Head of Architecture

Ouro•Austin, TX

30d•Onsite

About The Position

Ouro is a global, vertically-integrated financial services and technology company dedicated to delivering innovative financial empowerment solutions to consumers worldwide. Their products include prepaid, debit, cross-border payments, and loyalty solutions, with Netspend as their flagship product, offering secure access to global payment networks. Founded in 1999, Ouro is headquartered in Austin, Texas. The Head of Architecture position provides strategic oversight and leadership for the entire Architecture department, shaping the future technology landscape of the company’s core financial platforms to ensure robustness, security, and compliance. This includes defining the long-term architectural roadmap and vision, directly managing a team of professional architects, and ensuring strategic cohesion across the technology organization (FrontEnd, AppDev, and Backend systems). The role also involves establishing and enforcing architectural standards, exercising full discretionary authority over the annual budget for the Architecture Department, directing the selection and management of critical third-party vendors (such as AWS, Snowflake, Visa, Mastercard, Plaid, Oracle, and KrakenD), negotiating and approving contracts, and governing architectural designs to meet stringent U.S. regulations and association compliance standards. Additionally, the role provides strategic oversight for platforms utilizing advanced technologies like AI/ML models to enhance customer experiences and reduce operational costs.

Requirements

Fifteen (15) years of relevant experience, or Bachelor degree in an Engineering field which includes coursework in Mathematics, Computer Programming, and Electronics, plus twelve (12) years of relevant experience.
Expertise in enterprise and cloud architecture, microservice design and distributed systems.
Proficient in modern programming languages like Java and Python.
Strong knowledge of AWS, CI/CD and containerization using Docker and Kubernetes.
Skilled in API design, system scalability and security architecture.
Experienced in data architecture, performance optimization and automation.
Proficient in architectural governance and technology strategy for large-scale software platforms.

Responsibilities

Provides strategic oversight and leadership for the entire Architecture department, shaping the future technology landscape of the company’s core financial platforms to ensure they remain robust, secure, and compliant.
Defines and communicates the long-term architectural roadmap and vision.
Directly manages a team of professional architects, providing them with guidance, performance feedback, mentorship, and career support through regular one-on-one meetings.
Ensures strategic cohesion across the entire technology organization, leading a critical function that serves as the backbone for FrontEnd, AppDev, and Backend systems.
Establishes and enforces architectural standards for consistency and interoperability across all technology domains.
Exercises full discretionary authority over the annual budget for the Architecture Department.
Directs the selection and management of all critical third-party vendors and partners such as AWS, Snowflake, Visa, Mastercard, Plaid, Oracle, and KrakenD.
Negotiates and approves contracts for all external resources and controls budgets for third-party partnerships.
Governs architectural designs to meet stringent U.S. regulations and association compliance standards.
Provides strategic oversight for platforms utilizing advanced technologies like AI/ML models to enhance customer experiences and reduce operational costs.