Company purpose:
Our company purpose is to contribute to a responsible and sustainable economy by financing and advising clients according to the highest ethical standards.
Our employer promise is built around three pillars:
• Being a great place to work
• Committed to sustainability and having a positive impact
• Being dedicated to the development of our people
Business area
BNP Paribas is a leading bank in Europe with an international reach. It has a presence in 73 countries, with more than 196,000 employees, including around 149,000 in Europe. The Group has key positions in its three main activities: Domestic Markets, International Financial Services (whose retail-banking networks and financial services are covered by Retail Banking & Services) and Corporate & Institutional Banking, which serves two client franchises: corporate clients and institutional investors.
BNP Paribas Corporate and Institutional Banking is a globally recognised leader offering capital markets, securities services, financing, treasury and advisory solutions.
Job purpose
As a Solution Architect, you will play a central role in guiding projects from initial concept through to implementation. Your work will be evenly split between understanding business needs (50%) and applying technical expertise (50%). You will collaborate with business analysts, stakeholders, and technical teams to ensure that proposed solutions meet both business objectives and technical requirements.
The scope is CIB globally.
Key responsibilities
Analysing and Defining Business Requirements
- Work closely with business analysts, stakeholders, and project managers to clarify business goals and ensure technical solutions align with these objectives.
- Identify opportunities to improve business processes and capabilities through technology
Designing Solution Strategies
- Create architectural blueprints that outline the path to project success.
- Define application specifications, select technology stacks, and ensure the solution meets requirements for integration, scalability, and security.
- Clearly communicate these strategies to both technical and non-technical stakeholders.
Aligning Solutions with Business Needs
- Evaluate and select the most appropriate technologies, platforms, and vendors to address business challenges.
- Conduct thorough research and analysis to ensure your choices align with business goals and integrate effectively with existing systems.
Managing Constraints
- Identify and prioritise key constraints such as budget, time-to-market, compliance, and scalability.
- Adapt architectural decisions to minimise risks and ensure solutions are delivered within project limitations.
Creating Documentation
- Produce detailed technical documentation to guide development teams and communicate architectural decisions, designs, and specifications.
- Ensure documentation is clear, comprehensive, and accessible to all stakeholders.
Collaborating with Development Teams
- Work closely with software development teams to ensure solutions are implemented according to architectural guidance and technical standards.
- Support teams in troubleshooting issues, maintaining quality, and ensuring alignment between architecture and development.
- Demonstrate strong analytical skills, effective communication, and the ability to balance business priorities with technical solutions.
- Be instrumental in delivering value to the organisation by ensuring that technology solutions are robust, scalable, and aligned with business strategy.
Requirements
• Deep technical proficiency in software and hardware systems, system integration, and architectural frameworks
• Strong understanding of architectural design.
• Experience with IT infrastructure, software engineering, network administration, and database management.
• Proficiency in security principles, compliance standards, and regulatory requirements (especially relevant for banking/financial services).
• Ability to design scalable, reliable, and secure solutions that align with business objectives.
• Excellent communication skills for translating complex technical concepts to non-technical stakeholders and collaborating across teams.
• Strong project management and stakeholder engagement skills to drive projects from concept to implementation.
• Analytical and problem-solving abilities to assess requirements, identify risks, and propose effective solutions.
• Experience in technical documentation, vendor management, and change management.
• Be familiar with Architecture framework such as SOCCER (Syst int, Orga, com, Change management, evaluation. Analysis, Risk and security).
And of course, we expect all our colleagues to embody and practice the Group values (alignment with the Bank’s strategy, commitment, work ethic, integrity and Code of Conduct).
A bit more about why you should join us
1. We’re a great place to work
We aim for optimal work/life balance (depending on role, this includes hybrid working, flexible working and agile)
We are proud of our award-winning flexible benefits and health & wellbeing strategy. Our flexible benefits include:
• Generous holiday allowance of at least 26 days (plus bank holidays) – with option to buy and sell holidays.
• Valuable financial plans – a 12% non-contributory pension which has been moved to sustainable investments*, life assurance*, income protection and personal accident insurance.
• Extensive wellbeing and mental health offering – one of the most advanced private medical schemes in the UK, dental cover, wellbeing app, Cognitive Behavioural Therapy support, subsidised gym memberships, bespoke health assessments including genetic testing, Private GP (including digital GP services to parents of employees), Employee Assistance Programme, menopause & fertility support (we are an accredited Menopause Friendly Employer), neurodiversity assessment and support.
• Key onsite services and facilities in London – include physiotherapy, nutrition, massage therapy, physiology, mental health first aiders, seasonal flu vaccinations and free onsite fitness centre.
• Plus, emergency back-up care for dependants, green car leasing, season ticket loan, and a range of other benefits.
* Subject to relevant caps
2. As the eurozone’s largest bank, we are committed to having a positive impact in the world.
For example, we are committed to Net Zero in all of our financing and investment portfolios by 2050. By 2030, 80% of our energy production financing will be low carbon.
But impact for us means more than climate. It means empowering our people every day. Everyone gets four volunteering days each year - in 2023, we achieved over 18,000 hours of volunteering across the UK and reaching over 4,500 young people.
3. We believe in our people
We support our people to develop skills to adapt to the ever-evolving world of work and to prepare for the jobs of today and tomorrow. We do this through a comprehensive training offering, talent programmes, mentoring, career days and inhouse career tools.
We are proud of the number of our people who progress and secure new roles internally. In fact, in 2023, nearly half of our positions in UK CIB were filled internally.
Investing in our people also means we have a collaborative and inclusive culture:
• Direct feedback from our people shows that our internal culture sets us apart from our industry peers.
• Each year, nearly 30,000 employees globally are involved in professional networks that play an active role in promoting Diversity and Inclusion within the Group. These include our:
Pride Network, Ability Network (which supports disabled employees), MixCity (gender equality network), Women in Global Markets, Women in Global Banking, Women in IT, Diversity Equity & Inclusion in Technology, Early Careers Network, Multicultural Network and Parents & Carers Network.
Equal opportunities
BNP Paribas is committed to providing a work environment that fosters diversity, inclusion, and equal employment opportunity without regard to age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage or civil partnership status, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sex or sexual orientation, or any other legally protected status.
Adjustments
We don’t want anyone to be disadvantaged in our recruitment processes, so if you have a disability or health condition which may mean that you’d benefit from some adjustments or additional support, please let us know as early in the process as possible.
#LI-Hybrid
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