IT Lead Architect

In this role you drive the architectural direction for the Risk & Compliance domain within HSBC, ensuring resilient, secure and scalable technology aligned with Group strategy and regulatory obligations. You will collaborate across business, engineering and governance teams to shape target and transition architectures, manage dependencies, and guide strategic initiatives such as Compass and the AI/GenAI agenda. You’ll provide architectural leadership, challenge designs and build consensus among senior stakeholders to deliver sustainable technology outcomes. This position offers opportunities to influence architecture in a global bank and contribute to meaningful risk and compliance outcomes.

• private healthcare for UK-based employees
• enhanced maternity and adoption pay
• contributory pension scheme
• tailored professional development opportunities
• competitive pay and benefits package

• Set and drive architectural direction for the Risk & Compliance value stream or domain
• Develop and maintain target and transition architectures with roadmaps and decision points
• Represent Architecture at governance and Design Authority forums with options and recommendations
• Identify, manage and escalate cross-programme architectural dependencies, risks and constraints
• Ensure alignment with Group architecture strategy, standards and guardrails (Build vs Buy, reuse, simplification)
• Provide architectural leadership for strategic initiatives (Compass, AI/GenAI agenda)
• Partner with engineering teams to translate architecture into deliverable designs, standards and non-functional requirements
• Coach and challenge architects and engineers to improve solution quality and drive consensus

• Experience designing architecture in large, complex and regulated organisations
• Ability to define target architectures with transition states and roadmaps
• Confidence presenting options and recommendations in governance forums
• Strong understanding of application, integration, data and cloud architecture (APIs, event-driven, microservices, CI/CD)
• Knowledge of security, resilience, privacy, records management, auditability and control-by-design
• Experience applying Build vs Buy, reuse, simplification, technology rationalisation and Low‑Code/No‑Code principles
• Working knowledge of responsible AI adoption, platform integration, data foundations, model or agent governance, monitoring and evidence
• Strong influencing, collaboration, coaching and communication skills to explain complex decisions and drive decisions at pace

• Influencing and stakeholder management
• Clear communication of complex technical topics
• Collaboration across cross-functional teams
• Architectural leadership in large regulated environments
• Target and transition architecture design
• APIs, event-driven design, microservices