• Location: London (Hybrid)
• Contract: 6 Months Initial
• Pay Rate: £550-£600 – Outside IR35

About the Role

We’re supporting a global financial services organisation undergoing a significant banking transformation programme. As part of this journey, they are building next-generation banking capabilities and modernising core platforms that support cross-border payments, settlement, reconciliation, and banking operations.

We are seeking an experienced Java Engineering Architect to provide technical leadership across backend engineering, architecture, and delivery. This role will play a key part in shaping modern banking platforms built on cloud-native technologies, microservices, event-driven architecture, and AI-assisted engineering practices.

The successful candidate will work closely with senior architects and stakeholders while leading offshore engineering teams to deliver enterprise-scale banking solutions.

Key Responsibilities

• Partner with the Lead Architect to design and deliver enterprise-grade banking and payments platforms
• Lead offshore Java engineering teams and provide technical direction across backend workstreams
• Contribute to architecture governance, design reviews, technical decision-making, roadmap planning, and risk management
• Design scalable, secure, and resilient microservices-based architectures using Java and modern engineering practices
• Architect payment solutions supporting real-time payments, cross-border transactions, settlement, reconciliation, and regulatory requirements
• Design integration patterns across enterprise systems, third-party providers, and banking platforms
• Drive iterative delivery, stakeholder engagement, demonstrations, and technical progress reporting
• Collaborate with Business, Integration, Data, and DevOps Architects to define and refine solution designs
• Champion engineering excellence, coding standards, performance, and platform reliability
• Promote AI-assisted software delivery using tools such as GitHub Copilot, Claude Code, Cursor, or similar technologies

Required Experience

• Strong experience as a Java Architect, Engineering Architect, or Lead Backend Architect
• Extensive experience within Banking, Payments, Financial Services, or other highly regulated environments
• Deep expertise in Java, Spring Boot, and enterprise-scale backend development
• Strong knowledge of microservices architecture and distributed systems
• Experience designing event-driven solutions using Kafka or similar messaging technologies
• Strong understanding of API-first architecture, REST services, and enterprise integration patterns
• Experience working with cloud-native platforms and containerised environments
• Exposure to AWS, Azure, Kubernetes, Docker, and CI/CD pipelines
• Proven experience leading distributed engineering teams and driving large-scale delivery programmes
• Excellent stakeholder management and communication skills

Highly Desirable

• Payments domain expertise including SWIFT, ISO 20022, real-time payments, settlement, reconciliation, treasury, or cash management
• Experience delivering large-scale modernisation and transformation programmes
• Architecture certifications such as TOGAF
• Experience implementing AI-assisted engineering practices within development teams
• Exposure to cloud-native banking platforms and digital transformation initiatives