Reporting to the Manager, Security Architecture; the Senior Security Architect is responsible for developing solutions aligned with both business and strategic in maturing the Security Architecture function.
A key priority for this role is ensuring solutions are designed with resilience from threats and remain compliant with evolving industry standards and financial regulations. As a critical stakeholder, the Senior ensures that Payments Canada's security posture is resilient, proactive and seamlessly aligned with the organization's strategic business objectives.
Contacts and Communications- Foster trusted relationships across the organization and with external stakeholders to broker information security in a practical and sustainable manner.
- Establish, build and maintain strategic relationships within and throughout the Payments ecosystem and build the influence and reputation of Payments Canada as a center of excellence.
- Collaborate with Payments Canada members, user groups, and security specialist groups to gather and provide information, advice and solutions on information security management issues.
- Facilitate technical working groups.
- Champion cyber security management at all levels and divisions of the organization, in support of Payments Canada's goals.
Security Architecture Technical Leadership- Aid in the development of a long-term Enterprise Security Architecture vision that supports the organization's digital transformation while maintaining the integrity of the national payment rails.
- Partner with the cross-functional teams to develop and maintain Enterprise Security Architecture. Ensuring security requirements and principles are natively embedded into the overarching Enterprise Architecture Framework and integrated into all organizational business processes.
- Lead the development and maintenance of secure solution architectures. Provide expert guidance and oversight on complex initiatives, ensuring that new designs proactively mitigate identified misuse cases, vulnerabilities and attack patterns through robust, resilient architectural patterns.
- Develop and govern a multi-year Security Architecture roadmap that prioritizes investments based on an evolving threat landscape. Provide support across all Strategic Roadmap activities (ie. corporate core, payment systems, etc.) as required.
- Lead the creation, maintenance and enforcement of security architecture policies and standards, ensuring they remain sound and compliant with ISO 27001/2 and regulatory frameworks.
- Lead the development of reusable security reference architectures and design patterns to accelerate the delivery of secure systems across the IT organization.
- Act as a subject matter expert and mentor for Security Architects and Engineers, fostering an environment of technical excellence and continuous growth in architecture principles.
- Utilize a risk-based approach to identify security gaps in current architectures and propose architectural changes to remediate systemic vulnerabilities.
- Collaborate with business leaders and external stakeholders to present complex architectural recommendations and security strategies in a compelling, business-centric manner.
- Participate in and maintain a culture of continuous learning and development to enable the security architectural function to continue to mature.
Risks and Compliance- Contribute to Payments Canada's security program to support the business objectives of Payments Canada ensuring that Payments Canada's security policies, standards remain sound, that risks that could impact the organization's ability to achieve its Architecture objectives are identified and mitigated.
- Ensure that security and compliance objectives are met in all aspects of the secure design based on ISO 27001/2, legal, privacy and regulatory frameworks.
- Ensure security controls within all solutions are designed and built using a risk-based approach and with respect to standards and industry best practices.
Architecture Research- Monitor the industry (notable breaches, advancements in techniques and tactics, including but not limited to vulnerability assessments and penetration tests) to understand relevant misuse cases and attack patterns to continuously guide secure designs.
- Monitor industry trends and technological advancements to perform impact assessments and integrate forward leaning adaptations into the enterprise security roadmap.
- Work closely with teams including third party vendors to deliver resilient and secure architectures and solutions that align with Payment Canada's strategy.
| What you need to be successful- Undergraduate degree in computer science, information technology, or a related field.
- Minimum five (5) years of experience in a combination of information systems and information security.
- Proven experience in establishing, maturing, and maintaining an enterprise security architecture function.
- Expert knowledge of security frameworks and standards such as ISO 27001, ISO 27002, NIST, OWASP, and CPMI-IOSCO Guidance on cyber resilience for financial market infrastructures.
- Ability to identify and understand evolving cyber threats and trends, applying that knowledge to strengthen defenses through protective, detective, and compensating controls.
- Deep experience in threat modeling, penetration testing, application security testing, intelligence tradecraft, software design/architecture, cloud computing models, network security and/or IT infrastructure services.
- Familiarity with supply chain security, third-party security outsourcing, secure procurement and technical audits.
- Eligibility to obtain and maintain a Government of Canada Reliability Status Clearance and can successfully complete enhanced background checks that may be carried out by Payments Canada.
| You will really stand out with- Possession of senior security or architecture certifications (e.g., CISSP, CISM, SABSA, TOGAF, ISSAP) is highly desired. Technical certifications such as GSEC, GPEN, or OSCP are considered an asset.
- In-depth knowledge of the Canadian financial services industry, federal government financial sector policy priorities, and international issues respecting the financial services sector.
- Bilingualism (English and French) is considered an asset.
| Salary rangeOur target starting rate for this role is
$100,300 with flexibility based on your experience and qualifications. The full salary range and benefits package are detailed below.
Please submit your application by October 23, 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.
