Lead Architect - Enterprise Risk, Finance and Audit Technology

At Wells Fargo, we're more than a financial services leader—we're a global trailblazer committed to driving innovation, empowering communities, and helping our customers succeed. We believe a meaningful career is about finding all the elements to help you thrive, in one place. Living the Well Life means you're supported in life, not just work, with robust benefits, competitive compensation, and programs designed to help you find work-life balance and well-being. You'll be rewarded for investing in your community, celebrated for being your authentic self, and empowered to grow.

About the Role

Wells Fargo is seeking a hands-on Lead Architect with deep Finance experience in a major banking institution to drive architecture and solution delivery across Finance and Risk initiatives. This individual will partner with architects, data partners, technology leaders, and engineering teams to design and implement modern data, application, and AI-driven solutions. This is a hands-on practitioner role, not a pure strategy position. The ideal candidate can define architecture, solve complex data and integration challenges, develop prototypes, and lead initiatives from concept through delivery.

Responsibilities

• Lead the architecture and implementation of complex, enterprise-scale Finance and Risk initiatives with broad organizational impact.
• Own end-to-end architecture for strategic programs, including Sub-Ledger Modernization, Corporate Accounting, CIB Capital Markets Accounting, Regulatory Reporting, and Strategic Finance capabilities.
• Define and maintain current-state, target-state, transition-state, and roadmap architectures, while establishing reusable patterns, standards, and reference architectures.
• Design secure, scalable, resilient, and highly available solutions spanning data platforms, applications, APIs, event-driven architectures, cloud/object storage, automation, and AI capabilities.
• Advance enterprise information architecture through Authoritative Data Sources (ADS), data products, governance, lineage, reconciliation, auditability, and accounting event models.
• Lead architecture assessments, solution reviews, technical design decisions, and proof-of-concepts; provide hands-on technical leadership from ideation through implementation.
• Partner across Finance, Risk, Data Management, Regulatory Reporting, Engineering, Technology Strategy, and Enterprise Architecture to align solutions and drive execution.
• Operate effectively in a multi-domain environment, bringing an understanding of both Finance and Risk architectures to support cross-functional regulatory, reporting, and data initiatives.
• Guide Architecture Review Board (ARB) engagements and governance processes, ensuring alignment with enterprise standards, policies, and strategic technology direction.
• Identify architectural risks, anti-patterns, technical debt, and modernization opportunities, and drive remediation strategies.
• Evaluate and apply emerging technologies—including AI/ML and Agentic AI—to improve accounting, financial reporting, controls, reconciliations, data quality, and operational efficiency.
• Communicate architecture vision, decisions, and trade-offs effectively to senior leadership, architects, engineers, and business stakeholders.
• Foster a culture of ownership, collaboration, continuous learning, and engineering excellence while contributing to enterprise architecture standards and best practices.

Requirements

• 5+ years of Architecture experience, or equivalent demonstrated through one or a combination of the following: work experience, training, military experience, education.
• 5+ years of hands-on software development experience, with emphasis on scalable systems architecture.
• 5+ years of Finance domain experience in Corporate Accounting, Regulatory Reporting, Investment Portfolio, or a closely related area.

Qualifications

• Demonstrated hands-on capability in solution architecture, data design, integration patterns, architecture modeling, and rapid prototyping.
• Strong communication, presentation, stakeholder management, analytical problem-solving, and decision-making skills.
• Proven hands-on experience designing and delivering complex enterprise solutions spanning data, applications, integrations, cloud platforms, APIs, event-driven architectures, and AI-enabled capabilities.
• Understanding of Finance Domain functions such as:
  • Corporate Accounting
  • General Ledger and Sub-Ledger Processing
  • Regulatory Reporting (FR Y-9C, CCAR, FFIEC, Broker Dealer)
  • Product Control and Capital Markets Accounting
  • Legal Entity and Financial Reporting
  • Technology Financial Management and Strategic Finance initiatives
• Extensive experience with modern data architecture concepts.
• Experience modernizing finance platforms through API-led, event-driven, cloud-native, and data-centric architectural patterns.
• Hands-on experience leveraging modern AI technologies.
• Demonstrated ability to identify practical applications of AI to improve finance processes, regulatory reporting, accounting controls, reconciliations, data quality, and operational efficiency.
• Strong problem-solving skills with the ability to translate complex business requirements into scalable technology solutions while balancing risk, control, and delivery considerations.
• Excellent communication and stakeholder management skills with experience presenting architecture recommendations and design decisions to senior technology leaders, business executives, and Architecture Review Boards (ARB).
• Self-starter with a high degree of ownership, intellectual curiosity, and execution focus; capable of navigating ambiguity, driving alignment, and delivering results with minimal oversight.

Schedule

This position offers a hybrid work schedule—ability to work in office is required.

Pay

Pay Range: $143,000 - $183,500 - $224,000. The pay range reflected is the base pay range offered for this position. Pay may vary depending on factors including but not limited to demonstrated examples of prior performance, skills, experience, or work location. Employees may also be eligible for incentive opportunities. Overall range: $119,000.00 - $224,000.00.

Benefits

• Health benefits
• 401(k) Plan
• Paid time off
• Disability benefits
• Life insurance, critical illness insurance, and accident insurance
• Parental leave
• Critical caregiving leave
• Discounts and savings
• Commuter benefits
• Tuition reimbursement
• Scholarships for dependent children
• Adoption reimbursement

Relocation assistance is not available for this position.