Group Enterprise Architect

Job Title: Group Enterprise Architect

Reports to: CIO

Role: Full time

Location: Abu Dhabi

Company Details

Our client is a financial institution licensed to provide a comprehensive range of banking products and services. Built on a foundation of resilience and innovation, it has grown into a trusted provider of financial solutions for individuals, businesses, and institutions. The organisation is deeply committed to financial inclusion, social responsibility, and aligning with global best practices in financial services and technology.

Job Purpose

The Group Enterprise Architect is responsible for defining, governing, and evolving the enterprise architecture strategy across the Group and the ADGM regulated bank entity. The role ensures technology platforms, data architecture, integration patterns, and security-by-design principles are aligned with business strategy, operational resilience requirements, and regulatory expectations (including FSRA requirements applicable to Category 1 Banks).

This role will lead the development and enforcement of architecture standards, reference architectures, and target-state roadmaps across critical domains including core banking, payments, digital channels, data platforms, identity/access management, infrastructure, cloud, and third-party services. The role will act as the central design authority ensuring solutions are scalable, secure, cost-effective, resilient, and deliverable

Duties and Responsibilities

1) Group Enterprise Architecture Strategy & Governance

• Develop and maintain the Group-wide enterprise architecture framework, including principles, standards, patterns, and technology direction.
• Define and maintain target-state architecture blueprints aligned to Group strategy and regulated entity requirements.
• Establish architecture governance processes (e.g., Architecture Review Board/Design Authority, architecture assurance checkpoints).
• Ensure alignment of technology solutions to business capabilities, risk appetite, and service resilience objectives.

2) ADGM Entity Architecture Oversight (FSRA Regulated Bank)

• Act as the primary architecture authority supporting the ADGM bank entity's technology design, change initiatives, and control environment.
• Ensure architecture decisions support regulatory expectations in relation to technology governance, operational resilience, outsourcing, and critical systems.
• Support internal and external audits and regulatory engagements by providing architecture documentation, traceability, and control evidence.

3) Solution Architecture Leadership (Critical Platforms)

• Provide architectural oversight and design direction for major initiatives and critical systems, including as applicable:
• Core banking platform and surrounding services
• Payments architecture and integration with schemes/service providers
• Digital channels (web/mobile), onboarding and identity verification
• Data platforms (warehouse/lakehouse), analytics and reporting architecture
• Treasury, finance, risk and compliance platforms
• Ensure architecture supports scalability, performance, maintainability, and regulatory-grade availability.

4) Integration, APIs & Technology Standards

• Define Group integration architecture standards including API strategy, messaging/event patterns, and system interoperability.
• Govern integration approaches across on-prem, cloud, and hybrid environments.
• Ensure reuse of shared services and avoidance of unnecessary technology duplication across Group entities.
• Promote strong documentation practices (logical/physical models, sequence diagrams, interface catalogues).

5) Cloud, Infrastructure & Operational Resilience Architecture

• Define and govern cloud/hybrid architecture principles including landing zones, connectivity, segmentation, and observability.
• Ensure architectures meet resilience requirements including disaster recovery design, failover, backup strategies, and capacity planning.
• Work with infrastructure and security teams to ensure non-functional requirements (availability, latency, RTO/RPO, patching) are embedded into designs.
• Ensure systems are instrumented for monitoring, incident response, and production support.

6) Security-by-Design & Technology Risk Alignment

• Embed security-by-design architecture standards covering:
• IAM, PAM, and privileged access models
• Encryption at rest/in transit, key management and secrets management
• Network segmentation and secure connectivity
• Secure SDLC / DevSecOps patterns
• Partner with CISO and Risk to ensure architectures comply with security policies, control requirements, and risk assessments.
• Provide architectural input into threat modelling and risk exception management.

7) Data Architecture & Information Management

• Define and maintain data architecture standards including data flows, lineage, classification, metadata, and governance.
• Ensure consistent use of master data, golden sources, and reporting accuracy across regulated and group contexts.
• Support privacy and information security controls through appropriate data design patterns.

8) Third-Party Architecture & Outsourcing Oversight

• Lead architectural assessments of third-party products and service providers, including SaaS platforms and managed services.
• Support procurement and vendor selection with architecture evaluations, due diligence inputs, and design requirements.
• Ensure solutions support exit planning, portability, resilience and ongoing operational control requirements.

9) Architecture Roadmaps, Rationalisation & Technical Debt Management

• Maintain a Group technology capability map and application portfolio view across entities.
• Identify opportunities for simplification, standardisation, and cost optimisation.
• Lead technical debt remediation strategy and architecture modernisation programmes.
• Produce multi-year architecture roadmaps aligned to investment planning and delivery capacity.

Key Deliverables

• Group enterprise architecture framework, reference architectures, and architecture standards library
• Target architecture and roadmap for ADGM regulated bank and group platforms
• Architecture review governance with documented outcomes and traceability
• Architecture artefacts for major programmes (HLDs, LLDs, integration maps, patterns)
• Critical system dependency mapping and resilience-aligned architecture designs
• Technology rationalisation recommendations and technical debt register

Required Experience

• 10–15+ years of technology experience with 5+ years in Enterprise Architecture / Lead Architecture roles.
• Strong experience in banking or regulated financial services (retail, corporate, digital bank, payments, treasury).
• Experience architecting complex environments spanning core banking, payments, digital channels, data, and cloud services.
• Demonstrable experience establishing architecture governance and influencing senior stakeholders across multiple entities.
• Exposure to regulator-facing environments and audits (FSRA, DFSA, FCA, PRA, MAS, EBA or equivalent preferred).

Qualifications & Certifications (Preferred)

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or related discipline.
• TOGAF certification (preferred).
• Cloud certifications (AWS/Azure/GCP) beneficial.
• Security certifications (e.g., CISSP/CISM) beneficial.
• ITIL/COBIT knowledge beneficial.