Description: Role: Payments Architect
Max rate: £478 per day
Location: Manchester (once a month in the office)
Duration: 4-6 months
IR35 status: Inside IR35

Job Description

We are looking for an experienced Solution Architect with deep expertise in the Payments domain to design and implement scalable, secure, and high-performance payment solutions. You will work closely with engineering, product, and compliance teams to ensure seamless integration of payment services within our ecosystem.

Key Responsibilities

* Design end-to-end payment solutions architecture that aligns with business objectives and regulatory requirements.
* Define technical strategies for Real Time payments, card processing, digital wallets, and Open Banking.
* Work closely with engineering teams to implement secure and scalable payment processing platforms.
* Evaluate and integrate third-party PSPs, payment gateways, and banking APIs.
* Ensure compliance with UK and global payment regulations (eg, PSD2, Open Banking, PCI DSS, ISO 20022).
* Lead cloud migration and modernization initiatives, incorporating microservices, event-driven architectures, and API-first strategies.
* Optimize payment flows to enhance transaction success rates, fraud prevention, and reconciliation processes.
* Provide architectural guidance on security best practices, including encryption, tokenization, and fraud prevention.

Essential Skills & Experience

* Proven experience as a Solution Architect with a strong focus on Payments (banking, fintech, PSPs).
* Expertise in payment schemes (Faster Payments, Bacs, CHAPS, SEPA, SWIFT, Card Networks like Visa/Mastercard).
* Strong understanding of payment processing flows (acquiring, issuing, authorization, settlement).
* Hands-on experience with ISO 8583, ISO 20022, Open Banking APIs, and EMV.
* Familiarity with security best practices in payments (PCI DSS, SCA, 3DS, OAuth2).
* Experience working with APIs, SDKs, and payment orchestration platforms.
* Strong communication skills, with the ability to translate complex technical concepts into business-friendly language.

If you are interested in this opportunity, please apply now with your updated CV in Microsoft Word/PDF format.

Disclaimer
Notwithstanding any guidelines given to level of experience sought, we will consider candidates from outside this range if they can demonstrate the necessary competencies.

Square One is acting as both an employment agency and an employment business, and is an equal opportunities recruitment business. Square One embraces diversity and will treat everyone equally. Please see our website for our full diversity statement.