Principal Architect - Digital Architecture for Payments
About The Position
As a Director of Architecture at JPMorganChase within Commercial & Investment Bank Payments, the Principal Architect will define the target-state digital architecture and lead the transformation strategy for Merchant Payments across web, APIs, headless checkout, commerce, and mobile experiences. The role serves as a trusted technical advisor to senior business and technology leaders, connecting strategy with execution to deliver scalable, secure, cloud-native platforms. Architecture decisions will shape merchant and partner payment experiences at global scale. The architect will work across product, engineering, and business functions, turning product strategy into technical delivery roadmaps and executable engineering workstreams. The role also contributes to architecture governance, platform modernization, vendor and solution evaluations, and the development of architecture maturity across teams.
Requirements
- Formal training or certification in software engineering concepts and 10+ years of applied experience, including significant architecture leadership with software patterns and principles.
- Executive communication and leadership skills, with the ability to influence senior stakeholders and steer outcomes in complex, matrixed organizations.
- A proven track record shaping digital transformation in payments or financial services, including areas 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 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.
- 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 standards, design-first practices, governance, and partner and developer experience.
- Establish developer practices and governance for web and mobile frameworks.
- Partner with business and technology stakeholders to assess needs, propose design options, and recommend a path to market.
- Build relationships with senior business and technical decision makers, internally and client-facing, and provide thought leadership.
- Translate product strategy into technical delivery roadmaps, milestones, and executable engineering workstreams.
- Identify platform modernization opportunities and influence architecture governance forums by 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.
Benefits
- Competitive total rewards package, including base salary determined by role, experience, skill set, and location.
- Eligible roles may receive commission-based pay and/or discretionary incentive compensation in cash and/or forfeitable equity.
- Comprehensive health care coverage.
- On-site health and wellness centers.
- Retirement savings plan.
- Backup childcare.
- Tuition reimbursement.
- Mental health support.
- Financial coaching.
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What This Job Offers
Job Type
Full-time
Career Level
Senior
Education Level
No Education Listed
