Chief Architect/CTO Banking

Our client is a prominent European-based technology consultancy with over 30 years of global expertise in digital transformation. They specialize in engineering next-generation core systems and high-scale data solutions for industry leaders within the Financial Services, Insurance, and Manufacturing sectors. Operating a robust network across more than 20 countries, the firm is at the forefront of integrating advanced automation and modern engineering workflows into the software development lifecycle. With a strong commitment to technical excellence and a distributed global delivery model, they offer senior experts the chance to lead complex modernization initiatives. This is an ideal environment for those looking to influence the future of digital banking and large-scale enterprise architecture.

They are looking for a visionary yet deeply hands-on Chief Architect / Technical CTO to drive the technology strategy, blueprint design, and core integration of next-generation Digital Banking and Fintech platforms.

In this role, you will not be a macro-manager sitting in administrative meetings. Instead, you will act as the ultimate Technical Authority, working directly with global stakeholders to architect distributed systems, design complex integration patterns, and champion engineering excellence from the trenches. 70% of your job scope will focus on hardcore technical leadership, system design, and architectural governance, while 30% will involve pre-sales consulting and team mentoring.

Key Responsibilities

• Technology Strategy & Architecture Ownership: Define, own, and execute the end-to-end technology strategy and solution architecture for the entire program. Successfully map business capabilities into highly scalable, modern technical frameworks spanning applications, data pipelines, integrations, and public infrastructure. Enforce comprehensive architectural consistency across multiple domains, engineering squads, and development streams. Critically evaluate and validate technical trade-offs, critical decisions, and implementation strategies to ensure long-term system sustainability while ensuring absolute alignment with enterprise standards, regulatory boundaries, and client product roadmaps.
• Engineering Leadership & Delivery Governance: Provide high-level directional leadership to architecture, engineering, and product delivery teams throughout the full software development lifecycle. Serve as the ultimate technical escalation point for crucial delivery blockages, scope changes, risks, and multi-team dependencies. Formulate robust engineering benchmarks, quality gates, and code governance guidelines. Spearhead exhaustive technical feasibility studies, system performance tuning, and resilience planning across massive, complex systems.
• Client & Executive Stakeholder Management: Function as the primary technical point-of-contact for client senior stakeholders, including enterprise architects and corporate technology leadership. Facilitate and lead complex technical workshops, deep architecture reviews, core design sessions, and senior executive alignment discussions. Articulate highly complex technical principles clearly to both internal development teams and senior non-technical executives, building deep trust and credibility across all operational tiers.
• Solution Consulting & Requirement Translation: Critically validate and translate incoming business requirements into definitive, transparent technical solution concepts and blueprints. Deliver expert consultative advice on technology stacks, software patterns, and implementation blueprints. Systematically analyze operational business processes and align them with technical designs to guarantee complete end-to-end technical feasibility.
• Program-Level Coordination & Cross-Team Alignment: Act as an essential operational bridge linking product owners, engineering managers, solution architects, infrastructure teams, corporate security divisions, and external vendors. Guarantee perfect cross-team alignment between parallel delivery pipelines, such as core banking modernization, cards, payment gateways, digital customer channels, system integration layers, and data lakes. Seamlessly govern architectural dependencies and alignments across synchronous parallel release trains.
• Modern Engineering & Innovation Leadership: Champion advanced modern engineering frameworks including microservices, distributed architectures, event-driven streaming (Kafka), cloud-native environments, automated CI/CD, DevOps pipelines, and automation-first engineering systems. Firmly instill security-by-design and compliance-by-design strategies throughout the entire delivery pipeline. Mentor, cultivate, and elevate native technical talent, steering the internal engineering culture towards continuous innovation and top-tier performance benchmarks

• Overall Experience: Minimum 12+ years of professional experience in the software industry, with at least 3-5+ years in a Technical Architect, Principal Engineer, or Technical Director track.
• Banking / Financial Domain Authority: Minimum 5+ years of experience executing digital wallets, digital lending apps, payment gateways, or integration layers for major commercial banking networks (e.g., Core Banking T24 integration layers). We highly welcome leaders who have managed complex banking projects from top-tier IT consulting/service firms or fintech enterprises.
• Software/Application Engineering Roots: Must come from a solid, hardcore software development background, progressing from Senior Developer to Tech Lead and Architect. (Note: Pure Infrastructure, System Administration, or Cybersecurity tracks will NOT be considered).
• Core Tech Stack Proficiency: * 8+ years of deep technical experience in application logic, database schema design, and microservices architecture utilizing Java (Spring Boot), Python, or Go.
• 3+ years of hands-on experience in building event-driven architectures with high-volume streaming platforms (e.g., Kafka, RabbitMQ).
• Practitioner Mindset & Technical Readiness: High willingness to stay close to the engineering depth. Candidates who have moved away from hands-on engineering into macro-management within the last 2 years are welcome, provided you are fully enthusiastic and willing to return to a 70% active practitioner role (directly conducting POCs, owning blueprint designs, and driving detailed code reviews).
• Elite Communication: Exceptional English communication skills (equivalent to TOEFL iBT 90+ or IELTS 7.0+), with a proven track record of directly presenting, arguing, and defending complex system designs before global tech panels and enterprise stakeholders.

Why You'll Love Working With Us

• Global Innovation Hub: Be part of a prestigious European technology firm with a 30-year legacy, working on large-scale digital transformation projects for top-tier global financial institutions.
• Cutting-Edge Tech Stack: Engage with an AI-centric environment where you are encouraged to leverage advanced AI-assisted development tools (like GitHub Copilot and Claude Code) to redefine engineering productivity.
• Expert Collaboration: Work alongside some of the industry's brightest minds in an international setting that fosters professional growth and cultural exchange.
• Continuous Upskilling: Access specialized training programs, including professional English courses and advanced certifications in Cloud, Architecture, and emerging technologies like Smart Contracts.
• Competitive & Transparent Rewards: Enjoy a robust compensation package featuring a guaranteed 13th-month salary, performance-based bonuses, and premium health insurance for your peace of mind.
• Work-Life Balance: Benefit from a flexible Hybrid working model and extensive annual leave, allowing you to balance professional excellence with personal well-being.
• High-Impact Projects: Direct your expertise toward modernizing next-generation core systems that power the daily lives of millions in the banking and fintech sectors.