Position - Payments Architect Location - Remote Experience - 5+ Years Type - W2 Contract Job Description - Core Experience 5+ years of hands-on experience in payments solution design and implementation. Deep working knowledge of payments industry domains (1 or 2 out of list minimum). RTGS (Real-Time Gross Settlement) systems. Real-time payment networks and schemes. Check processing systems. SWIFT and international payment protocols (Wires). Other clearing and settlement systems. Technical Architecture Expertise in interoperability and integration architecture: ISO 20022 standards and implementations. Enterprise integration patterns and design principles. System-to-system communication protocols. Advanced knowledge of modern application architecture: Microservices architecture and design patterns. Event-driven architectures and event streaming platforms (Kafka, RabbitMQ, etc.). Message queuing systems and asynchronous processing. API-first design methodologies. Database & Data Management Extensive experience with mainstream RDBMS platforms (Oracle, PostgreSQL, SQL Server, etc.). Exposure to distributed database systems and eventual consistency patterns. Understanding of data governance and data quality in payment systems. Security & Infrastructure ISO 27001 compliance and information security management. NIST Cybersecurity Framework knowledge and implementation experience. API Security expertise: OAuth 2.0 and OpenID Connect (OIDC). JWT, JWS (JSON Web Signature), and JWE (JSON Web Encryption). API authentication, authorization, and rate limiting. Secure API gateway implementation. Web Front-End Security: OWASP Top 10 mitigation strategies. Secure coding practices for payment interfaces. PCI DSS compliance for web applications. Emerging Technologies Knowledge and exploratory experience with Agentic AI and intelligent automation in payments. Understanding of tokenized assets, digital wallets, and blockchain applications in payment systems. Ability to evaluate new technologies for payment industry relevance.