Senior Solutions Architect - Cards & Payments Platform

Location: Dubai, Dubai, United Arab Emirates

Workplace: on_site

Description

We are seeking an experienced Senior Solutions Architect – Cards & Payments Platform to lead architecture design and delivery for strategic cards and payments initiatives within a leading banking environment.

The ideal candidate will possess deep expertise in cards processing, card management platforms, payment ecosystems, banking integrations, API architecture, security, and enterprise-scale solution design. This role requires ownership of end-to-end architecture solutions that balance business requirements, customer experience, scalability, resiliency, security, and operational excellence.

Requirements

Key Responsibilities :

Required Experience

10+ years of overall technology experience.

Minimum 2–3 years as a Solution Architect or Technical Architect within Cards/Payments domain.

Strong experience in banking and financial services environments.

Proven experience delivering enterprise-scale cards and payments solutions.

Solution Architecture & Delivery

• Design end-to-end architecture solutions for Cards and Payments platforms.
• Produce architecture artifacts, solution designs, and technical specifications.
• Define scalable, resilient, secure, and reusable architecture patterns.
• Ensure alignment with enterprise architecture standards and business objectives.
• Evaluate and integrate third-party card management and payment solutions.
• Support solution estimation, feasibility studies, vendor assessments, and technology selection.
• Collaborate with product, business, engineering, infrastructure, security, and operations teams.
• Drive architecture governance, reviews, and compliance processes.

Cards & Payments Domain Leadership

• Architect solutions across the complete card lifecycle:
• Card Issuance
• Card Activation
• Card Management
• Transaction Processing
• Acquiring
• Authorization
• Clearing
• Settlement
• Chargebacks
• Dispute Management
• Design solutions for:
• Credit Cards
• Debit Cards
• Prepaid Cards
• Corporate Cards
• Co-Branded Cards
• Loyalty & Rewards Programs
• Cashback Solutions
• Installment Payment Programs
• Work with payment gateways, processors, switches, clearing systems, and banking ecosystems.

Architecture Governance

• Develop reusable reference architectures and architecture blueprints.
• Conduct peer reviews and architecture assessments.
• Mentor junior architects and engineering teams.
• Deliver architecture workshops and knowledge-sharing sessions.
• Contribute to architecture standards, patterns, and best practices.

Mandatory Domain Expertise

Card Management Platforms

Hands-on architecture experience with one or more of:

• VisionPLUS
• Way4
• First Data
• CardPac
• Similar Card Management Systems

Cards Processing

Strong understanding of:

• Authorization Processing
• Clearing & Settlement
• Card Switching
• Acquiring
• Issuing
• Merchant Payments
• Chargebacks
• Dispute Management
• Reconciliation Processes

Payment Ecosystem

Experience with:

• Payment Gateways
• Payment Processors
• Card Networks
• Clearing Systems
• Banking Integration Platforms
• Third-Party Financial Ecosystems

Industry Standards & Compliance

Strong knowledge of:

• PCI-DSS
• EMV
• PSD2
• UAE Central Bank Regulations
• GDPR
• Financial Services Security Standards

Security & Fraud Prevention

Experience implementing:

• Tokenization
• 3D Secure (3DS)
• Encryption Technologies
• Authentication & Authorization Frameworks
• Secure API Design
• Data Protection Controls

Technical Skills

Architecture & Integration

• Enterprise Architecture
• Solution Architecture
• Technical Architecture
• API Architecture
• Microservices Architecture
• Event-Driven Architecture
• Distributed Systems Design
• Integration Architecture

Banking & Payments Technologies

• REST APIs
• SOAP Services
• ISO 8583
• Payment Switch Integrations
• Core Banking Integrations
• Middleware Platforms
• Enterprise Service Bus (ESB)

Security Architecture

• Threat Modeling
• Data Classification
• Asset Valuation
• Security by Design
• Security Logging & Monitoring
• Encryption & Key Management
• Authentication & Authorization
• Cybersecurity Controls

Cloud & Modern Engineering (Preferred)

Exposure to:

• Cloud Architecture
• DevOps Practices
• Container Platforms
• CI/CD Pipelines

AI Knowledge (Preferred)

Awareness or experience with:

• Artificial Intelligence
• Machine Learning
• Generative AI
• Large Language Models (LLMs)
• Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG)
• Embedding Models
• Vector Databases
• AI Agents / Agentic AI
• Model Context Protocol (MCP)
• GitHub Copilot
• Claude Code

Key Competencies

• Strong stakeholder management skills
• Excellent communication and presentation skills
• Strategic and analytical thinking
• Strong problem-solving capabilities
• Delivery-focused mindset
• Ability to balance customer experience, functionality, security, performance, and resiliency
• Self-driven and capable of working with minimal supervision
• Strong mentoring and coaching abilities
• High learning agility and adaptability