Business Architect//Payment Architect

Position: Senior Business Architect// Payment Architect
Location: Jersey City, NJ (onsite/hybrid depending on business needs)

Client: HCL America
Domain: Global Payments / Financial Services

Key Responsibilities:

• Define the end-to-end payments architecture strategy, ensuring scalability, resiliency, and global adoption.
• Evaluate existing systems and recommend modernization strategies for improved performance, security, and compliance.
• Drive architectural consistency across payment platforms, APIs, and digital channels.

Payments Domain Expertise

• Provide deep subject-matter expertise on instant payments, real-time settlement systems, and cross-border payments.
• Align Citi's payment platforms with global instant payment rails (FedNow, RTP, SEPA Instant, UPI, & Processing, Liquidity Management, Data Warehousing and core Cash Management of large MNC clients
• Build architecture for Open Banking & API ecosystems, enabling seamless integrations with third-party fintechs and partners

Innovation & Emerging Technologies

• Lead initiatives in Blockchain & Tokenization (e.g., Citi Token Services).
• Explore AI-driven compliance, fraud prevention, and personalization use cases.
• Implement cloud-native architectures, microservices, and event-driven designs for payment services.

Governance & Quality

• Review code quality, system design, and technical debt within payments platforms.
• Establish best practices for development, integration, and testing across distributed teams.
• Ensure adherence regulatory requirements (AML, KYC, PSD2, GDPR, IS20022).

Stakeholder Management

• Partner with global business heads, operations, and compliance teams' tensure architectural alignment with strategic objectives.
• Collaborate with vendors, fintech partners, and external regulators tshape payments innovation.
  Core Payments Expertise
  Strong knowledge of domestic and cross-border payments, ACH, SWIFT, IS20022, RTP, SEPA, Fedwire.
  Experience with card processing, merchant acquiring, wallets, and tokenization.
  
  Technology & Architecture
  Proficiency in API-first design, microservices, cloud (AWS/Azure/Google Cloud Platform).
  Strong understanding of event-driven systems (Kafka, MQ, etc.).
  Knowledge of Blockchain, DLT, and digital currency frameworks.
  
  Leadership
  Proven track record of architecting enterprise-grade payment platforms.
  Ability to lead large, distributed engineering teams and mentor solution architects.
  Strong communication and stakeholder influencing skills.
  
  Qualifications
  18+ years of overall IT experience, with at least 12+ years in payments domain.
  Hands-on experience in architecting large-scale payment platforms at a bank, financial institution, or payment processor.
  Bachelor's or master's degree in computer science, Information Systems, or related field.
  Good to have Certifications in Enterprise Architecture (TOGAF/Zachman) or Cloud (AWS/Azure) preferred.