Principal Architect - Innovation Lab Architect

Location and Work Arrangement

4 days in the office from any of our locations in Johnston, RI; Iselin, NJ; Nashville, TN; Westwood, MA; Medford, MA; Phoenix, AZ; and couple other locations. Position is not relocation eligible.

Work Schedule

Hours per week: 40. Work schedule: Monday–Friday.

Overview

We are looking for an Innovation Lab Architect / Lead Engineer to design, build, and manage the bank’s innovation lab environments. This includes both vendor‑managed platforms and internal cloud‑based labs used for rapid experimentation with new technologies, fintech partners, and emerging solutions. This role helps the bank safely and quickly test new ideas, evaluate vendor capabilities, and accelerate innovation across the organization.

What You’ll Do

• Lead the architecture, setup, and operation of our innovation labs and sandbox environments.
• Work with vendors to integrate and manage external lab environments.
• Build secure, well‑governed environments for rapid testing, prototyping, and evaluation of new technologies.
• Partner with cybersecurity to ensure experimentation follows data and security standards.
• Work with engineering, cloud, data, and product teams to support proof‑of‑concepts and pilot programs.
• Create reusable frameworks, templates, and onboarding guides to help teams use the labs effectively.
• Track lab usage, experiment outcomes, and value delivered to the business.
• Stay current on emerging technologies and provide recommendations to leadership.

Required Qualifications

• 8+ years of experience in engineering, architecture, or cloud environments.
• Experience with cloud platforms (AWS, Azure, or GCP).
• Hands‑on experience building or managing secure test/innovation environments.
• Understanding of data protection, access controls, and enterprise security.
• Strong technical communication and ability to work across engineering and business teams.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience working with vendor‑managed innovation platforms (e.g., NayaOne, 1TX, Digital SandBox).
• Background in financial services or exposure to regulated environments.
• Knowledge of API integration, sandbox testing, or fintech ecosystems.
• Familiarity with rapid prototyping or scripting languages (e.g., Python, Node.js, Shell).

Pay Transparency

The salary range for this position is $152,000 - $192,000 per year plus an opportunity to earn an annual discretionary bonus. Actual pay is based on various factors including but not limited to the work location, and relevant skills and experience.

Benefits

We offer competitive pay, comprehensive medical, dental and vision coverage, retirement benefits, maternity/paternity leave, flexible work arrangements, education reimbursement, wellness programs and more. Citizens’ paid time off policy exceeds the mandatory, paid sick or paid time‑away policy of very local and state jurisdiction in the United States.

Equal Employment Opportunity

Citizens, its parent, subsidiaries, and related companies (Citizens) provide equal employment and advancement opportunities to all colleagues and applicants for employment without regard to age, ancestry, color, citizenship, physical or mental disability, perceived disability or history or record of a disability, ethnicity, gender, gender identity or expression, genetic information, genetic characteristic, marital or domestic partner status, victim of domestic violence, family status/parenthood, medical condition, military or veteran status, national origin, pregnancy/childbirth/lactation, colleague’s or a dependent’s reproductive health decision making, race, religion, sex, sexual orientation, or any other category protected by federal, state and/or local laws. At Citizens, we are committed to fostering an inclusive culture that enables all colleagues to bring their best selves to work every day and everyone is expected to be treated with respect and professionalism. Employment decisions are based solely on merit, qualifications, performance and capability.