Senior Enterprise Architect

Senior Enterprise Architect, Permanent, London

The Senior Enterprise Architect will provide appropriate guidance to the group on the end-to-end architecture of the existing systems and the next generation infrastructure, along with the boundaries and interactions within the ecosystem to ensure stability and resilience while meeting end user needs through promotion of competition.

Key Accountabilities

• Develops and maintains the end-to-end payments enterprise architecture strategy and policy to support Pay.UK strategy
• Develops and introduces a clear and transparent enterprise and solution architecture that integrates with the current and future systems and oversees the interactions, rules, standards and processes across all Pay.UK managed services
• Responsible for design governance and oversight for BAU and project change
• Ensures that the resilience of the overall payments ecosystem is maintained through the appropriate application of design principles, rules and standards
• Ensures designs are accessible and transparent to all stakeholders
• Designs and manages Pay.UK enterprise architecture for each component owned and actively operated by Pay.UK including its role within and integration with the Payment systems
• Maintains a thorough understanding of the end-to-end payments landscape (both domestic and international) combining insights and data internally across Pay.UK, stakeholder engagement and horizon scanning of the industry leveraging from internal and external market analytics capabilities
• Ensures enterprise data requirements are defined and consistent across the ecosystem, and conform to all relevant rules and standards
• Develops and maintains Pay.UK operating framework required to ensure the stability of the end-to-end ecosystem working closely with Operations, Data Management, Assurance and Risk who will operationalise the framework across the different layers of the enterprise architecture
• Contributes to the development of the payments ecosystem model
• Assesses the fitness of the enterprise architecture and analyse potential future enhancements and innovations.
• Provides architectural advisory expertise internally to key change programmes of work, and other internal capabilities as required, e.g. Operations, Assurance, etc.

Skills, Qualifications & Experience

• Degree educated, or equivalent and relevant work experience
• Professional credentials are necessary, accompanied by a solid grasp of financial services and the payments sector. Recent TOGAF certification preferred
• Understanding of the retail payments industry including payments clearing and settlement, fraud, data and relevant regulation and industry standards
• Experience of working on large-scale procurements, working with vendors to collaborate on design, requirements gathering and solution evaluation
• Experience of designing target state architectures and transition states, making architectural decisions in line with a technology roadmap
• Extensive expertise in the design, development, integration, and testing of enterprise architectural frameworks
• Experience in short-term and long-range enterprise strategic planning, budgeting, systems analysis and design
• Software architectural design, development, integration, and testing
• Strategic development and execution
• Ability to act as a change agent and inspire others through conviction, vision, and the ability to formulate and articulate direction
• Commitment to achieving results by setting practical and assessable benchmarks
• Ability to manage multiple simultaneous projects or initiatives while maintaining attention to detail
• Elevated competency in troubleshooting and option selection

At Pay.UK, we value diversity and inclusivity. Research has shown that candidates from underrepresented groups may hesitate to apply unless they meet all the requirements listed. We encourage all qualified candidates to apply, regardless of how closely their skills and experience match the requirements. We are committed to supporting accessibility needs and creating a welcoming environment for all employees. Become part of our team and contribute to the creation of an inclusive work environment that values everyone's unique input.

About Us

Pay.UK maintains and develops the UK retail payment systems and standards that are core to the economy being able to function on a day-to-day basis.

From Bacs to Faster Payments and cheques – we act as the single operator for all UK retail payments. We put the needs of consumers and businesses at the heart of everything we do, working in the public interest to ensure that the systems the country relies on for its banking transactions are safe, open, innovative and resilient.

Our payment systems underpin the services that enable funds to be transferred between people and institutions. In 2023, the UK's retail payment systems processed 11.4 billion transactions worth £9.3 trillion through Bacs Direct Credit, Direct Debit, Faster Payments, and cheques, and our Current Account Switch Service has facilitated over 10.2 million switches since its launch in 2013.

Every day, people and businesses use the services we provide to get their salaries, pay their bills and make online and mobile banking payments. Our vision for the future is to enable a vibrant economy, with Pay.UK delivering the best-in-class payment infrastructure and standards for the benefit of consumers and businesses nationwide.

Benefits & Additional Information

• 12% Non-contributory pension
• Discretionary annual bonus 
• 30 days annual leave (excluding bank holidays)
• Private medical insurance, life assurance, income protection, health cash plan, dental insurance, Bupa medicals etc
• Employee assistance programme
• Cycle to Work Scheme
• Season ticket loan
• Annual fitness subsidy of up to £500 per annum
• Working from home policy - minimum 40% in the office (eg. 2 days in the office over a 5 day working week)

Please note: Benefits for FTC roles may vary