Solution Architect (Senior Manager, VCA Implementation Services) Fixed-Term
Job Description
About Us
Visa is a world leader in payments technology, facilitating transactions between consumers, merchants, financial institutions and government entities across more than 200 countries and territories, dedicated to uplifting everyone, everywhere by being the best way to pay and be paid.
At Visa, you'll have the opportunity to create impact at scale — tackling meaningful challenges, growing your skills and seeing your contributions impact lives around the world.
Join Visa and do work that matters – to you, to your community, and to the world. Progress starts with you.
Job Description
Team Summary
Visa Consulting & Analytics (VCA) is Visa's advisory division, working with Visa's clients on a broad range of key business initiatives including strategy, operational optimisation, customer engagement and overall business profitability.
Our Implementation Services squads are embedded at client sites leading long-term engagements and delivering value primarily through implementation and execution services. We deliver objectives from a shared value agenda but are also closely connected to the broader VCA team, sharing knowledge, and bringing the best of Visa to the client.
We are seeking a Senior Solution Architect to join one of our banking clients in Auckland on a 12-15 month fixed-term contract. In this embedded role, you’ll be a part of our client’s cross-disciplined architecture team, supporting the multiple tech squads dedicated to digital initiatives benefiting Visa cardholders, designing and implement technology solutions to support the delivery of business goals.
Role Summary & Responsibilities
You will be a key driver in our client’s tech programme for Cards experiences, responsible for designing and delivering secure, scalable, and compliant solutions that enable seamless customer experiences. You will collaborate with cross-functional teams to architect innovative systems across different workstreams of the programme, covering payments innovation, fraud prevention and loyalty, leveraging modern technologies and best practices to support the bank’s strategic objectives.
Highlights of your role include:
Drive architectural design for strategic digital initiatives in our client's Cards programme, working within their established governance frameworks to ensure solutions align with enterprise standards and business goals.
Develop and implement API strategies and event-driven integrations to support extensibility and interoperability across platforms.
Architect end-to-end solutions for payments innovation, fraud-prevention and loyalty, with a focus on scalability, security, and compliance.
Present and champion architectural designs within governance forums, ensuring traceability and alignment to enterprise architecture principles, while remaining open to feedback to continuously improve solutions.
Foster collaboration across technology and business teams to maximise reuse and accelerate delivery of high-impact solutions.
Translate business requirements into solution options and provide the recommendations.
Produce high quality architecture artefacts including but not limited to diagrams, interface design and architecture decision records etc.
Collaborate closely with engineering leads in the programme, working together to bridge the gap from solution architecture to detailed designs, providing the technical leadership to ensure architectures are realised and are deliverable.
Qualifications
Key Requirements
Extensive experience in financial services architecture, ideally within the cards domain and customer-facing digital experiences.
Demonstrated ability to operate within established enterprise architecture governance frameworks, navigating decision processes collaboratively.
Proven expertise in designing enterprise solutions using APIs (Java Microservice), Gateways (Kong gateway), event streaming (Kafka).
Deep understanding of API security including Network security, Gateways, OAuth TLS, encryption etc.
Understanding of API Mesh and Event Mesh and other loosely coupled and decoupled integration patterns.
Understanding of digital channels and their integrations including Mobile apps and web app and third party integrations.
Hands-on experience with multi cloud platforms (AWS, Azure).
Strong stakeholder engagement at multiple levels. Demonstrated ability to influence, collaborate and negotiate with stakeholders to inform their decision making.
Understanding of identity, CIAM and digital security.
Ability to solve a complex business problem with a pragmatic solution.
Desirable
Hands-on experience with modern cloud platforms (AWS, GCP, Azure).
Familiarity with BIAN standards and API governance. Interest in modern data architectures.
Highly aware of cybersecurity threats, Identity, and security standards and technologies
Exposure to open banking, digital identity verification (eKYC), and Agile delivery methodologies.
Experience with the container technologies and container orchestration platform (e.g. Kubernetes, Openshift, EKS and AKS)
Relevant certifications (e.g., TOGAF, AWS Certified Solutions Architect).
Note, you’re not expected to have 100% of these skills. If you have most of the skills required and this role sounds exciting to you, we'd love to hear from you!
Visa is an EEO Employer
Qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability or protected veteran status. Visa will also consider for employment qualified applicants with criminal histories in a manner consistent with EEOC guidelines and applicable local law.