Lead System Architect

As a Lead Systems Architect in the Visa Direct group, you will lead strategic initiatives, providing architectural direction and ensuring solutions align with the platform's target state. The role involves innovating agile solution approaches, collaborating globally, and delivering high-level architecture and design artifacts. You will guide development teams, ensure secure and scalable system designs, prototype new ideas, and provide thought leadership on payment and technology trends to enhance products and create new solutions.

Must Have

• Lead and manage strategic initiatives in Visa Direct.
• Innovate solution approaches for agile, incremental value delivery.
• Ensure solutions align with architecture and software target state.
• Collaborate with global architects and business folks.
• Deliver high-level architecture and design artifacts.
• Guide development teams on detailed design.
• Ensure business requirements translate into secure, scalable, and efficient software system designs.
• Prototype new approaches to demonstrate viability.
• Provide thought leadership on existing and emerging payment trends.
• Stay abreast of new technology trends, innovations, and partner asks.
• 10+ years of relevant work experience.
• Bachelor's Degree in Computer Science, Computer Engineering or related technical field.
• Proven experience as Systems Architect or in a similar role.
• Expertise in designing distributed systems and microservices architectures.
• Solid knowledge of one or more programming languages (Java preferred).
• Experience with containerization technologies and orchestration tools (Docker, Kubernetes).
• Excellent problem-solving skills.
• Ability to quickly churn proof-of-concepts/prototypes.
• Solid knowledge of secure software development lifecycle and security practices.
• Extensive experience in API design and in system and component design with attention to API security.
• 12+ years of relevant experience with 3+ years in technical leadership role.

Good to Have

• Masters Degree or other advanced degree preferred.
• Very strong interpersonal, facilitation, team building, and leadership skills.
• Effective communication (written and verbal) skills.
• Ability to present complex ideas in a clear, concise way.
• Ability to influence and develop relationships with key partners.
• Good understanding on emerging technology trends in the fields of systems, data, AI.
• API-first mindset when building products.
• Experience in using UI frameworks (micro-frontend).

Company Description

Visa is a world leader in payments and technology, with over 259 billion payments transactions flowing safely between consumers, merchants, financial institutions, and government entities in more than 200 countries and territories each year. Our mission is to connect the world through the most innovative, convenient, reliable, and secure payments network, enabling individuals, businesses, and economies to thrive while driven by a common purpose – to uplift everyone, everywhere by being the best way to pay and be paid.

Make an impact with a purpose-driven industry leader. Join us today and experience Life at Visa.

Job Description

As Lead Systems Architect, you will lead and manage several strategic initiatives in the Visa Direct group.

• The architecture group oversees and provides strategic direction on several regional/market-specific and horizontal/cross-cutting initiatives. We ensure that the solutions are built is in alignment with the architecture and software target state of the platform.
• As Lead Systems Architect, you will need to innovate around solution approaches in a way that can deliver value in an agile, incremental fashion to our clients, while at the same time ensuring that broader architectural goals/tenets are met. In that sense, architects must play the role of both product-owner and core technology owner simultaneously at ease. The role will involve closely collaborating with a global network of architects and business folks across Visa to achieve the objectives.
• Key payment flows such as Fund Transfer to Cards, Accounts, Wallets, Crypto are handled in Visa Direct. In addition, several core horizontal platform/infrastructure services that form building blocks for numerous product lines internally within Visa are also under the architecture group's radar. These are complemented by value-add services and entire ecosystem to manage end-to-end delivery of push payments.
• Architects deliver high level architecture and design artifacts for several such large initiatives. In addition, architect guide development teams on detailed design artifacts. The architecture group is a core part of the engineering team participating in the entire software development lifecycle. You will play a key role in ensuring business requirements are translated into secure, scalable, and efficient software system designs.
• Whenever the need arises, you will need to be able to roll up your sleeves and quickly prototype new approaches to demonstrate viability of creative initiatives/ideas/technologies. You will provide the thought leadership on existing and emerging payment trends to develop a vision for specific areas of solution with an eye toward applicability across the greater client base. You will also stay abreast of new technology trends, innovations, and asks from Visa's strategic partners to enhance our existing products or create new solutions with a faster time-to-market.

If you enjoy working in a fast-paced organization, a good problem solver, have a passion for using architecture to solving challenging business problems, and have an innovative spirit, we would love to hear from you.

This is a hybrid position. Expectation of days in office will be confirmed by your hiring manager.

Qualifications

Basic Qualifications:

10+ years of relevant work experience with a Bachelor’s Degree or at least 7 years of work experience with an Advanced degree (e.g. Masters, MBA, JD, MD) or 4 years of work experience with a PhD, OR 13+ years of relevant work experience.

Preferred Qualifications:

12 or more years of work experience with a Bachelor’s Degree or 8-10 years of experience with an Advanced Degree (e.g. Masters, MBA, JD, MD) or 6+ years of work experience with a PhD.

Bachelor's Degree in Computer Science, Computer Engineering or related technical field required. Masters Degree or other advanced degree preferred.

Very strong interpersonal, facilitation, team building, and leadership skills along with effective communication (both written and verbal) skills and the ability to present complex ideas in a clear, concise way, ability to influence and develop relationships with key partners.

Proven experience as Systems Architect or in a similar role, with a track record of successfully delivering complex software systems.

Expertise in designing distributed systems and microservices architectures.

Solid knowledge of one or more programming languages. Java language preferred.

Experience with containerization technologies and orchestration tools (Docker, Kubernetes).

Excellent problem-solving skills and the ability to analyze complex systems to identify opportunities for improvement.

Ability to quickly churn proof-of-concepts/prototypes as needed to demonstrate new ideas or approaches.

Solid knowledge of secure software development lifecycle and security practices.

Extensive experience in API design and in system and component design with attention to API security.

12+ years of relevant experience with 3+ years of experience in technical leadership role.

Good understanding on emerging technology trends in the fields of systems, data, AI that can be used to deliver innovative solutions.

API-first mindset when building products.

Experience in using UI frameworks (micro-frontend).

Additional Information

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.