Western Union

Senior Architect, Software Engineering

Western Union$150K — $195K *
Finance & Insurance
8 - 10 years of experience
Job Overview by Ladders

Qualifications

  • Master's degree with 8+ years or bachelor's degree with 10+ years in computer science or related fields.
  • Proven experience in Digital Banking, Wallets, Cards, and Payments.
  • Strong understanding of payment lifecycles, ledgering, and reconciliation.
  • Hands-on experience with AWS Cloud services like EC2, Lambda, API Gateway, etc.
  • Deep expertise in designing API-driven and event-based systems.

Responsibilities

  • Lead solution architecture for digital banking and payment systems.
  • Define AWS cloud-native architectures using managed services.
  • Design API-first, event-driven architectures for payment flows.
  • Ensure separation of channels, orchestration, domain services, and ledgers.
  • Collaborate with teams to embed compliance and audit controls into solutions.

Benefits

  • Multiple health insurance options including medical and dental.
  • Access to tuition assistance and student loan repayment programs.
  • Paid Time Off and parental leave.
  • Recognition programs and employee discount programs.
  • 401K plan and global scholarship awards program.
Full Job Description

Position location:  Austin, TX

In this role, you are responsible for leading the design and delivery of scalable, secure, cloud-native solutions across digital banking, wallets, cards, and payment platforms. This role combines hands-on technical leadership with domain expertise to translate complex business requirements into robust architectural solutions, while mentoring teams and driving engineering excellence.

Role Responsibilities

Solution Architecture & Design

  • Lead the end-to-end solution design for digital banking, wallet, card issuing/processing, and payment systems.
  • Define cloud-native architectures on AWS, leveraging managed services for scalability, resiliency, and security.
  • Design API-first, event-driven architectures supporting real-time and batch payment flows.
  • Ensure clear separation between channels, orchestration, domain services, ledger, and settlement systems.
  • Review and approve solution designs to ensure alignment with enterprise architecture, security, and compliance standards.

Banking & Payments Domain Expertise

  • Apply strong domain knowledge across:
    • Digital Banking platforms
    • Wallets and stored-value systems
    • Card issuing, authorization, clearing, and settlement
    • Domestic and cross-border payment rails
  • Design solutions that address funds availability, settlement finality, reconciliation, and accounting.
  • Ensure architectures support regulations, compliance, and audit requirements across regions.
  • Collaborate with Risk, Compliance, and Operations to embed controls, traceability, and auditability into solutions.

Role Requirements

  • Masters degree with 8+ years or bachelors degree in computer science or related fields with 10+ years of banking, fintech, or payments technology. Equivalent work experience in lieu of degree in banking, fintech, or payment technology.
  • Proven experience across Core banking, Digital Banking, Wallets, Cards, or Payments architecture.
  • Strong understanding of banking as a service, payment lifecycles, ledgering, settlement, and reconciliation.
  • Experience working in regulated environments with compliance and audit requirements.
  • Strong hands-on experience with AWS Cloud, including services such as:
    • Compute (EC2, ECS/EKS, Lambda)
    • API & Integration (API Gateway, EventBridge, SQS, SNS)
    • Data (RDS, PGSql, DynamoDB etc)
    • Security & Monitoring (IAM, CloudWatch, CloudTrail)
  • Deep experience designing API-driven and event-based systems.
  • Strong understanding of distributed systems, scalability, and resiliency patterns.
  • Experience with CI/CD pipelines and infrastructure-as-code.

Preferred Qualifications

  • Experience with real-time payment systems and local payment rails.
  • Exposure to cross-border payments and multi-currency systems.
  • AWS certifications (Solutions Architect or equivalent).
  • Experience modernizing legacy banking or payment platforms.

Applicants must be currently authorized to work in the United States on a full-time basis. Western Union will not sponsor applicants for work visas for this position.

Work Shift

HYBRID -Western Union values in-person collaboration, problem solving, and ideation whenever possible. We believe this fosters common ways of working and supports how we execute initiatives for our customers. The expectation is to work from the office a minimum of three days a week.

Benefits

You will also have access to short-term incentives, multiple health insurance options, accident and life insurance, and access to best-in-class development platforms, to name a few
(). Please see the location-specific benefits below and note that your Recruiter may share additional role-specific benefits during your interview process or in an offer of employment.

Your United States 6 Specific Benefits Include

  • Paid Time Off
  • Medical, Dental and Life Insurance
  • Tuition Assistance Program
  • Student Loan Repayment (below manager level only)
  • Parental Leave
  • One day volunteer time off
  • $0 Money Transfer Fee Discount Code 6 Quarterly
  • Recognition Program Game Changers
  • Employee Discount Program
  • Global Adoption Assistance
  • Global Scholarship Awards Program
  • 401K plan

For residents of Colorado, California, Connecticut, Delaware, Minnesota, and Pennsylvania: Please do not respond to any questions on this initial application that may seek age-identifying information such as age, date of birth, or dates of school attendance or graduation. You may also redact this information from any materials you submit during the application process. You will not be penalized for redacting or removing this information.

Salary

Annual base salary range is $150,000 6 195,000 USD per year. Total on-target compensation includes a base salary, and both short-term and long-term incentives that align with individual and company performance. Actual salaries will vary based on candidates qualifications, skills, and competencies.

As part of the application process, all applicantsare required totake assessments. Western Union has partnered with a 3rd party provider to administer these tests.Applicants will need to provide their name and email address in order to process the assessments.If you have any questions, you may reach out to.

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