Architect Lead - Financial Crime

Financial Crime Architecture Lead

Location: London (Hybrid) Employment Type: Permanent

Shape the Future of Financial Crime Technology

We're seeking an experienced Financial Crime Architecture Lead to define and drive the target-state architecture for a major financial services organisation undergoing significant transformation.

This is a strategic leadership role focused on creating a modern, integrated financial crime technology ecosystem spanning client onboarding, screening, transaction monitoring, client risk management, workflow orchestration, data platforms and AI-enabled capabilities.

You will work closely with senior stakeholders across Technology, Risk, Compliance, Data and Operations to deliver a scalable, resilient and future-ready architecture that enhances regulatory compliance while improving operational efficiency.

Key Responsibilities

Own the end-to-end architecture strategy for financial crime technology capabilities. Design and implement a unified architecture covering data, workflow, decisioning and user experience layers. Lead architecture assessments and platform rationalisation initiatives across multiple enterprise applications. Define integration patterns, API standards, event-driven architectures and data governance frameworks. Shape AI-enabled financial crime capabilities including alert optimisation, case investigation support and anomaly detection. Establish architecture guardrails covering security, resilience, auditability, regulatory traceability and model governance. Influence vendor selection and platform strategy through architecture leadership and technical due diligence. Drive alignment between business priorities, regulatory obligations and enterprise technology strategy. Act as the senior architecture authority within governance and transformation programmes.

What We're Looking For

Significant architecture leadership experience within regulated financial services environments. Strong understanding of Financial Crime domains including: Anti-Money Laundering (AML) Sanctions Screening PEP & Adverse Media Screening Client Risk Rating Transaction Monitoring Case Management & Alert Triage Expertise in enterprise architecture, solution architecture and platform transformation. Experience designing complex integrations using REST APIs, event-driven patterns and modern cloud technologies. Strong knowledge of CRM, workflow and data platform architectures. Ability to engage and influence senior stakeholders across technology and business functions. Experience balancing strategic architectural direction with incremental agile delivery.

Technical Experience

We are particularly interested in candidates with experience across:

Enterprise data platforms and analytics environments Cloud-native architecture and security design API-led and event-driven integration patterns Data governance, lineage and quality frameworks DevSecOps and modern engineering practices Python-enabled automation and analytics solutions AI, Machine Learning and Generative AI architecture Responsible AI, explainability and model governance controls

Why Apply?

This is a rare opportunity to play a pivotal role in defining the long-term financial crime technology strategy for a complex financial services organisation. You'll influence enterprise-wide architecture decisions, help shape AI-enabled capabilities, and create a platform foundation that supports future regulatory and business growth.

Location: London (Hybrid Working) Type: Permanent Salary: Competitive + Benefits + Bonus

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