JOB SUMMARY

The Head of Solutions for SCV Tech is a strategic role responsible for our tech partnerships with ventures, as well as defining, governing, and driving the tech solutions direction for SCV technology ecosystem. This position ensures alignment with Group ESA, promotes innovation through emerging technologies, and provides architectural expertise to support venture building, Proof of Concepts (PoCs), and special projects. The role demands active collaboration with cross-functional teams, including Architects, Security leaders, and Venture stakeholders, to deliver scalable, secure, performance and innovative technology solutions.

RESPONSIBILITIES

Strategy & Business
•    Governance and Architecture Design: Lead and oversee the domain architecture design, ensuring alignment with Group Enterprise Architecture standards and exercising governance authority to maintain compliance.
•    Enterprise Architecture Leadership: SCV Architecture delegated authority on the Group Enterprise Architecture Board, collaborating with key stakeholders to enhance security controls and architectural frameworks.
•    Innovation & Research: Be updated on emerging technologies and drive adoption (AI/ML, blockchain, serverless, edge computing) to develop scalable, cloud-native solutions for SCVentures.
•    Venture Partnerships: Build strong strategic relationships with the ventures to drive collaboration and develop solutions that meets their business needs 
•    Venture Alignment: Conduct Architecture Reviews (eg AWS Well-Architected Review) and facilitate solution design checkpoints to align venture strategies with enterprise blueprints.

Processes
•    Technology Controls and SOPs: Oversee architecture controls and SOPs for Proof of Concepts (PoCs) and special projects to ensure structured execution.
•    Reusable Architecture Patterns Development: Design and document reusable templates for CI/CD pipelines, API gateways, containers, serverless architectures, and AI/ML integrations.
•    Onboarding Tech Assessments and Security Framework:  Oversee the technology asset lifecycle for SCV Platform Applications and maintain a Technology Standard Catalogue of onboarded/supported applications across SCV and ventures.    Oversee the evolution of the Security Toolkit Framework (STK), ensuring alignment with enterprise security standards.
•    Proactive Optimization: Continuously improve architecture processes by identifying inefficiencies, recommending enhancements, and implementing mechanisms for proactive issue resolution.
People & Talent
•    Resource Management: Mentor and drive collaboration amongst a team of Architects, Security Architects and/or partner vendor resources as subject-matter experts (SMEs) or fractional tech contributors for venture building and PoC activities.
•    Mentorship & Knowledge Sharing:  On cloud-native best practices, multi-cloud strategies, and emerging technologies through innovation sessions and case studies with the team members and ventures.
•    Collaboration: Work closely with venture tech leads and their technology teams, SCV Technology team members, Group T&I stakeholders, Cloud support SMEs, and panel vendors to ensure seamless integration of solutions for ventures.

Risk Management & Governance
•    Secure architecture - Conduct venture architecture reviews to identify risks and recommend mitigation strategies. Design secure, scalable cloud architectures using serverless and container-based solutions where applicable, integrating DevOps frameworks with a ‘secure by default’ approach. Provide actionable recommendations to address vulnerabilities while optimizing performance and efficiency.  
•    Cost Optimization & Reporting: Achieve cost-efficient architectures aligned with Well-Architected Principles by collaborating with CSPs to implement FinOps practices. Ensure accurate resource tagging for effective cost allocation, budgeting, governance, and reporting across ventures.

Regulatory & Business Conduct 
•    Display exemplary conduct and live by the Group’s Values and Code of Conduct. 
•    Take personal responsibility for embedding the highest standards of ethics, including regulatory and business conduct, across Standard Chartered Bank. This includes understanding and ensuring compliance with, in letter and spirit, all applicable laws, regulations, guidelines and the Group Code of Conduct.
•    Lead the Tech Solutions team to achieve the outcomes set out in the Bank’s Conduct Principles
•    Effectively and collaboratively identify, escalate, mitigate and resolve risk, conduct and compliance matters.

Key Stakeholders
•    SCV COO, Head of Tech Enablement, Head of Platform, CISO
•    Group T&I Architecture
•    Venture Leads, Fractional CTOs / CISOs
•    Venture panel vendors

Skills & Experience
•    10+ years of experience in enterprise architecture or solution architecture roles within dynamic environments such as startups or organizations with complex technology ecosystems (e.g., financial services or technology innovation hubs).
•    Proven experience in designing cloud-native architectures leveraging multi-cloud strategies (AWS/Azure), serverless computing models, AI/ML pipelines, blockchain integrations, and edge computing solutions.
•    Has been in a leadership role, comfortable and confident to interact and influence internal and external stakeholders to get to desired outcomes  

Technical Skills
•    Enterprise Architecture Expertise: Strong understanding of TOGAF principles or similar frameworks for designing scalable architectures aligned with business objectives.
•    Cloud-Native Technologies: Advanced knowledge of cloud platforms (AWS/Azure), container orchestration tools (Kubernetes/Docker), Infrastructure as Code (IaC) tools (Terraform/CloudFormation), and DevSecOps toolchains.
•    Security Controls & Frameworks: Familiarity with security frameworks like CISV8, ISO 27001/27002, NIST CSF/CIS Controls; experience implementing zero-trust architectures or quantum-resistant encryption techniques is a plus.
•    AI/ML Integration: Hands-on experience integrating AI/ML capabilities into scalable cloud infrastructures to enhance automation and decision-making processes.

Certifications (Highly Desirable):
•    TOGAF Certified Architect or equivalent enterprise architecture certification.
•    AWS Certified Solutions Architect – Professional or equivalent multi-cloud certifications.
•    CISSP or CISM certifications are good to have to demonstrate expertise in security architecture and governance.

Role-Specific Technical Competencies
•    Cloud-Native Architecture Design: Expertise in designing multi-cloud solutions leveraging serverless computing models (e.g., AWS Lambda).
•    Security Integration: Proficiency in embedding security controls into architectural designs using tools like WAFs (Web Application Firewalls), SIEM platforms (e.g., Splunk), or IAM solutions (e.g., Okta).
•    Reusable Component Development: Experience creating reusable templates for CI/CD pipelines using GitOps principles or similar methodologies.
•    AI/ML Pipelines: Familiarity with tools like TensorFlow/Kubeflow for building scalable machine learning models integrated into production environments.

Other Responsibilities
•    Embed Here for good and Group’s brand and values in SC Ventures as a People Leader leading the Tech Solutions Team. 

Role Specific Technical Competencies
•    Cloud-Native Architecture Design
•    Security Integration
•    Reusable Component Development
•    AI/ML Pipelines & Tools
•    Stakeholder management 
•    Strategic Influence

About Standard Chartered

We're an international bank, nimble enough to act, big enough for impact. For more than 170 years, we've worked to make a positive difference for our clients, communities, and each other. We question the status quo, love a challenge and enjoy finding new opportunities to grow and do better than before. If you're looking for a career with purpose and you want to work for a bank making a difference, we want to hear from you. You can count on us to celebrate your unique talents and we can't wait to see the talents you can bring us.

Our purpose, to drive commerce and prosperity through our unique diversity, together with our brand promise, to be here for good are achieved by how we each live our valued behaviours. When you work with us, you'll see how we value difference and advocate inclusion.

Together we:

• Do the right thing and are assertive, challenge one another, and live with integrity, while putting the client at the heart of what we do
• Never settle, continuously striving to improve and innovate, keeping things simple and learning from doing well, and not so well
• Are better together, we can be ourselves, be inclusive, see more good in others, and work collectively to build for the long term

What we offer

In line with our Fair Pay Charter, we offer a competitive salary and benefits to support your mental, physical, financial and social wellbeing.

• Core bank funding for retirement savings, medical and life insurance, with flexible and voluntary benefits available in some locations.
• Time-off including annual leave, parental/maternity (20 weeks), sabbatical (12 months maximum) and volunteering leave (3 days), along with minimum global standards for annual and public holiday, which is combined to 30 days minimum.
• Flexible working options based around home and office locations, with flexible working patterns.
• Proactive wellbeing support through Unmind, a market-leading digital wellbeing platform, development courses for resilience and other human skills, global Employee Assistance Programme, sick leave, mental health first-aiders and all sorts of self-help toolkits
• A continuous learning culture to support your growth, with opportunities to reskill and upskill and access to physical, virtual and digital learning.
• Being part of an inclusive and values driven organisation, one that embraces and celebrates our unique diversity, across our teams, business functions and geographies - everyone feels respected and can realise their full potential.