Senior Business Architect

Senior Business Architect

The Senior Business Architect will play a pivotal role in designing and establishing Canadian brokerage operations within a growing financial technology environment. You will translate complex brokerage processes, regulatory obligations, and operational requirements into clear product specifications and actionable technical solutions. Working closely with Product, Engineering, Operations, and Compliance teams, you will help shape the platform's capabilities across account management, trading, clearing, settlement, and custody. You will lead structured discovery, identify platform gaps, and define operating models that support both immediate launch requirements and long-term growth. As a senior individual contributor, you will have direct visibility with executive leadership and significant ownership over strategic initiatives. This is an opportunity to help build scalable brokerage infrastructure while introducing automation, straight-through processing, and AI-enabled operational capabilities.

In this role, you will bridge business operations and technology development, ensuring that Canadian brokerage requirements are translated into structured, actionable solutions.

• Define end-to-end brokerage operations: Map operational processes covering broker onboarding, account carrying, trade clearing and settlement, cash and securities custody, books and records, financing, corporate actions, transfers, exceptions, and reporting.
• Design target operating models: Define platform capabilities and operating processes, distinguishing between automated system functions, manual procedures, operational controls, and reusable global capabilities versus Canada-specific requirements.
• Translate regulatory and operational requirements: Convert Canadian brokerage obligations and business needs into clear product requirements and functional specifications.
• Develop actionable product documentation: Write epics, user stories, acceptance criteria, edge cases, and detailed requirements that Product and Engineering teams can implement without ambiguity.
• Create business architecture artifacts: Produce process maps, capability matrices, requirements specifications, data and field definitions, state machines, exception catalogs, RACI frameworks, and decision logs.
• Drive launch planning and prioritization: Partner with Product Managers and Engineering to define MVP, launch, and scaling priorities, distinguishing essential go-live capabilities from post-launch improvements.
• Lead cross-functional discovery: Organize workshops, conduct subject matter expert interviews, perform structured analysis, and assess gaps between existing platform capabilities and Canadian brokerage requirements.
• Coordinate stakeholder alignment: Work across Product, Engineering, Operations, and Compliance to clarify business needs, present solution options, assign decision owners, and resolve outstanding questions.
• Manage requirements and decisions: Maintain a structured, continuously updated backlog aligned with project milestones, operational risks, and open decisions.
• Support Canadian account and trade lifecycle capabilities: Address requirements related to account opening, CDS settlement, failed trades, transfers, dividends, stock splits, and other corporate actions.
• Define partner firm workflows: Establish clear operational handoffs, data exchanges, responsibilities, and processes between partner firms and internal teams across accounts, trades, cash, and securities.
• Integrate automation and AI capabilities: Identify opportunities for straight-through processing, rules-based workflows, and AI-assisted exception handling from the initial platform design stage.
• Support long-term platform evolution: Help define future capabilities, including registered accounts (TFSA, RRSP, RESP), additional asset classes, investment banking services, and expanded partner services.

Requirements

The ideal candidate combines extensive brokerage operations knowledge with strong business architecture capabilities and the ability to translate complex operational and regulatory requirements into practical technology solutions.

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, Finance, or an equivalent discipline.
• At least 8 years of experience as a Business Architect, Business Analyst, Consultant, or in Product Operations within brokerage, clearing, custody, or capital markets.
• Strong understanding of brokerage operating models, including account management, trading, clearing, settlement, custody, and securities operations.
• Demonstrated ability to translate brokerage processes and regulatory requirements into clear product specifications and technical requirements.
• Strong analytical skills, with the ability to structure complex workflows, business entities, process states, exceptions, and operational controls.
• Excellent documentation and communication skills, including the ability to produce precise specifications, process diagrams, and actionable decision records.
• Experience collaborating with Operations subject matter experts, Product Managers, Engineering teams, and Compliance stakeholders.
• Ability to distinguish between product changes, operational procedures, and policy decisions.
• Strong judgment, attention to detail, and a preference for precise, structured requirements over ambiguous documentation.
• Ability to work independently as a senior individual contributor, influence stakeholders, and drive alignment without direct team management responsibilities.
• Strong problem-solving skills and the ability to investigate complex operational challenges, identify gaps, and drive decisions to completion.
• Genuine interest in building and scaling Canadian brokerage operations and financial technology infrastructure.

Nice to have:

• Experience building or supporting a carrying, self-clearing, or custody platform.
• Previous experience with Canadian dealers, carrying brokers, or introducing brokers.
• Background in business architecture, enterprise architecture, or solution architecture within capital markets.
• Familiarity with CDS/CDSX and Canadian securities clearing and settlement workflows.
• Experience with Canadian registered accounts, including TFSA, RRSP, and RESP, and their associated tax and reporting requirements.
• Experience with API-based or platform brokerage products.
• Previous experience in fintech companies, startups, or greenfield platform launches.
• Regular use of AI-powered tools such as Cursor, Claude, or ChatGPT for requirements drafting, discovery synthesis, and gap analysis.
• Experience developing greenfield capability roadmaps in collaboration with executive sponsors.

Benefits

• Competitive salary.
• Stock options.
• Health benefits.
• One-time USD $500 home-office setup allowance for new hires.
• Monthly USD $150 stipend provided through a Brex Card.
• Fully remote working arrangement within Canada.
• Opportunity to work with globally distributed teams across financial services, technology, and brokerage operations.
• Direct exposure to executive leadership and strategic platform development initiatives.
• Opportunity to shape the future of Canadian brokerage infrastructure and contribute to innovative financial technology solutions.