Senior Solution Architect – Financial Systems

About the role

The client is seeking an experienced Senior Solution Architect – Financial Systems to join the Solution Design & Delivery team. This role is ideal for a hands-on technologist who thrives in a fast-paced, regulated environment and brings deep expertise in enterprise architecture, cloud-based platforms, financial systems, and cross-platform integrations. The Senior Solution Architect will own and drive the design and delivery of complex solutions across multiple technology areas with limited oversight, independently resolve non-routine technical challenges, and serve as a subject matter expert for the broader IT organization. This individual will balance multiple concurrent initiatives, mentor junior team members, and provide technical leadership throughout all phases of the system development lifecycle.

Architecture & Design

• Assess the current-state integration landscape across enterprise financial systems and define the future-state integration architecture, including governance standards for development, security, testing, deployment, and operations.
• Own end-to-end solution architecture and design for enterprise platform implementations, ensuring alignment with reference and future-state architecture.
• Articulate architectural considerations, trade-offs, benefits, and recommendations with scalability, supportability, security, and regulatory compliance in mind.
• Develop and maintain detailed configuration specifications, integration blueprints, and architecture documentation for assigned systems and platforms.
• Research emerging technologies that support the client's objectives and recommend approaches that improve cost-effectiveness, flexibility, scalability, and innovation.
• Provide technical insight, risk assessments, and alternative perspectives on architecture and delivery decisions, highlighting implications across multiple platforms and areas of IT.
• Define the AI strategy for financial systems, identifying opportunities where AI-enabled workflows can replace or improve manual and existing automated processes.

Delivery & Execution

• Lead internal and external technical resources performing analysis, design, configuration, development, testing, and deployment across enterprise applications.
• Allocate and manage Managed Service Provider (MSP) work within approved budgets, ensuring delivery adheres to defined architecture, technical standards, and quality expectations.
• Manage end-to-end execution for assigned systems, projects, and complex workstreams with minimal oversight.
• Oversee the development lifecycle to ensure delivery of scalable, secure, high-performing solutions compliant with applicable regulations, including 21 CFR Part 11, HIPAA, GDPR, and SOX.
• Manage budgets, issues, risks, quality, and schedules for technical workstreams, proactively escalating relevant risks and issues.
• Manage vendor-driven releases end-to-end, including technical impact assessments of existing configurations, customizations, integrations, and business workflows; oversee unit and system testing through production deployment.
• Apply strategic release management practices by grouping enhancements and change requests into structured release cycles based on business priorities, technical dependencies, and system constraints.
• Independently represent IT on cross-functional initiatives and partner with business stakeholders and sponsors to translate business requirements into system designs and software solutions.

Integration & Platform Management

• Design and implement cloud-to-cloud, API, microservices, and file-based integrations (SFTP/flat file) across enterprise financial platforms using technologies such as Celigo, Boomi, MuleSoft, APIs, and CI/CD pipelines.
• Evaluate and present multiple technical options for vendor data exchange and integration, documenting advantages, disadvantages, risks, and architectural trade-offs.
• Conduct detailed technical reviews of vendor integration and connectivity documentation, including SFTP configurations, API specifications, and security questionnaires, to identify constraints and dependencies such as static IP whitelisting before they become implementation blockers.
• Perform end-to-end technical impact assessments for proposed system and master-data changes, including chart-of-accounts changes and new master-data values, identifying downstream impacts across integrated platforms, records, and transactions.
• Serve as the primary technical liaison with vendors for post-go-live application support, releases, enhancements, and evolving business requirements.
• Support L1/L2 support teams to ensure system stability, performance, and capacity requirements are met, while developing appropriate transition documentation and training materials.
• Partner with Information Security to ensure solutions meet required cybersecurity standards and regulatory requirements.

Leadership & Collaboration

• Serve as the subject matter expert for enterprise financial systems, partnering with internal and external stakeholders across varying levels of seniority.
• Present technical solutions, project status, risks, and recommendations to department leadership and cross-functional teams.
• Translate complex technical concepts into clear, actionable information for non-technical stakeholders.
• Build strong cross-functional relationships and lead meetings with clear structure, objectives, and outcomes.
• Contribute to technology strategy and roadmap planning within the financial systems domain, aligning initiatives with broader departmental and business objectives.

Qualifications

• Minimum Requirements:
• Bachelor's degree in Information Technology, Computer Science, Management Information Systems, or a related field.
• 10+ years of progressive IT experience in solution architecture, application design/development, or technical delivery, including at least 5 years in a senior or lead architect role.
• Deep, hands-on expertise with enterprise financial systems and their integration ecosystems, specifically NetSuite, Coupa, OneStream, Concur, and FloQast, or comparable SaaS platforms used within life sciences.
• Demonstrated experience designing cloud-based SaaS architectures and cloud-to-cloud, API, microservices, SFTP, and flat-file integrations using platforms such as Celigo, Boomi, MuleSoft, and CI/CD tooling.
• Strong understanding of enterprise architecture frameworks and experience developing reference and future-state architecture artifacts.
• Experience within a regulated industry, preferably biopharma or life sciences, with knowledge of compliance standards including 21 CFR Part 11, HIPAA, GDPR, and SOX.
• Excellent interpersonal, communication, and analytical skills, with the ability to present technical solutions and recommendations to senior leadership.
• Experience working with offshore and onshore technical resources and collaborating with onsite and remote stakeholders across complex organizations.
• Preferred Qualifications:
• Hands-on experience with additional finance, procurement, tax, and reporting platforms such as Client ONESOURCE and Workiva.
• Experience with integration and development technologies including GitLab, Python, JSON, APIs, and commercial integration platforms.
• Previous experience serving as a system administrator for enterprise financial applications.
• Knowledge of software validation practices and SOX controls for financial applications.
• Experience operating within a parent-subsidiary or similarly complex matrix organization.