Job Description

This is an excellent opportunity for a Principal Solutions Architect to take ownership of the architectural direction of a high-scale payments platform, bringing clarity, standards, and long-term direction to systems that process millions of real-time transactions.
This role is based in Cape Town and operates in a hybrid work environment.
THE COMPANY:
This is one of South Africa's largest payments platforms, delivering a cloud-native solution that processes millions of instant, card-free transactions across online, in-app, and point-of-sale channels. Operating as core financial infrastructure, the platform integrates directly with banks, payment gateways, and enterprise partners in a regulated environment where reliability, security, and scale are non-negotiable.
THE ROLE:
As Principal Solutions Architect, you will establish and own the architectural direction for a large-scale, real-time payments platform, defining how architecture is practiced and applied across the organisation. Architectural decisions here directly affect stability, risk, and the platform's ability to scale under regulatory and high-volume constraints.
You will bring structure and consistency to a growing technology landscape, setting clear standards and patterns that engineering teams can rely on. The work spans core payment flows, platform services, and future capabilities, requiring strong technical judgement, comfort with trade-offs, and the ability to influence decisions across product, engineering, security, and compliance while remaining close to the systems themselves.
RESPONSIBILITIES include:

• Own the end-to-end solution architecture across core payment platforms and supporting services.
• Define architectural standards and patterns that support delivery, scale, and long-term platform health.
• Design and review solutions integrating with banks, payment gateways, and external platforms.
• Translate business and regulatory requirements into clear, practical system designs.
• Provide architectural oversight on major initiatives, guiding design decisions and managing technical risk.
• Act as an escalation point for complex architectural and integration challenges.
• Balance platform evolution with stability in a high-volume, regulated environment.
• Partner closely with engineering teams to support delivery without slowing it down.
• Contribute to longer-term platform planning as transaction volumes and platform scope grow.

THE REQUIREMENTS:
10+ years' experience in software engineering and solution architecture, with at least 5 years in a senior or principal-level architecture role.
Proven experience designing and evolving large-scale, distributed systems operating under real production load.
Strong experience with cloud-native architectures and API-driven platforms.
Experience operating in regulated environments, with an understanding of security and regulatory requirements.
Exposure to fintech, payments, or other transaction-heavy platforms operating at scale.
Ability to balance platform evolution with stability and risk in live systems.

Skills Required