Senior Solutions Architect – Payment Systems

Join Mizuho as a Senior Solutions Architect – Payment Systems!

In this role you will be responsible for theend-to-end architecture, solution design, and technical oversight of payment platforms supporting Mizuho Americas’ domestic and cross‑border payment capabilities.

This role acts as ahands-on technical leader and design authority, partnering closely with product, business, risk, operations, infrastructure, and security teams to deliversecure, scalable, and regulatory-compliant payment solutions. You will work closely with the enterprise architects and define target-state solution architectures, guide implementation teams, and ensure alignment with enterprise standards acrosshigh-value, real-time, and batch payment systems.

The position requires deep expertise inpayment processing architectures, strong understanding offinancial messaging standards, and the ability to drive complex initiatives across multiple platforms in a highly regulated environment.

PRINCIPAL DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES

Solution Architecture & Design

• Own thesolution architecture for enterprise payment platforms includinghigh-value payments, real-time payments, clearing, settlement, and reporting systems
• Translate business requirements intoend-to-end technical architectures, covering application, integration, data, infrastructure, and security layers
• Design solutions aligned withenterprise architecture principles, target-state roadmaps, and regulatory requirements
• Evaluate trade-offs across scalability, resilience, performance, cost, and delivery timelines
• Defineintegration patterns for internal systems, vendor platforms, and external market infrastructures

Payments Domain & Platform Architecture

• Architect solutions supportingdomestic and cross-border payment flows, lifecycle processing, reconciliation, and exception handling
• Apply strong working knowledge ofpayment rails, clearing models, and settlement mechanisms
• Design architectures aligned withfinancial messaging standards (e.g., ISO 20022, legacy formats)
• Support modernization initiatives includingreal-time payments, API-led architectures, and event-driven processing
• Partner with business and operations teams to ensure solutions meetSLA, resiliency, and operational readiness requirements

Technical Leadership & Governance

• Serve as adesign authority throughout project lifecycles, from concept through production deployment
• Review and approve solution designs, modeling artifacts, and implementation approaches
• Ensure adherence toarchitecture standards, security controls, and development best practices
• Guide and mentor development teams, influencing design decisions rather than managing day-to-day coding
• Participate inarchitecture review boards, technology evaluations, and vendor assessments

Documentation & Standards

• Produce and maintainarchitecture diagrams, solution blueprints, interface contracts, and design specifications
• Documentcurrent-state and target-state architectures, including transition roadmaps
• Contribute to enterprise reference architectures, reusable patterns, and design guidelines
• Ensure architectural artifacts are audit-ready and suitable for regulatory review

Delivery Support & Production Engagement

• Partner with delivery teams during build, testing, and deployment phases to ensure architectural integrity
• SupportSIT, UAT, and production readiness reviews, including non-functional testing considerations
• Provide architectural guidance duringproduction incidents, root-cause analysis, and remediation planning
• Collaborate with infrastructure, DevOps, and SRE teams onresilience, observability, and performance tuning

MINIMUM JOB REQUIREMENTS OR EXPERIENCE

Business & Domain Experience

• 12+ years of technology experience, with5+ years in financial services or payments platforms
• Proven experience architectingmission‑critical, high-volume, regulated systems
• Strong understanding ofpayments operations, controls, and regulatory considerations

TECHNICAL SKILLS

CORE – MUST HAVE

• Strong experience inenterprise and solution architecture within banking or payments environments
• Hands-on architectural knowledge of:
  • Distributed systems andmicroservices-based architectures
  • API-led andevent-driven integration patterns
  • High-availability, multi-region, and fault-tolerant designs
• Deep understanding of:
  • Payment processing lifecycles
  • Financial messaging standards (e.g.,ISO 20022, XML/JSON-based formats)
• Solid background in:
  • Java-based enterprise platforms or equivalent JVM ecosystems
  • Relational databases and transactional data models
  • Messaging platforms and streaming technologies
• Strong grasp of:
  • Security architecture, authentication, authorization, encryption, and data protection
  • Regulatory and risk controls relevant to payment systems
• Ability to analyze, document, and communicatecomplex system interactions clearly to both technical and non-technical audiences

NICE TO HAVE

• Experience withreal-time or instant payment platforms
• Exposure tovendor payment engines, clearing systems, or market infrastructures
• Cloud and hybrid architecture experience (AWS, Azure, or private cloud)
• Familiarity withcontainer platforms and orchestration (OpenShift, Kubernetes)
• Knowledge ofDevSecOps, CI/CD pipelines, and infrastructure-as-code
• Experience supporting modernization fromlegacy payment systems to next-generation platforms

EDUCATION AND OTHER REQUIREMENTS

• Bachelor’s degree inComputer Science, Engineering, or related discipline, or equivalent practical experience
• Strong written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to influence senior stakeholders
• Demonstrated ability to operate withhigh autonomy and accountability
• Comfortable working across business, technology, risk, and operations teams
• Strong analytical mindset with a focus onenterprise value, risk stewardship, and long-term sustainability

NOTE

This job description is not intended to be an exhaustive list of all responsibilities, skills, or working conditions associated with this role. Responsibilities and requirements may evolve based on business needs and regulatory considerations.

The expected base salary ranges from $160k-$225k. Salary offers are based on a wide range of factors including relevant skills, training, experience, education, and, where applicable, certifications and licenses obtained. Market and organizational factors are also considered. In addition to salary and a generous employee benefits package, successful candidates are eligible to receive a discretionary bonus.

#LI-Hybrid

Other requirements

Mizuho has in place a hybrid working program, with varying opportunities for remote work depending on thenature of the role, needs of your department, as well as local laws and regulatory obligations. Roles in some of our departments have greater in-office requirements that will be communicated to you as part of the recruitment process.   

Company Overview

Mizuho Financial Group, Inc. is the 15th largest bank in the world as measured by total assets of ~$2 trillion. Mizuho's 60,000 employees worldwide offer comprehensive financial services to clients in 35 countries and 800 offices throughout the Americas, EMEA and Asia. Mizuho Americas is a leading provider of corporate and investment banking services to clients in the US, Canada, and Latin America. Through its acquisition of Greenhill​, Mizuho provides M&A, restructuring and private capital advisory capabilities across Americas, Europe and Asia. Mizuho Americas employs approximately 3,500 professionals, and its capabilities span corporate and investment banking, capital markets, equity and fixed income sales & trading, derivatives, FX, custody and research. Visitwww.mizuhoamericas.com.​​

Mizuho Americas offers a competitive total rewards package.

We are an EEO/AA Employer - M/F/Disability/Veteran.

We participate in the E-Verify program.

We maintain a drug-free workplaceand reserve the right to require pre- and post-hire drug testing as permitted by applicable law.

#LI-MIZUHO