Lead System Architect

Role Summary

The Lead Systems Architect is responsible for the end-to-end technical architecture of a secure, compliance-driven digital transaction platform. This role oversees system design for identity-centric workflows, transaction validation, and trusted digital records, ensuring the platform meets strict regulatory, security, and availability standards.

The position requires hands-on architectural leadership, close collaboration with legal, compliance, and engineering teams, and ownership of long-term system scalability, auditability, and risk management.

Key ResponsibilitiesArchitecture & System Design

• Design and maintain the overall system architecture for a high-trust digital platform involving identity verification, transaction validation, and secure record-keeping
• Architect workflows that incorporate identity assurance, biometric signals, and contextual data (e.g., device and location-based attributes)
• Define architectural standards for application layers, APIs, databases, and infrastructure
• Ensure high availability, fault tolerance, disaster recovery, and horizontal scalability
• Translate regulatory and business requirements into defensible technical system designs

Identity, Biometrics & Contextual Controls

• Architect secure identity verification workflows using multi-factor and biometric-based mechanisms
• Design systems that process biometric data and geolocation information in a privacy-preserving and regulation-compliant manner
• Implement safeguards for consent management, data minimization, retention, and lawful use of sensitive personal information
• Ensure identity events, biometric interactions, and location signals are fully auditable and tamper-evident

Security, Privacy & Compliance

• Architect systems with strong encryption, access controls, key management, and immutable audit trails
• Ensure compliance with applicable data privacy, cybersecurity, and records-management regulations
• Conduct architectural risk assessments related to identity fraud, impersonation, and misuse of sensitive data
• Define incident response and escalation mechanisms from a systems architecture perspective

Engineering Leadership

• Lead and mentor development teams on secure architecture, privacy-by-design, and compliance-by-design principles
• Review technical designs, codebases, and integrations for architectural and security alignment
• Serve as the final technical authority on system decisions, trade-offs, and risk acceptance
• Coordinate with DevOps on CI/CD pipelines, infrastructure as code, observability, and monitoring

Integration & Interoperability

• Design secure integrations with third-party identity, biometric, geolocation, verification, payment, and messaging services
• Define API standards, data exchange protocols, and trust boundaries
• Ensure interoperability while maintaining strict system integrity and security controls

Documentation & Governance

• Maintain architectural documentation, diagrams, and data-flow models
• Establish governance processes for change management, versioning, and technical approvals
• Support internal and external audits, certifications, and regulatory reviews from a technical standpoint

QualificationsRequired

• 8+ years of experience in systems architecture, enterprise platforms, or secure digital systems
• Demonstrated experience designing identity-centric, compliance-heavy platforms (e.g., fintech, govtech, legal tech, identity systems)
• Strong background in cloud architecture (AWS, Azure, or equivalent)
• Deep understanding of security architecture, identity management, biometrics handling, and audit logging
• Experience working with legal, compliance, and risk stakeholders

Preferred

• Experience with biometric systems, liveness detection, or location-based verification
• Familiarity with regulated or quasi-government technology environments
• Background in distributed systems, microservices, and event-driven architectures
• Experience preparing platforms for formal accreditation, certification, or regulatory approval

Key Competencies

• Security-first, identity-centric architectural thinking
• Strong judgment under regulatory and privacy constraints
• Clear communication with technical and non-technical stakeholders
• High discretion, ownership, and professional integrity

Reporting Line

• Reports directly to Executive Management