Location: Buffalo,NY, USA
Client: Photon
Position: Business Architect - Digital Transformation & Banking
Location: Buffalo, NY
Duration: Long term contract & Full time
Description for Internal Candidates
Overview:
We are seeking a highly skilled and experienced Business Architect with expertise in Digital Transformation and Banking Migration to join our team. The ideal candidate will have a deep understanding of banking operations, financial services technology, and a proven track record of leading successful digital transformation initiatives. The Business Architect will play a pivotal role in aligning business processes with innovative digital solutions, optimizing technology systems, and driving change across the organization to ensure successful migration to new platforms and capabilities.
Key Responsibilities:
Strategic Business Architecture Development:
• 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, with a focus 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.
Digital Transformation Leadership:
• 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.
Business Process Optimization:
• Identify opportunities to streamline and automate banking processes through technology, with an emphasis on enhancing operational efficiency, compliance, and scalability.
• Analyze current-state processes and define future-state processes to ensure seamless integration with digital solutions and the migration to new platforms.
Change Management and Stakeholder Engagement:
• 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.
Technology and Data Strategy Alignment:
• 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.
Risk and Compliance Management:
• 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.
Continuous Improvement:
• 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.
Qualifications and Skills:
• Education: Bachelor's degree in Business, Computer Science, Information Systems, or related field; Master's degree preferred.
• Experience:
o Minimum of 12-15 years in business architecture or business analysis roles, with at least 5 years in a banking or financial services environment.
o 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.
o Strong understanding of banking operations, regulatory frameworks, and financial services industry trends.
o Demonstrated expertise in business process modeling (BPM), requirements gathering, and digital solution delivery.
• Skills:
o Expertise in digital banking technologies, cloud-based platforms, APIs, and emerging financial technologies (e.g., blockchain, AI/ML).
o Strong analytical, problem-solving, and conceptual thinking skills.
o Excellent communication and stakeholder management skills, with the ability to explain complex technical concepts to non-technical stakeholders.
o Familiarity with agile methodologies and tools (e.g., Scrum, Kanban, Jira).
o In-depth knowledge of risk and compliance regulations (e.g., GDPR, PSD2, KYC, AML).
• Certifications (optional but preferred):
• 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.