Business Architect

Photon - Buffalo, NY

Full-time - Senior

Buffalo, NY

Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services

About the position

The Business Architect for Digital Transformation in Banking will be responsible for leading the design and implementation of business architecture frameworks that align with the digital transformation strategy. This role requires a deep understanding of banking operations and technology, focusing on optimizing processes and driving change to ensure successful migration to new platforms. The Business Architect will collaborate with various stakeholders to enhance customer experiences and operational efficiency through innovative digital solutions.

Responsibilities

• Lead the design and development of business architecture frameworks that support the digital transformation strategy for banking services and operations.
• Collaborate with senior stakeholders (business, IT, and operations) to ensure business objectives are aligned with technological solutions, focusing on driving value through digital initiatives.
• Develop and maintain the business capability model, focusing on optimizing business processes and improving customer experiences in the digital ecosystem.
• Partner with senior management to define the digital vision and roadmap for banking transformation, ensuring alignment with broader business goals and industry trends.
• Define and communicate business and IT alignment strategies to ensure successful execution of digital migration plans (core banking system upgrades, cloud migrations, fintech integrations, etc.).
• Provide expertise in agile transformation methodologies to support rapid and effective implementation of digital solutions.
• Identify opportunities to streamline and automate banking processes through technology, enhancing operational efficiency, compliance, and scalability.
• Analyze current-state processes and define future-state processes to ensure seamless integration with digital solutions and migration to new platforms.
• Act as a liaison between business leaders, IT, and external vendors, ensuring that transformation initiatives are effectively managed and executed.
• Lead change management initiatives, including creating training programs and helping employees adapt to new systems and ways of working.
• Oversee the impact of digital transformation on the business, ensuring that key stakeholders are informed, engaged, and aligned throughout the process.
• Provide guidance on the selection of digital platforms, tools, and technologies that best support the bank's long-term goals (e.g., cloud, API-based services, data-driven banking).
• Collaborate with data architects to ensure proper integration of data architecture with business architecture to enable advanced analytics, AI, and personalized customer services.
• Ensure that all digital transformation activities adhere to regulatory requirements and compliance standards specific to the banking industry (e.g., GDPR, PSD2, AML).
• Help identify and manage potential risks associated with the transformation, particularly around data security, system outages, and regulatory compliance.
• Continuously evaluate emerging trends in digital banking, technology innovations, and industry best practices to inform the ongoing evolution of the bank's digital strategy.
• Encourage a culture of innovation and improvement by fostering cross-functional collaboration and knowledge sharing within the organization.

Requirements

• Bachelor's degree in Business, Computer Science, Information Systems, or related field; Master's degree preferred.
• Minimum of 12-15 years in business architecture or business analysis roles, with at least 5 years in a banking or financial services environment.
• Proven experience in leading digital transformation or migration initiatives in banking, such as core banking system upgrades, cloud adoption, data analytics implementation, or digital customer engagement solutions.
• Strong understanding of banking operations, regulatory frameworks, and financial services industry trends.
• Demonstrated expertise in business process modeling (BPM), requirements gathering, and digital solution delivery.
• Expertise in digital banking technologies, cloud-based platforms, APIs, and emerging financial technologies (e.g., blockchain, AI/ML).
• Strong analytical, problem-solving, and conceptual thinking skills.
• Excellent communication and stakeholder management skills, with the ability to explain complex technical concepts to non-technical stakeholders.
• Familiarity with agile methodologies and tools (e.g., Scrum, Kanban, Jira).
• In-depth knowledge of risk and compliance regulations (e.g., GDPR, PSD2, KYC, AML).

Nice-to-haves

• TOGAF (The Open Group Architecture Framework) certification or other relevant enterprise architecture certification.
• Certified Business Architect (CBA) or related business architecture certifications.
• Certifications in Agile or Scrum.