Lead System Architect & Technical Program Manager

We are seeking a visionary and execution-oriented Lead System Architect & Technical Program Manager (TPM) to lead the execution of our high-priority, large-scale technical initiatives for the CitiDirect Platform Core and Platform Digital Servicing Agile Release Trains (ARTs). This is a unique, hybrid role designed for a senior technical leader who can both design complex, enterprise-grade system architectures and actively drive their execution across both ARTs.

In this role, your primary focus will be System Architecture -defining the technical vision, designing scalable system architectures, and building the architectural runway. Concurrently, you will leverage Technical Program Management competencies to operationalize your designs, manage cross-team technical dependencies, mitigate risks, and ensure the successful delivery of high-priority technical initiatives.

You will serve as the ultimate technical authority for the CitiDirect Platform ARTs, bridging the gap between high-level enterprise strategy and hands-on engineering execution.

Key Responsibilities

1. System Architecture & Technical Strategy (Primary Focus - 70%)

• Architectural Vision & Design: Define and communicate the future-state architecture, technical vision, and system design patterns for the platforms within the Platform ARTs.
• Architectural Runway: Design and champion Enabler Epics and Features (covering cloud infrastructure, microservices, security, and data architecture) to ensure the platform supports near-term business features without technical debt.
• Non-Functional Requirements (NFRs): Define, monitor, and enforce NFRs-including security, scalability, high availability, performance, and maintainability-across the ART scrum teams.
• Technical Debt & Modernization: Identify systemic technical debt, prioritize remediation efforts, and lead architectural spikes or prototyping for new technology evaluations.
• Engineering Standards: Establish and promote modern engineering practices, including DevSecOps, Test-Driven Development (TDD), automated testing, and API-first design patterns.

2. Technical Program Management & Execution (30%)

• Program Delivery Coordination: Partner with the Release Train Engineer (RTE) to facilitate PI (Program Increment) execution, ensuring that engineering teams deliver on technical milestones and architectural enablers.
• Dependency & Risk Management: Proactively identify, map, and resolve complex technical dependencies across multiple partner ARTs.
• Risk Mitigation: Lead the identification of program-level technical risks and systematically address them through stakeholder engagement - product, architecture and engineering.
• Backlog Prioritization: Partner with Product Managers and Product Owners (POs) to refine the Program Backlog to ensure epics/tasks are always available for upcoming PIs.
• Technical Translation: Translate complex architectural designs, non-functional requirements (NFRs), and security mandates into clear, actionable features and user stories for engineering teams.
• Stakeholder Communication: Provide transparent, data-driven status updates, technical risk assessments, and delivery metrics to senior leadership and stakeholders.

Key SAFe Ceremony Involvements

• PI Planning: Present the Architectural Vision and technical context to the ART; facilitate technical breakout sessions to validate team-level designs, map dependencies on the Program Board, and draft technical PI objectives.
• ART Sync / Scrum of Scrums: Act as the primary technical escalation point to resolve architectural blockers, infrastructure issues, and cross-team dependencies.
• System Demo: Lead the evaluation of the integrated system demo to ensure architectural integrity, interoperability, and NFR compliance.
• Inspect & Adapt (I&A): Lead problem-solving workshops to address systemic technical, architectural, or infrastructure bottlenecks identified during the PI.

Qualifications & Experience

Required:

• Education: Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Information Technology, Software Engineering, or a related technical field.
• Experience:
  • 7+ years of experience in software engineering, system design, and enterprise-scale architecture.
  • Deep, hands-on experience working within a Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe) environment.
• Technical Depth:
  • Proven expertise in designing and deploying cloud-native architectures (ECS, AWS), microservices, and event-driven systems.
  • Strong understanding of DevSecOps, CI/CD pipelines, containerization (Kubernetes/Docker), and modern data architectures.

Preferred Certifications:

• Architecture: SAFe® System Architect (ARCH), AWS Certified Solutions Architect Professional, or Azure Solutions Architect Expert.
• Agile/Program Management: SAFe® Product Owner/Product Manager (POPM), SAFe® Release Train Engineer (RTE), or Project Management Professional (PMP).

Core Competencies

• Architectural/Technical Authority: Strong technical credibility to guide, mentor, and gain the respect of senior engineers, tech leads, and system architects.
• Strategic Execution: Exceptional ability to translate abstract architectural concepts into concrete, phased execution plans.
• Influence & Collaboration: Proven ability to influence cross-functional teams and senior stakeholders without direct authority.

Systemic Problem Solving: A track record of diagnosing and resolving complex, systemic technical blockers across highly matrixed organizations.

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