Solutions Architect

General Description

We are seeking a highly skilled Solutions Architect under the Information Technology division, to design and lead scalable, secure, and compliant solutions within a modern banking environment. This role is central to advancing API-first, cloud-native architecture, enabling secure integrations, and ensuring strong governance across distributed systems.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities

Lead the end-to-end architecture design in collaboration with domain architects, ensuring solutions meet banking regulatory and compliance requirements (data protection, encryption at rest/in transit, auditability).
Lead the design of APIs, including REST, GraphQL, and event-driven APIs.
Enforce API governance standards:
- API design guidelines (OpenAPI/Swagger/Postman)
- Versioning and lifecycle management
- Security standards (OAuth2, mTLS, JWT, scopes/claims)
- Throttling, rate limiting, and monetization strategies
Design high availability and disaster recovery strategies (multi-AZ, multi-region, failover patterns, RTO/RPO).
Implement zero-trust security principles and secure access patterns.
Assess the systems architecture currently in place and work with technical staff to recommend solutions to improve it, in alignment with Enterprise Architecture.
Understand potential impacts of proposed solutions on other systems, processes or projects. Assist teams by providing appropriate directions, design considerations, tradeoffs, benefits and recommendations.
Constantly develop knowledge of current and emerging technologies. Identify new and emerging solutions, assess their relevance and potential value to the organization and provide recommendations to teammates and management.
Aid in steering the technology direction and standards.

Education

Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, Information Systems or related field.

Preferred Certificates and Licences

AWS Certified Solutions Architect – Associate (required)
AWS Certified Solutions Architect – Professional (Nice to have)

Experience

7+ years of professional experience in one or a combination of the following areas: application architecture, application development, cloud-native technologies, integration architecture, IT infrastructure and operations.
Hands-on experience on application architecture understanding the layout of application deployment and design, middleware options, protocols, API gateways, platform infrastructures, and domain-driven design.
Strong hands-on experience with AWS cloud architecture and services.
Deep knowledge of API architecture and governance.
Proven experience with distributed systems and microservices architectures.
Strong understanding of integration patterns and middleware concepts.
Experience implementing secure API access, and integration patterns.
Solid experience with networking concepts in cloud environments.
Familiarity with data consistency models, caching strategies, and performance tuning.
Keen interest in new technologies, willingness to research and self-study to keep skills relevant.
Mentors and motivates other to provide results, seeks opportunities for continuous improvement.
Comfortable working in cross functional teams.
Excellent interpersonal skills, with ability to work effectively with individuals of varying backgrounds, levels, and technical expertise.
Excellent verbal and written communication skills with attention to detail, intuitive, assertive, proactive, and positive.
Ability to work in a fast-paced, and rapidly changing environment.
Must be self-motivated, team-oriented, and able to operate with minimal supervision.
Experience in financial services/banking a plus.

Key Competencies

Strong architectural vision and ability to translate business strategy into technical solutions.
Deep understanding of trade-offs in distributed systems (latency, consistency, cost, availability).
Ability to lead and influence cross-functional teams.
Strong focus on security, cost, compliance, and operational excellence.

Important: The candidate must provide evidence of academic preparation or courses related to the job posting, if necessary.

Our hybrid work model benefit applies to certain positions and is subject to changes based on the organizational needs.

Applicants must be authorized to work for any employer in the United States. This position is not open to applicants who need visa sponsorship or transfer of visa sponsorship at this time.

ABOUT US

Popular is Puerto Rico’s leading financial institution and have been evolving since it was founded over a century ago. From a small bank it has developed into a large corporation that offer a wide variety of services and financial solutions to our customers, with presence in the United States, the Caribbean and Latin America.

As employees, we are dedicated to making our customers dreams come true by offering financial solutions in each stage of their life. Our extensive trajectory demonstrates the resiliency and determination of our employees to innovate, reach for the right solutions and strongly support the communities we serve; therefore, we value their diverse skills, experiences and backgrounds.

We reaffirm our commitment to always offer essential financial services and solutions for our customers and communities, including during emergency situations and/or natural disasters. Popular’s employees are considered essential workers, whose role is critical in the continuity of these important services even under such circumstances. By applying to this position, you acknowledge that Popular may require your services during and immediately after any such events.

If you have a disability or need more information about requesting an accommodation, please contact us at asesorialaboral@popular.com. This email inbox is monitored for such types of requests only. All information you provide will be kept confidential and will be used only to the extent required to provide needed exemptions or reasonable accommodations. Any other correspondence will not receive a response.

Are you ready for a rewarding career?

Popular is an Equal Opportunity Employer, including Disability/Vets
Learn more about us at www.popular.com and keep updated with our latest job postings at www.jobs.popular.com.
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