Financial Services Technology
Payments Architect Jobs & Careers
Looking for your next Payments Architect opportunity?
HOK Consulting connects Payments Architects with banks, FinTech businesses, payment providers and financial institutions designing secure, resilient and scalable payment platforms across permanent, contract and interim opportunities.
Whether your experience covers ISO 20022, SWIFT, Faster Payments, CHAPS, BACS, SEPA, payment gateways, Open Banking or cloud-native payments architecture, explore current opportunities or upload your CV to join HOK’s technology talent network.
Current Payments Architect Jobs
Explore current Payments Architect opportunities available through HOK Consulting.
Can’t see the right Payments Architect role?
If there are currently no suitable Payments Architect vacancies listed, upload your CV and tell us what you’re looking for. Our team can contact you when a relevant permanent, contract or interim opportunity becomes available.
What Does a Payments Architect Do?
Payments Architects design the technical architecture behind payment platforms, transaction processing systems and integrations used by banks, FinTech businesses and payment providers.
The role involves defining how payment services interact across gateways, banking platforms, clearing and settlement systems, APIs and external payment schemes while ensuring security, resilience, scalability and regulatory requirements are built into the architecture.
Payments Architects often work alongside Payments Engineers, Payments Technology Specialists, Software Engineers, Business Analysts and programme teams to modernise payment infrastructure, introduce new capabilities and migrate legacy platforms towards modern architectures.
Payments Architect Skills & Experience
The exact requirements vary between organisations and payment environments, but Payments Architect roles commonly involve experience across areas such as:
- Payments Architecture
- Payments Technology
- Solution Architecture
- Banking Technology
- Payment Platforms
- Payment Gateways
- ISO 20022
- SWIFT
- Faster Payments
- CHAPS
- BACS
- SEPA
- Open Banking
- Cards & Payment Platforms
- Clearing and Settlement
- Payment APIs
- Microservices
- Event-Driven Architecture
- Apache Kafka
- Cloud Architecture
- Amazon Web Services (AWS)
- Microsoft Azure
- PCI DSS
- Operational Resilience
- Technology Strategy
- Stakeholder Management
Payments Architects may specialise in account-to-account payments, cards, payment gateways, transaction switching, Open Banking or wider payments transformation depending on the organisation.
Strong architecture and payments domain knowledge are particularly important when designing platforms that must process high transaction volumes reliably while integrating with regulated banking and payment ecosystems.
Typical Payments Architect Responsibilities
- Defining end-to-end architecture for payment platforms and services
- Designing integrations with payment schemes, gateways and banking systems
- Creating architecture for payment APIs, microservices and event-driven systems
- Supporting ISO 20022 and financial messaging transformation
- Designing resilient transaction processing, clearing and settlement solutions
- Defining security, availability and operational resilience requirements
- Producing solution designs, architecture diagrams and technical standards
- Evaluating payment technology platforms and implementation approaches
- Supporting migration from legacy payment infrastructure to modern platforms
- Working with engineering teams throughout implementation and delivery
- Collaborating with product, programme, risk and regulatory stakeholders
- Providing architectural governance across major payments programmes
Responsibilities vary depending on the organisation and whether the role focuses on payment modernisation, cards, Open Banking, real-time payments, transaction migration or wider banking technology transformation.
Payments Architect Salary Expectations
Payments Architect salaries vary according to experience, location, payments expertise, architecture responsibility and the scale and complexity of the technology environment.
Permanent Payments Architect
Around £85,000 per year
Current UK median advertised salary
Contract Payments Architect
Around £563 per day
UK median contract rate
Senior Payments Architects working across large banking transformations, complex payment migrations, cloud-native platforms or business-critical financial infrastructure may command substantially higher salaries or contract rates.
Salary information is provided as a general UK market guide. The current exact-title permanent sample is very small, so the £85,000 figure should be treated as indicative rather than a definitive national benchmark.
Payments Architect Career Progression
Payments Architecture is a senior technology discipline that can lead into enterprise architecture, payments leadership and broader financial services technology strategy positions.
Typical Payments Architect Career Path
Alternative Career Paths
Payments Architects may also progress into roles such as:
- Payments Technology Lead
- Solution Architect
- Enterprise Architect
- Technology Transformation Lead
- Head of Payments Technology
- Technology Director
The right progression depends on whether you want to deepen your payments architecture expertise, lead larger transformation programmes or take broader responsibility for enterprise financial services technology strategy.
Your Next Move
Looking for Your Next Payments Architect Opportunity?
If you’re considering your next permanent appointment, contract assignment or interim opportunity, send HOK Consulting your CV.
Tell us about the payment platforms you’ve designed, the schemes and technologies you specialise in and the type of financial services technology opportunity you’re looking for.
Specialist Recruitment
Financial Services Technology Recruitment
Payments Architecture forms part of HOK Consulting’s wider Financial Services Technology recruitment expertise, connecting organisations with specialists across banking, payments, FinTech, RegTech, trading technology and major financial services transformation programmes.
Hiring?
Recruiting Payments Architects?
HOK Consulting supports banks, FinTech businesses, payment providers and financial institutions looking for experienced Payments Architects across permanent, contract and interim requirements.
Whether you’re modernising payment infrastructure, migrating a transaction platform, implementing ISO 20022, introducing new payment rails or designing a cloud-native payments architecture, speak to HOK about your requirements.