Senior Lead Architect API

If you are excited about shaping the future of technology and driving significant business impact in financial services, we are looking for people just like you. Join our team and help us develop game-changing, high-quality solutions.

As a Senior Lead Architect at JPMorgan Chase within Architect in the Engineering & Architecture team, you will be responsible for designing and implementing API & data standards, and managing the relevant architecture review process across JPM Payments. You will define architectural approaches for software applications through consideration of business and market requirements, data architecture, system quality attributes, and overall technical direction.

Job responsibilities

• Collaborate with product managers, technical leads, developers, and other architects to determine functional and non-functional requirements for new and existing APIs to ensure that all products adhere to standards to form a cohesive product line
• Work across the product and engineering organizations to ensure changes are consistent with business objectives and customer requirements
• Manage risk identification and risk mitigation strategies associated with the architecture
• Maintain and organize detailed documentation about technical designs with supporting justification for architectural and design choices
• Provide technical guidance on methodologies, frameworks, and best practices to developers to encourage the flow of information and promote understanding among product teams.
• Develop reference architectures and/or sample applications to demonstrate standards in practice.
• Close alignment with engineering, testing, and solution architecture teams to ensure API architecture patterns and technologies are practically grounded and reflect real world design and development challenges.
• Design and enhance tooling that supports the API first and contract driven API design approach

• Formal training or certification on software engineering concepts and 5+ years applied experience
• Extensive experience in API and data architecture, messaging, and event-driven management platforms, with a strong technical background in system design, data modeling, and software engineering, enabling seamless transition from detailed technical to high-level conceptual discussions.
• High proficiency in API-first design, including requirements analysis, solution architecture, API resource modeling, and microservices architecture, along with vast experience in API engineering, lifecycle automation, platform architecture, contract testing, and automated API governance.
• Expertise in crafting modern data contracts, models, API design standards, patterns, and best practices, with hands-on experience in architecting resilient APIs, implementing API security standards, and applying product and design thinking to data contracts, APIs, and software solutions.
• Knowledge and experience in the business and finance applications of APIs, including the API economy, monetization, and industry use cases, supported by exceptional written and verbal communication skills for engaging in deep technical discussions as a trusted technical advisor.
• Broad understanding and appreciation of enterprise, data, and technical architecture, with stakeholder management experience and awareness of stakeholder expectations, ensuring alignment and effective communication across diverse groups.
• Proficient in using OpenAPI parsers, code generators, style guides, and other open-source API tooling, with a strong grasp of DevOps and CI/CD tooling, and experience with GraphQL, gRPC, WebSockets, and Webhooks.

• Possess a passion for and expertise in architectural design that accelerates innovation across applications, devices, and people, with extensive experience in implementing and delivering large-scale enterprise software systems in real-world, regulated environments.
• Demonstrated experience in cloud architecture development, particularly with AWS, GCP, or Azure, and a detailed understanding of tools, trends, and patterns within the API, messaging, and software architecture community.
• Ability to communicate clearly and concisely across all levels and technical depths, adapting verbal and written communications to suit the audience, and proven track record of building consensus and driving progress across organizations.
• Experience working with enterprise-scale data assets such as MDM, EDW, and data lakes, and navigating diverse technology landscapes and process/technology integration challenges.
• Accountability for significant architectural decisions, providing justification for decisions, and ability to mentor and lead complex API deliveries, while balancing organizational risk appetite with innovation needs.
• Understanding of appropriate regulatory controls, risk, and change management for financial institutions, with the ability to collaborate with business and engineers to ensure solutions adhere to principles and set objectives.
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills with a desire to solve complex problems at scale, providing technical thought leadership in evaluating new technologies and influencing key stakeholders for adoption.