Senior Payments Architect

Position: Senior Payments Architect
Experience Required: 18+ years
Location: Jersey City, NJ (onsite/hybrid depending on business needs)
Domain: Global Payments / Financial Services



Role Overview
We are seeking a highly experienced Senior Payments Architect to lead the architectural vision, design, and implementation of Citi's next-generation payments infrastructure. This role requires a seasoned professional with deep expertise in global payments systems, modern architecture patterns, and regulatory compliance frameworks.
The Payments Architect will work closely with the Head of Payments, senior stakeholders, product managers, and engineering teams to evaluate Citi's current payment platforms, identify gaps, and propose scalable, secure, and high-performing solutions aligned with global payment trends.



Key Responsibilities
Architecture Leadership

• Define the end-to-end payments architecture strategy, ensuring scalability, resiliency, and global adoption.
• Evaluate existing systems and recommend modernization strategies for improved performance, security, and compliance.
• Drive architectural consistency across payment platforms, APIs, and digital channels.

• Provide deep subject-matter expertise on instant payments, real-time settlement systems, and cross-border payments.
• Align Citi's payment platforms with global instant payment rails (FedNow, RTP, SEPA Instant, UPI, & Processing, Liquidity Management, Data Warehousing and core Cash Management of large MNC clients
• Build architecture for Open Banking & API ecosystems, enabling seamless integrations with third-party fintechs and partners

• Lead initiatives in Blockchain & Tokenization (e.g., Citi Token Services).
• Explore AI-driven compliance, fraud prevention, and personalization use cases.
• Implement cloud-native architectures, microservices, and event-driven designs for payment services.

• Review code quality, system design, and technical debt within payments platforms.
• Establish best practices for development, integration, and testing across distributed teams.
• Ensure adherence to regulatory requirements (AML, KYC, PSD2, GDPR, ISO 20022).

• Partner with global business heads, operations, and compliance teams to ensure architectural alignment with strategic objectives.
• Collaborate with vendors, fintech partners, and external regulators to shape payments innovation.

• Strong knowledge of domestic and cross-border payments, ACH, SWIFT, ISO 20022, RTP, SEPA, Fedwire.
• Experience with card processing, merchant acquiring, wallets, and tokenization.

• Proficiency in API-first design, microservices, cloud (AWS/Azure/GCP).
• Strong understanding of event-driven systems (Kafka, MQ, etc.).
• Knowledge of Blockchain, DLT, and digital currency frameworks.

• Proven track record of architecting enterprise-grade payment platforms.
• Ability to lead large, distributed engineering teams and mentor solution architects.
• Strong communication and stakeholder influencing skills.

• 18+ years of overall IT experience, with at least 12+ years in payments domain.
• Hands-on experience in architecting large-scale payment platforms at a bank, financial institution, or payment processor.
• Bachelor's or master's degree in computer science, Information Systems, or related field.
• Good to have Certifications in Enterprise Architecture (TOGAF/Zachman) or Cloud (AWS/Azure) preferred.