Principal Architect - Digital Architecture for Payments

JPMorganChase•Plano, TX

About The Position

As a Director of Architecture in JPMorganChase’s Commercial & Investment Bank Payments, the Principal Architect defines the target-state digital architecture and leads digital transformation strategy for Merchant Payments. The role spans web, API, headless checkout, commerce, and mobile experiences, shaping how merchants and partners experience payments at global scale. The architect serves as a trusted technical advisor to senior business, product, and technology leaders, bridging strategy and execution. The position remains hands-on in design and solutioning to deliver scalable, secure, cloud-native platforms. It sits at the intersection of product, engineering, and business, and includes influencing architecture standards, evaluating solutions, and mentoring architects and engineers.

Requirements

Formal training or certification in software engineering concepts and 10+ years of applied experience, including significant architecture leadership using software patterns and principles.
Strong executive communication and leadership presence, with the ability to influence senior stakeholders and steer outcomes in complex, matrixed organizations.
Proven track record shaping digital transformation in payments or financial services, such as digital onboarding, client self-service, developer experience, and partner integration.
Strong experience with agentic commerce, headless commerce, and checkout architectures for eCommerce and omnichannel merchant experiences.
Deep hands-on experience with web architecture, modern web frameworks, and mobile frameworks.
Expertise in APIs, including API standards, functional design, lifecycle management, and governance.
Experience establishing AI standards, design, and governance.
Strong experience in Identity and Access Management (IAM), including partner integration through APIs and web, such as OAuth, OIDC, SSO, and federation.
Solid understanding of acquiring and merchant services payments, including in-store and eCommerce payment flows.
Practical, hands-on experience with cloud-native architecture and delivery.
Experience as a functional (business/product) architect who can translate business requirements into designs and technical delivery roadmaps.
Strong grasp of domain modeling, business process flows, client journeys, and use cases.

Nice To Haves

Point of Sale (POS) experience.
Cloud certification, such as AWS, Azure, or GCP.
Experience with payment industry standards and security requirements, such as PCI DSS, EMV, and tokenization.
Understanding of business capability models and feature taxonomies.

Responsibilities

Define and drive the digital architecture strategy and target state for Merchant Payments products, aligned with business goals and go-to-market plans.
Shape and execute the digital transformation roadmap across digital onboarding, client self-service, partner integration, and omnichannel commerce.
Architect headless checkout and commerce solutions connecting web, mobile, in-store, and partner channels.
Lead API strategy, including API standards, design-first practices, governance, and partner and developer experience.
Establish web and mobile framework developer practices and governance.
Work with business and technology stakeholders to assess needs, propose design options, and recommend paths to market.
Build trusted relationships with senior business and technical decision makers, internally and in client-facing settings, and provide thought leadership.
Translate product strategy into technical delivery roadmaps, milestones, and executable workstreams for engineering teams.
Identify opportunities to modernize platform capabilities alongside business initiatives.
Contribute to and influence architecture governance forums, championing standards, patterns, and reusable capabilities.
Lead evaluations of external vendors, fintechs, startups, and internal solutions, assessing architecture, technical credentials, and fit.
Mentor and influence architects and engineers across teams to raise architecture maturity.