Head of Architecture

**Head of Architecture (SOPRA / SBS) - Hybrid

• London - £900 PD (Inside IR35) - 6 Months**

An exceptional opportunity for a Head of Architecture to join a nationally significant financial organisation, playing a pivotal role in shaping the future of its core banking platform and digital transformation strategy to be based in London 3 x PW.

This role has been created to fill a critical expertise gap and will act as the organisation’s go-to SME for Sopra Banking Software (SBS/SOPRA) providing technical leadership, challenging suppliers, and ensuring the platform is scalable, secure, and aligned to long-term strategic goals.

The Role

• Act as the internal authority on core banking (SOPRA/SBS)
• Challenge and steer supplier solutions (Sopra, Atos, System Integrators)
• Provide end-to-end architectural oversight across build, test, and release
• Lead core banking integration, optimisation, and transformation initiatives
• Drive adoption of cloud-native, event-driven architectures (AWS aligned)
• Support large-scale migrations and legacy system transformation
• Ensure alignment between business needs, product capability, and technical delivery

Key Experience Required

• Deep expertise in core banking platforms (SOPRA/SBS highly desirable)
• 10+ years in banking architecture / core banking engineering / solution architecture
• Proven ability to challenge and influence senior stakeholders & suppliers
• Strong understanding of banking products, processes, and regulatory environments
• Experience delivering large-scale integrations & core banking implementations
• Hands-on knowledge of event-driven architecture & cloud (AWS preferred)
• Track record of owning full lifecycle delivery (build test release)
• Experience with legacy system migration / modernisation programmes

Desirable

• Public sector or government-backed financial services experience
• Exposure to highly regulated environments
• Cloud / Architecture certifications