Software Architect

Scotiabank•Toronto, ON

2d•Onsite

About The Position

You will be a member of the AI Engineering and Labs team, providing architectural leadership for innovative, intelligent software solutions across the Bank’s business lines. As a Senior Software Architect, you will make high-level design choices and frame the technical standards, reusable patterns, and target-state architecture that guide how AI solutions are built and integrated into the Bank’s ecosystem. Your role will be an integral part of the organization’s AI strategy dedicated to creating value for the Bank and its customers. You will work closely with teams of data scientists, data engineers, product managers, software engineers, and fellow architects to understand global business partner challenges and processes, and to translate those insights into secure, scalable, and compliant solution designs — while navigating the Bank’s Enterprise Architecture governance process (ARB/eARB).

Requirements

University degree in a relevant STEM discipline (Electrical/Computer/Software Engineering, Computer Sciences, Mathematics).
10+ years of experience in software engineering and system design, including significant time in an architecture or technical-leadership role.
Demonstrated experience producing architecture artifacts — current/target-state architecture, solution designs (TDD), Security Design Documents (SDD), and Architecture Decision Records — and rendering the associated architecture diagrams.
Familiarity with enterprise architecture governance and the ability to shepherd initiatives through architecture review (e.g., ARB/eARB), technology standardization (GTSB), and security assessment (TRA) processes.
A track record of defining implementation standards and reference patterns (e.g., microservice, event-driven, and cloud-native), and reviewing others’ solution architectures for alignment.
Experience mentoring engineers and collaborating with a broader architect community to drive consistency and engineering excellence.
Experience developing large applications (Python and microservice architecture are strongly preferred).
Experience working with databases and key-value data stores (e.g., PostgreSQL, Redis, MongoDB).
Experience using a message broker-like service (e.g., RabbitMQ, Kafka, bonus points for GCP Pub/Sub).
Concrete understanding of HTTP, REST API design and familiarity with other common networking standards and protocols.
Experience with Machine Learning, LLMs, and Agentic AI development (e.g., LangChain, LangGraph, ADK, LangSmith) is a very strong plus.
Experience with Docker/Docker Compose, Kubernetes, GCP are a very strong plus.
Experience writing/maintaining Helm Charts (preferable) and working with other IT Automation software (e.g., Ansible, Terraform) is a very strong plus.
Experience with building/using CI/CD pipelines (e.g., ArgoWF/ArgoCD) is a plus.
Modern JavaScript skills, and experience working with NodeJS, Express, React/Redux and toolsets (Webpack, Babel, Jest) are a plus.
Experience using Linux and proficiency with DevOps and tooling.
Consistent use of version control (e.g., git).

Responsibilities

Take ownership of end-to-end solution architecture, with great attention to detail, and pride in designing scalable, resilient, and secure systems that stand up to enterprise and regulatory scrutiny.
Gather and refine business requirements and transform them into clear target-state architectures, non-functional requirements, and concise technical specifications.
Perform independent research and design efficient solutions that meet specifications, align to the Bank’s reference architecture and design principles, and adhere to industry best practices and organizational policies.
Document architecture decisions (ADRs), design and security artifacts (TDD/SDD), diagrams, and operational runbooks, and present and defend solution designs at architecture review forums.
Establish implementation standards and reusable patterns, and review the solution architectures of others to ensure alignment with enterprise reference patterns.
Navigate enterprise architecture governance — preparing artifacts and shepherding initiatives through ARB/eARB, technology standards (GTSB), and security (TRA) reviews.
Mentor engineers and fellow architects, fostering a culture of engineering and architectural excellence.
Take on new challenges, while simultaneously taking pride in continuous improvement of existing software products, with the goal of providing an outstanding service for our customers.
Derive insights out of data and apply them to address business opportunities.