Technical Architect - Capital Markets / Custody Technology
Location: London (Hybrid - 3 days per week in office)
Contract: 12 Months
Rate: £750- £850 per day (Inside IR35 via umbrella)
A leading global financial services organisation is seeking an experienced Technical Architect to support a large-scale technology modernisation programme across its Custody and Securities Services platform.
This is a senior architecture role focused on designing scalable, event-driven solutions across areas including Securities Settlements, Corporate Actions, Transaction Management, Tax Processing, and Cash & FX. You'll act as the technical authority within delivery teams, driving architecture strategy, governance, and engineering best practice.

Key Responsibilities
Design modern microservices and event-driven architectures using technologies such as Kafka, REST APIs and cloud platforms.
Lead architecture governance, technical reviews, non-functional requirements, and technical debt management.
Partner with Product, Business and Engineering teams to translate complex business requirements into scalable technical solutions.
Define integration patterns across enterprise platforms, market infrastructure and cloud data environments.
Build Proof of Concepts (PoCs) and evaluate emerging technologies, including Generative AI solutions.
Support build-vs-buy decisions and third-party technology assessments.

Required Experience
Extensive experience as a Technical Architect within Capital Markets, Securities Services, Custody or Investment Banking environments.

Strong knowledge of one or more domains including

Securities Settlements
Corporate Actions
Transaction Management
Tax Operations
Cash & FX Processing
Strong software engineering background in Java, Spring Boot, Oracle and SQL databases.

Proven experience with

Microservices architecture
Event-driven systems (Kafka, MQ, Solace)
API design and integration
AWS and/or Snowflake
Knowledge of SWIFT MT, ISO 20022 and post-trade processing workflows.
Experience operating within enterprise architecture governance frameworks.

Desirable
TOGAF or ArchiMate certification.
Experience with Generative AI, AI-assisted tooling, and architecture PoCs.
Exposure to Agile delivery environments (Scrum, SAFe, Kanban).

This is an excellent opportunity for a senior architect to play a key role in a strategic transformation programme within a highly complex and regulated financial services environment.