Payments Canada is at the forefront of the Canadian payment ecosystem. Our purpose is to make payments easier, smarter and safer for all Canadians. Every day we are working diligently to ensure your payments are cleared and settled. In 2024 alone, our systems cleared approximately $107 trillion or $424 billion each business day! If you are passionate about payments and want to help ensure that these financial transactions in Canada are carried out safely and securely, working with us is for you!
| Who we are
We are a public purpose, non-profit organization situated at the center of Canada’s payment ecosystem. We own and operate payment systems that process hundreds of billions of dollars’ worth of payment transactions every business day. We convene ecosystem participants to discuss their multiple and diverse interests and ideas and to navigate industry-level challenges. We adhere to a set of values that are our north star:
Inspire trust, build community and enable change.
Payments Canada — where our country connects: Payments Canada — Who we are
| Our culture
With our people in mind, we have created a culture that fosters authenticity, collaboration, innovation and development. We empower one another, make meaningful contributions that not only impact the organization, but our country! We develop and nurture meaningful connections that drive innovation in our ecosystem. We are Payments Canada!
Do you want to make payments easier, smarter and safer for Canada? Join us today!
You need to work here if
- You love working with passionate, ambitious and collaborative colleagues.
- You want to be challenged and lead unique initiatives.
- You want to grow, develop and become a subject matter expert in your field.
- You want your work to make an impact in your community and country.
Come and join us — where payments meet purpose!
| What we are looking for
Reporting to the Director, Enterprise Architecture, the Senior Solution Architect, Payments Architecture is responsible for driving the organization's technology vision through the creation of comprehensive solution architectures aligned with both business and technology strategies. This role is primarily focused on driving consistent strategy across diverse programs, ensuring they adhere to enterprise architectural framework and technology governance, and contributing to the optimization of the IT landscape and the delivery of business value.
As a key advisor to leadership, the Senior Solution Architect demonstrates a strong ability to make thoughtful and strategic, time-sensitive decisions even with limited information and under changing conditions. The Senior Solution Architect ensures that Payments Canada’s architectures and solutions are secure, resilient, proactive, and seamlessly aligned with the organization’s strategic business objectives.
| A day in the life
Responsibilities of the Senior Solution Architect includes but is not limited to:
Contacts and Communication
- Foster trusted relationships across the organization and with external stakeholders to facilitate the development and adoption of technology strategies.
- Establish, build, and maintain strategic relationships within the payments ecosystem to gain buy-in for enterprise and solution architectures and build the reputation of Payments Canada as a center of excellence.
- Collaborate with Payments Canada members, user groups, and technical specialist groups to provide advice on payment system and architecture issues.
- Facilitate strategic meetings and communicate complex architecture designs to all levels of leadership and stakeholders in a compelling, business-centric manner.
- Champion architectural excellence at all levels and divisions of the organization in support of Payments Canada’s goals.
Leadership and Technical Guidance
- Provide technical guidance and subject matter expertise to the broader architectural community, fostering an environment of technical excellence.
- Participate in knowledge transfer within the Enterprise Architecture team and across the organization to share solution architecture best practices.
- Act as a lead technical contributor across various engagements, providing expert oversight on complex initiatives.
- Create and maintain a culture of continuous learning and development to enable the architectural function to continue to mature.
Enterprise Payment Architecture Development and Governance
- Contribute to the long-term technology vision and enterprise architecture framework, ensuring solution architectures contribute to its realization.
- Lead the architectural designs for the Real-Time Rail (RTR) and other complex initiatives, ensuring designs mitigate risks and address technical debt.
- Establish and enforce enterprise architecture standards, policies, and guidelines, ensuring compliance with ISO 20022 and relevant regulatory frameworks.
- Produce and maintain strategic architecture artifacts, including system interaction, data flow, and event sequence diagrams.
- Lead the development of reusable payments reference architectures and design patterns to accelerate system delivery.
- Develop multi-year architecture roadmaps and business cases for strategic initiatives.
- Collaborate with business leaders and external stakeholders to present complex architectural recommendations and strategies in a compelling, business-centric manner.
Risks and Compliance
- Ensure architectural controls within all solutions are designed and built using a risk-based approach.
- Assess risk and prioritize decisions effectively in time-sensitive situations, especially when making architectural choices.
- Ensure compliance with the Payments Canada Enterprise Architecture Framework, Standards, and Tools.
Architecture Research
- Monitor industry, technology, and market trends (e.g., emerging fintech, payment protocols) to determine their potential impact on Payments Canada.
- Discover, evaluate, and recommend technology solutions to drive innovation and ensure future-ready designs.
- Collaborate with third-party vendors to deliver resilient and scalable architectures that align with corporate strategies.
| What you need to be successful
- Undergraduate degree in computer science, information technology, or a related field.
- Minimum five (5) years of experience in information systems and progressive experience in enterprise or solution architecture.
- Proven track record of developing and implementing strategic IT plans and mission-critical solution architectures.
- Deep understanding of enterprise architecture frameworks (e.g., TOGAF, Zachman) and their practical application.
- Eligibility to successfully complete background checks that will be carried out by Payments Canada, including criminal, credit, identity, employment, and education checks.
| You will really stand out with
- Experience with the Canadian payment ecosystem (ACSS, Lynx, or RTR) is considered an asset.
- Experience architecting mission-critical systems in cloud environments (e.g., GCP, AWS, Azure) is considered an asset.
- Bilingualism (English and French) is considered an asset.
| Salary range
Based on qualifications and experience: $88,500 to $147,500.
Please submit your application by July 3, 2026.
| What's in it for you?
- Flexible, hybrid (remote/office) environment.
- Competitive compensation package, including annual variable bonus and defined contribution pension plan with employer matching percentage (if eligible).
- Comprehensive health and dental benefit coverage, including mental health coverage, life insurance and a health spending account for you and your dependents (Permanent and temporary employees with contracts 12 months and over).
- Paid time off: minimum four weeks paid vacation, sick and personal days, December holiday shutdown and cultural holiday observance days.
- 26 weeks of paid maternity and parental leave top-up (if eligible)
- Rewards and recognition program.
- Access to office gym facilities.
- Internal and external professional development opportunities.
- Fun team and organizational events.
- Monthly all staff forums led by our Executive Leadership Team.
| Our Commitment to Fair Hiring
At Payments Canada, we are dedicated to fair, transparent and inclusive hiring. We are an equal opportunity employer and value diversity at our company. Our recruitment process uses automated tools, but not generative AI, to objectively screen and evaluate applications and confirm that a candidate’s qualifications meet job requirements.
It is important to remember that these tools support, but do not replace, human decision-making. Our trained recruitment professionals and hiring managers always make the final hiring decisions.
| Our diversity, inclusion and equity commitment
At Payments Canada, we are committed to making everyone feel they can be themselves and thrive at work. We will continue to build on a foundation of respect and appreciation for diversity in all forms and collectively create an inclusive and equitable culture where our differences are valued.
We are committed to employment equity and actively encourage applications from women, Aboriginal people, persons with disabilities and visible minorities. If selected for an interview, please advise us if you require special accommodation by emailing
[email protected].
We thank all applicants for their interest in this opportunity. Preference will be given to Canadian citizens and permanent residents. Only selected candidates will be contacted for an interview.
