Banking Principal Architect

Open Banking Principal Architect

Location:

Memphis (TN), Charlotte (NC), Raleigh (NC) or Birmingham, Alabama. Fulltime preferred local.

Role Overview

We are seeking an Open Banking Principal Architect to lead the enterprise architecture strategy, governance, and delivery of next-generation digital capabilities. This role will own the technology roadmap for Open Banking enablement (provider and consumer models), real-time data-sharing frameworks, and secure API ecosystems. The Principal Architect will guide solution teams across mobile, web, integration, security, and cloud, ensuring security-first design, data privacy, and regulatory compliance while balancing platform stability and modernization.

Required Skills & Experience

12–20+ years of experience in technology architecture, with strong experience in banking, Open Banking, or financial services. Deep expertise in Open Banking standards: FDX, data-sharing frameworks, consent architecture, customer identity. Strong experience building API ecosystems using Java/Spring Boot, API gateways, and API management platforms. Ability to architect solutions on modern cloud platforms (Azure AKS, AWS EKS, or similar). Experience with Apigee or similar integration modernization platforms.

Broad knowledge of identity, fraud, cybersecurity, compliance, and risk controls. Experience with Kafka streaming, event-driven architecture, and real-time data processing. Proven track record architecting major technology transformation programs. Strong executive communication and business-case development skills.

Skill Matrix — Open Banking Principal Architect

Programming — Must Have:
Java (advanced), Spring Boot (3.x, reactive patterns), API design;
Good to Have:
Node.js, React.js

Open Banking Standards — Must Have: FDX (hands-on), Digital Banking APIs;
Good to Have: BIAN, ISO 20022, PSD2

Open Banking Platforms — Must Have:
Ninth Wave (hands-on/exposure);
Good to Have:
Plaid, Tink, MX, Finicity

IDP & Security — Must Have: OAuth
2.0, OIDC, mTLS with Okta/Ping/Azure AD/Forge Rock;
Good to Have:
Advanced tokenization and FPE

Consent Management — Must Have:
Consent & data sharing flows;
Good to Have: GDPR/CCPA preference management Data Security — Must Have:
Mandatory data masking, logging compliance, secure coding practices;
Good to Have:
Tokenization, format-preserving encryption (FPE)

Cloud & Deployment — Must Have:
Docker, Kubernetes, Azure AKS;
Good to Have: AWS EKS, GCP GKE Ingress & API Gateway — Must Have: NGINX ingress controller, Azure API Management;
Good to Have:
Apigee, Mule Soft, Kong Event Streaming — Must Have:
Kafka (producer/consumer, schema registry);
Good to Have: MQ, Pulsar AI/Automation — Must Have: AI tools for development, testing, and code review;
Good to Have:
Prompt engineering, AI-assisted documentation Testing — Must Have:
Unit testing (JUnit, Mockito), functional automation testing;
Good to Have:
Cucumber, Karate, Postman automation Code Quality & Security — Must Have:
Sonar Qube, Veracode, static analysis, secure coding practices;
Good to Have:
Checkmarx, Fortify CI/CD & Dev Ops — Must Have:
Jenkins, Bitbucket Pipelines, Azure Dev Ops;
Good to Have:
Git Hub Actions, Git Lab CI/CD Domain Knowledge — Must Have:
Banking / Financial Services;
Good to Have:
Insurance, Fin Tech startups Soft Skills — Must Have:
Strong communication, mentoring, technical leadership;
Good to Have:
Client-facing presentation skills