Solutions Architect

EXL is seeking a Solution Architect & RFP Response Lead with deep Banking & Capital Markets expertise to design secure, performant architectures and own end-to-end RFP responses. The candidate will craft target-state blueprints (cloud/data/API/event-driven), embed regulatory compliance, build compelling narratives and orals, and partner with Sales, Security, Finance, and Delivery to win and land complex transformations. Required: 10+ years architecture, 7+ years FS domain, cloud/data/DevSecOps, hands-on RFP leadership, executive communication.

The Solution Architect & RFP Response Lead is a dual-role function responsible for (1) designing secure, scalable, and regulatory-compliant data solutions across the Banking & Capital Markets value chain, and (2) leading end-to-end RFP/RFI/RFQ responses—including solution strategy, win-themes, pricing alignment, delivery model, and orals—working closely with Sales, Product, Delivery, Risk, Legal, and Partner Ecosystem teams.

You will shape solution blueprints for core banking modernization, payments transformation, data & analytics, digital channels, wealth/asset servicing, risk & finance, and front-to-back capital markets platforms, while driving a compelling, compliant, and differentiated response for complex procurement cycles.

Key Responsibilities

A. Solution Architecture (60%)

• Discovery & Architecture
• Lead client discovery, current-state assessments (business, applications, data, infra), and target-state reference architectures (cloud/on-prem/hybrid).
• Define logical, physical, and integration architectures with clear NFRs (scalability, resiliency, performance, latency, DR/RTO/RPO).
• Establish data architecture patterns (canonical models, data mesh/lakehouse, lineage, metadata, MDM, privacy-by-design).
• Domain-Specific Design
• Banking: core and digital banking, onboarding & KYC, loan origination & servicing, payments (RTGS/ACH/SEPA/SWIFT/ISO 20022), cards, fraud & AML, collections.
• Capital Markets: order management, trade capture, pricing & risk analytics, confirmations/settlements, collateral, market & reference data, regulatory reporting, surveillance.
• Risk & Finance: ALM, IFRS/CECL, Basel, liquidity/stress testing, reconciliations, controls automation.
• Cloud & Platforms
• Define target cloud data landing zones (Azure/AWS/GCP), multi-region setup, network segmentation, secrets management, observability (APM, logs, traces).
• Evaluate/build on core banking and capital markets ecosystems: Temenos, Finastra, FIS, Fiserv, Mambu, Thought Machine, Calypso/Adenza, Murex, Broadridge, SimCorp—incl. integration and extension patterns.
• API-led connectivity (REST/GraphQL, event streaming/Kafka), microservices, containers/Kubernetes, serverless where appropriate.
• Security, Risk & Compliance
• Embed zero-trust principles; enforce access controls, encryption, tokenization, key management.
• Ensure compliance with SOX, GLBA, PCI-DSS, PSD2, MiFID II, EMIR, Dodd-Frank, GDPR/CCPA, and local regulations; define control mappings and evidence plans.
• Delivery Architecture
• Define DevSecOps toolchains, IaC (Terraform/Bicep/CloudFormation), CI/CD, automated testing, quality gates.
• Develop migration cutover plans, data migration strategies, and rollback/DR drills.

Tools & Environment (Typical)

• Architecture: Draw.io, Visio, Lucid, Archi/ArchiMate.
• DevSecOps: GitHub/GitLab/Azure DevOps, SonarQube, Snyk, HashiCorp (Terraform/Vault), Jenkins, ArgoCD.
• Cloud & Data: Azure/AWS/GCP, Kafka, Spark, Databricks/BigQuery/Synapse/Snowflake, Redis, Postgres/Oracle, Elastic/Prometheus/Grafana.

B. RFP/RFI/RFQ Response Leadership (40%)

• Response Orchestration
• Own the response calendar, structure, and storyline: exec summary, problem framing, solution blueprint, value levers, delivery approach, and win themes.
• Run color-team reviews (Pink/Red/Gold), manage version control, and coordinate SMEs across products, security, delivery, legal, and finance.
• Technical Content & Differentiation
• Author solution narratives, diagrams, SOW-aligned deliverables, assumptions, exclusions, and dependencies.
• Create compliance matrices, security questionnaires, data processing addendums, and architecture risk assessments.
• Commercials & Risk
• Partner with Finance to shape TCO, unit-rate models, milestones, and risk-adjusted estimates; surface trade-offs and options (Good/Better/Best).
• Align response with SLAs/OLAs, penalties/earn-backs, and regulatory constraints.
• Presentations & Orals
• Build orals deck and demo strategy; coach speakers; handle deep-dive Q&A (security, latency, DR, data residency, vendor lock-in, licensing, roadmap).

Required Qualifications

• 10–15+ years in Solution Architecture/Engineering; 7+ years in Banking/Capital Markets.
• Proven leadership of >$10M programs or multi-tower transformations.
• Strong grasp of banking and capital markets domain processes and leading COTS platforms.
• Deep experience with cloud architectures (Azure/AWS/GCP), API/event-driven designs, data platforms, DevSecOps, and SRE/observability.
• Hands-on with architecture frameworks (TOGAF/Zachman) and modeling (C4, ArchiMate, UML).
• Familiarity with information security standards (ISO 27001, NIST), privacy, and regulatory regimes relevant to FS.
• Demonstrated ownership of RFP/RFI responses end-to-end, including compliant templates, Q&A management, pricing alignment, and orals.