Enterprise Architect

O. C. Credit Union • Santa Ana, CA

1d • $182,920 - $250,000 • Hybrid

About The Position

Orange County’s Federal Credit Union is hiring an Enterprise Architect to design cloud-native solutions, deconstruct legacy architecture, and develop executable roadmaps to modernize its technology platforms. The role spans core banking, digital banking, lending and payments, data and analytics, and integration platforms. It applies cloud services, APIs, event-driven patterns, and AI/LLM capabilities where appropriate, with an emphasis on secure, scalable, observable systems that are well documented and ready for Operations.

The Enterprise Architect works hands-on with teams to review designs, build reference implementations, prototype solutions, troubleshoot, and help deliver systems that can be operated reliably. The role also establishes architecture standards and governance, supports modernization initiatives, works with business and technology stakeholders, and contributes to OCFCU’s multi-year technology roadmap. The position is currently hybrid-eligible, with three pre-assigned on-site days per week. California residency and residence within a 50-mile commute of the headquarters in Santa Ana are required.

Requirements

• At least 8 years of experience in software engineering and architecture roles, including substantial hands-on design and implementation work.
• Demonstrated experience designing and delivering cloud-native solutions on Azure and/or AWS, including APIs and microservices, containerization and/or serverless, messaging/event-driven architectures, and observability and reliability patterns.
• Proven experience decomposing legacy or vendor-centric environments and delivering incremental modernization in production.
• Practical exposure to AI/ML/LLM-enabled solutions, such as integrating cloud AI services, building AI-backed features, or partnering with data science/analytics teams.
• Experience producing operational documentation, including runbooks, support models, and monitoring and alerting requirements, to support stable operational handoffs.
• Solid understanding of integration patterns including REST/GraphQL APIs, batch/EDI, messaging/streaming, and iPaaS/integration platforms.
• Strong understanding of security-by-design and financial institution compliance expectations, including authentication and authorization, secrets management, encryption, secure connectivity, auditability, and logging suitable for regulatory examinations.
• Ability to read and review code in at least one modern language, such as C#, Java, Python, or TypeScript/Node.js.
• Excellent communication and collaboration skills across technology, risk, and business teams.
• Ability to speak and hear to give and receive information in person and over the telephone; other language skills are helpful.
• Ability to perform mathematical calculations accurately and create and maintain accurate, reliable records.
• Good memory and knowledge-retention skills; ability to multitask and prioritize effectively.
• Excellent follow-through, member relations skills, and sound business judgment.
• Ability to interact positively and professionally, work independently and self-direct when needed, and achieve goals in a team environment.
• Goal-oriented, with a desire to work in a fast-paced, results-driven environment.
• Must reside in California and live within a 50-mile commute of the headquarters in Santa Ana.
• Must undergo background and credit checks.

Nice To Haves

• Computer Science degree preferred.
• Financial services experience preferred, particularly banking or credit unions, with familiarity with NCUA, FFIEC, GLBA, and vendor risk considerations.
• Experience with CI/CD and DevOps practices, including Infrastructure as Code, automated testing, and deployment pipelines, is preferred.
• Experience with data platforms such as data warehouses, data lakes, analytics, or BI is preferred.
• Experience with API management platforms and/or service meshes is preferred.
• Prior participation in or ownership of enterprise architecture practices, such as roadmapping, standards, and reference architecture, is preferred.
• Familiarity with core banking and digital banking platforms, such as Symitar, the Jack Henry ecosystem, digital banking providers, and lending platforms, is preferred.

Responsibilities

• Design target-state architecture for core banking and related services, digital banking channels, lending, onboarding, and back-office platforms.
• Create end-to-end solution designs, including diagrams, APIs, data models, non-functional requirements, and security patterns.
• Develop cloud-native, API, integration, and event-driven reference architectures, and maintain a living architecture blueprint and application portfolio.
• Analyze legacy and vendor platforms, document current architectures and dependencies, and define pragmatic modernization strategies such as API encapsulation and incremental replacement.
• Prioritize modernization efforts with senior leaders and business/product owners based on member impact, operational risk, and business value; support iterative delivery.
• Design cloud solutions with attention to regulatory compliance, security, resiliency, performance, cost optimization, and observability.
• Establish patterns for containerized or serverless workloads, API gateways, secure vendor connectivity, messaging, and event-driven architectures.
• Define patterns for integrating AI/LLM capabilities into credit union workflows and member experiences, collaborating with InfoSec and Risk on governance and protection practices.
• Embed with project teams as lead architect, participate in design and code reviews, troubleshoot, build prototypes, and guide API design, domain modeling, data flows, and integrations.
• Prepare solutions for operational handoff with current diagrams, runbooks, support models, escalation paths, SLOs/SLAs, capacity expectations, ownership boundaries, monitoring, alerting, backup, and recovery procedures.
• Define architecture principles and standards; lead or participate in architecture reviews; maintain documentation such as diagrams, decision records, and standards.
• Partner with InfoSec, Risk, and Compliance on data protection, business continuity, vendor management, and incident response obligations.
• Communicate technical topics, options, tradeoffs, and risks clearly to leadership, risk committees, business partners, and technical teams.
• Partner with Digital Banking, Core & Operations, Lending, Member Experience, and Data & Analytics leaders to align architecture with strategies and roadmaps.
• Contribute to the multi-year technology roadmap and mentor senior engineers and technical leads in architecture practices.
• Perform other work-related duties as assigned; may serve on or take direction from a disaster recovery team.

Benefits

• Anthem HMO/PPO health plan options from day one.
• Delta Dental options from day one.
• Unum options from day one.
• Life insurance at no cost to employees.
• 401(k) with dollar-for-dollar matching up to 6% of the employee’s contribution.
• 13 vacation days per year, with rollover and increases based on tenure.
• 7 sick days per year.
• Paid holidays.
• Annual performance merit increases.
• Professional and personal development programs, including educational grants up to $1,000 per year and step progression opportunities.
• Annual discretionary bonus.
• Professional and friendly work environment focused on achieving goals, recognizing successes, and excelling at member service.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Senior
• Education Level: No Education Listed