Lead System Architect

Visa•Foster City, CA

1d•$193,800 - $310,100•Hybrid

About The Position

The Lead Systems Architect will help define technology strategy and future-state architecture for Visa’s strategic payment products and platforms. Working across business strategy, emerging technology, AI innovation, and large-scale engineering, this role influences important technology investments and helps shape products and platforms that support billions of transactions worldwide. The position leads the design of open, scalable, API-first platforms using cloud-native architectures, event-driven systems, reusable services, and modern integration patterns. It partners with Product, Engineering, Operations, and Business leaders to turn ideas into secure, resilient, high-performing solutions, and provides strategic guidance through architecture consulting engagements, impact assessments, reviews, and recommendations. The architect drives platform modernization, including transitions from legacy systems to interoperable, cloud-enabled ecosystems, and architects AI-native solutions using capabilities such as GenAI, agentic workflows, RAG, and orchestration frameworks. The role also establishes architecture standards, reusable patterns, governance frameworks, and engineering best practices; defines and leads proofs of concept from requirements through executive presentation; evaluates emerging technologies; and mentors engineers and architects. Projects include next-generation payment products, platform modernization, open systems transformation, AI- and GenAI-enabled solutions, cloud, data, API and platform transformation, strategic architecture roadmaps, and cross-functional initiatives across payments, digital commerce, and financial services. The position requires at least three days in the office, with the specific days confirmed by the Hiring Manager. Work hours vary according to department needs, and travel is 5–10% of the time. The work is performed in an office setting and involves sitting and standing at a desk, communicating in person and by telephone, and frequently using standard office equipment such as computers and telephones.

Requirements

10+ years of relevant work experience with a Bachelor's Degree, at least 7 years with an Advanced Degree, 4 years with a PhD, or 13+ years of relevant work experience.
Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, Information Systems, or a related field, or an equivalent combination of education, training, and work experience.
Deep experience designing and evolving large-scale distributed systems, platforms, and enterprise applications in high-availability environments.
Strong experience architecting open, API-first, cloud-native systems using industry standards, microservices, event-driven architectures, modern integration patterns, and reusable platform services.
Experience in payments, fintech, financial services, commerce, or other highly scaled transaction-processing environments.
Experience modernizing legacy or tightly coupled systems into scalable, interoperable, loosely coupled architectures.
Demonstrated experience designing, implementing, or enabling AI- and GenAI-powered solutions, including intelligent workflows, agentic systems, AI-assisted engineering capabilities, RAG frameworks, or AI-native platform features.
Ability to translate business opportunities into practical, scalable technology solutions that deliver measurable customer and business value.
Experience defining target-state architectures, technology roadmaps, architecture principles, and engineering standards.
Experience influencing technical decisions and collaborating with Product, Engineering, Operations, and executive stakeholders.
Strong communication, problem-solving, and relationship-building skills.
Passion for innovation, continuous learning, and shaping the future of technology and payments.

Nice To Haves

12 or more years of work experience with a Bachelor’s Degree, 8–10 years with an Advanced Degree, or 6+ years with a PhD.
12+ years of progressively responsible experience in software engineering, systems architecture, solution architecture, platform engineering, or related technology disciplines.
Experience building cloud-native platforms and using platform engineering practices to improve developer productivity and operational excellence.
Experience designing AI-native architectures using foundation models, agent orchestration frameworks, vector databases, RAG architectures, AI observability, model governance, and responsible AI principles.
Experience leading enterprise modernization initiatives involving cloud transformation, API enablement, platform simplification, or data architecture evolution.
Experience developing technology strategy, innovation roadmaps, or architecture guidance for large-scale product organizations.
Passion for mentoring others and building strong engineering and architecture communities.

Responsibilities

Define architecture strategies, target-state architectures, and technology roadmaps for strategic payment products and platforms.
Lead the design of open, scalable, API-first platforms using cloud-native architectures, event-driven systems, reusable services, and modern integration patterns.
Partner with Product, Engineering, Operations, and Business leaders to develop scalable, secure, resilient, high-performing solutions.
Lead architecture consulting engagements, including strategic guidance, impact assessments, architecture reviews, and technology recommendations.
Drive modernization of legacy platforms into interoperable, cloud-enabled, developer-friendly ecosystems.
Architect and enable AI-native platforms and intelligent solutions using GenAI, agentic workflows, RAG, orchestration frameworks, and emerging AI capabilities.
Use AI and automation to improve engineering productivity, operational efficiency, architecture analysis, and customer experiences.
Establish architecture standards, reusable patterns, governance frameworks, and engineering best practices.
Define and execute proofs of concept that support business objectives, platform modernization, and digital transformation.
Identify opportunities for emerging technologies to improve scalability, resiliency, security, operational efficiency, or customer experience.
Set success criteria, measurable outcomes, and architecture evaluation frameworks for proofs of concept.
Lead end-to-end proof-of-concept activities, including requirements gathering, solution design, implementation, testing, and executive presentation.
Evaluate emerging technologies, develop proofs of concept, and influence Visa’s long-term technology direction.
Mentor engineers and architects and foster innovation, collaboration, and technical excellence.