Solutions Architect

Solutions Architect – Emerging Technology (Payments & Cloud Innovation) Location: Charlotte, NC or Jersey City, NJ Duration: 18 Months Work Arrangement: Hybrid Employment Type: W2 Only ***W2 ONLY NO SPONSORSHIP ALLOWED*** We are seeking a seasoned Solutions Architect with 15+ years of architecture experience to provide technical leadership across emerging technology, payments innovation, and cloud transformation initiatives. Key Responsibilities: Serve as a technical thought leader across payments, cloud, and emerging technologies.Translate new concepts into scalable, secure, and buildable architectures.Guide engineering teams through implementation and provide architectural direction.Lead architecture decisions, design reviews, POCs, and technical evaluations.Establish architecture standards, patterns, roadmaps, and best practices.Partner with technology leaders, product owners, and delivery teams.Required Qualifications: 15+ years of Solutions Architecture or Enterprise Architecture experience.Strong experience with cloud-native and distributed systems.Expertise in microservices, DDD, Apache Kafka, and integration patterns.Experience with Docker, Kubernetes, and AWS/Azure/GCP.Experience with NoSQL and/or distributed SQL databases.Strong understanding of scalability, security, resiliency, and high-availability architecture.Prior software development experience with a strong progression into architecture.Excellent communication, technical leadership, and facilitation skills.Financial services or payments experience strongly preferred.Important: This is an architecture and technical leadership role, not a primarily hands-on development position. We are looking for someone who has a proven history of shaping ideas, influencing technical direction, and guiding delivery teams.