Solution Architect (Prime Brokerage)

Our client, a Tier 1 global bank, is planning for the establishment of a Prime Brokerage business to serve institutional hedge fund clients. The initial focus covers equities, ETFs, and US Treasuries, with a client base of long/short equity, equity market neutral, and macro funds. The business will have to be built from the ground up within an existing bank infrastructure, which means the technology program involves both the deployment of new platforms and the extension of systems already in place.

The Solutions Architect hired into this role will work for the client head of the prime brokerage program as one of the senior technical authorities for the program. This person will help to set the architecture for new platforms, determine how existing systems need to be modified or extended, participate in the vendor selection and integration, and ensure that the overall technology design is operationally sound from day one. The role carries real accountability and requires someone who has done this kind of work before in a comparable environment.

Responsibilities:

Architecture and Platform Design

• Support the definition of the target technology architecture for the prime brokerage platform, covering order management, securities finance, margin and collateral management, client reporting, and risk
• Produce solution design documentation, data flow diagrams, integration specifications, and API contracts
• Help to establish architecture standards and design patterns for use across all technology workstreams within the program
• Drive cloud-native, AI-native, and API-first design principles across new platform components
• Support the build vs. buy analysis for each platform layer and present vendor recommendations with supporting rationale, where appropriate

Legacy System Modernization

• Assess the bank's existing infrastructure, including OMS, clearing, custody, and risk systems, for suitability within a prime brokerage operating model
• Design integration and migration strategies that extend existing platforms where appropriate rather than replacing them unnecessarily
• Identify technical debt and control gaps that would create operational or regulatory exposure in a live PB environment
• Lead the API enablement of legacy systems to support real-time data consumption by new PB components
• Ensure that existing business lines are not disrupted during the transition period

Vendor Evaluation and Integration

• Support the evaluation and selection of third-party platforms across the PB technology stack, including:
• Securities finance: EquiLend, Pirum
• Margin and collateral: CloudMargin, Imagine Software, Cassini
• Client reporting: Arcesium, Enfusion
• Order management and execution: Broadridge, ION, FIX connectivity
• Data infrastructure: Snowflake, Databricks, Bloomberg B-PIPE
• Hold vendors accountable to integration and technical commitments throughout deliver

Program and Delivery Leadership

• Work alongside program management to sequence delivery across parallel workstreams with dependencies
• Lead a mixed team of internal engineers, bank architects, and external implementation partners
• Provide technical oversight across delivery teams to ensure consistency with the agreed architecture
• Serve as the primary escalation point for technical blockers, integration issues, and design conflicts
• Contribute to program-level risk management by surfacing technology risks early and proposing mitigations

Stakeholder Management

• Communicate architecture decisions and program status clearly to senior business and technology leadership, including CTO, COO, and Head of Prime Brokerage
• Work closely with the Prime Brokerage business team to ensure the technology roadmap reflects commercial priorities and client requirements
• Engage with Risk, Compliance, and Internal Audit to ensure the architecture satisfies regulatory and control expectations
• Represent the technology program in discussions with prospective clients where architecture credibility is required

Domain Knowledge

• 10+ years in Capital Markets technology with direct experience in Prime Brokerage, Securities Finance, or Clearing operations
• Solid understanding of how a prime brokerage business operates, including margin mechanics under Reg T and portfolio margin, securities lending, financing, client onboarding, and reporting
• Hands-on experience with at least two major PB vendor platforms such as EquiLend, Broadridge BPS, Imagine Software, CloudMargin, Arcesium, Enfusion, Murex, or Calypso
• Familiarity with DTCC and NSCC clearing workflows, FIX protocol, and securities settlement processes

Technical Skills

• Proven experience designing and delivering complex, multi-system financial technology platforms at an enterprise scale
• Strong API and integration architecture skills covering REST, FIX, SWIFT, and event-driven messaging patterns such as Kafka
• Cloud platform experience across AWS, Azure, or GCP with a working knowledge of cloud-native design approaches
• Data architecture capability including real-time and batch pipeline design and data warehouse implementation, with Snowflake experience preferred
• Understanding of security, entitlements, and data governance requirements in a regulated financial services environment

Leadership and Communication

• Track record of leading architecture across large technology programs with multiple delivery teams and competing priorities
• Ability to communicate technical decisions clearly and convincingly to senior business and technology executives
• Experience navigating the governance processes of a large financial institution, including architecture review boards, risk committees, and audit engagement
• Demonstrated ability to manage vendor relationships and hold third parties to technical and commercial commitments

Additional Qualifications

• Prior experience at a major prime broker in a technology architecture or senior engineering capacity
• Involvement in a prime brokerage launch, significant expansion, or platform overhaul program
• Exposure to the operational side of prime brokerage, such as margin management, securities lending, or client service
• Familiarity with portfolio margin stress-testing methodology and the systems that support it
• Experience implementing AI or machine learning capabilities in a Capital Markets context
• Understanding of how hedge fund clients interact with their prime brokers operationally, including OMS connectivity, reporting expectations, and margin call workflows
• Architecture certification such as TOGAF, or cloud certification at a professional or solutions level

This role requires someone who understands the prime brokerage business, not just the technology. The candidates who perform best in this kind of program are those who have spent time on the operational or business side of a PB before moving into architecture. That background allows them to anticipate problems that a pure technologist would miss, and to design systems that hold up in production rather than just on paper. If you have built or significantly upgraded a prime brokerage platform at a major institution and are looking for a role with genuine scope and accountability, we would like to speak with you.

Discover some of the global benefits that empower our people to become the best version of themselves:

• Finance: Competitive salary package, share plan, company performance bonuses, value-based recognition awards, referral bonus;   
• Career Development: Career coaching, global career opportunities, non-linear career paths, internal development programmes for management and technical leadership;
• Learning Opportunities: Complex projects, rotations, internal tech communities, training, certifications, coaching, online learning platforms subscriptions, pass-it-on sessions, workshops, conferences;
• Work-Life Balance: Hybrid work and flexible working hours, employee assistance programme;
• Health: Global internal wellbeing programme, access to wellbeing apps;
• Community: Global internal tech communities, hobby clubs and interest groups, inclusion and diversity programmes, events and celebrations.

Additional Employee Requirements  

• Participation in both internal meetings and external meetings via video calls, as necessary. 
• Ability to go into corporate or client offices to work onsite, as necessary. 
• Prolonged periods of remaining stationary at a desk and working on a computer, as necessary. 
• Ability to bend, kneel, crouch, and reach overhead, as necessary. 
• Hand-eye coordination necessary to operate computers and various pieces of office equipment, as necessary. 
• Vision abilities including close vision, toleration of fluorescent lighting, and adjusting focus, as necessary. 
• For positions that require business travel and/or event attendance, ability to lift 25 lbs, as necessary. 
• For positions that require business travel and/or event attendance, a valid driver’s license and acceptable driving record are required, as driving is an essential job function.

*If requested, reasonable accommodations will be made to enable employees requiring accommodations to perform the essential functions of their jobs, absent undue hardship.   

USA Benefits (Full time roles only, does not apply to contractor positions)

• Robust healthcare and benefits including Medical, Dental, vision, Disability coverage, and various other benefit options  
• Flexible Spending Accounts (Medical, Transit, and Dependent Care)  
• Employer Paid Life Insurance and AD&D Coverages  
• Health Savings account paired with our low-cost High Deductible Medical Plan  
• 401(k) Safe Harbor Retirement plan with employer match with immediately vest   

At Endava, we’re committed to creating an open, inclusive, and respectful environment where everyone feels safe, valued, and empowered to be their best. We welcome applications from people of all backgrounds, experiences, and perspectives—because we know that inclusive teams help us deliver smarter, more innovative solutions for our customers. Hiring decisions are based on merit, skills, qualifications, and potential. If you need adjustments or support during the recruitment process, please let us know.