiology
• Discretionary Bonus
• Competitive Annual Leave
• 2 Volunteering Days
• Benefit Hub

Remote Work :

No

Employment Type :

Full-time