Head of Digital Architect

• Role : Head of Digital Architect
Location : Abu Dhabi

Role Purpose:

The Head of Digital Architect is accountable for defining, governing and continuously evolving ADIB’s Digital Ecosystem architecture. This includes digital channels, mobile and web experiences, APIs, microservices, integration layers, identity and access capabilities, CRM and customer engagement platforms, data and analytics interfaces, AI-enabled capabilities, partner integrations and supporting platform services. The role ensures that digital solutions are designed as part of a cohesive, secure, scalable, resilient and future-ready ecosystem aligned with business strategy, enterprise architecture principles, regulatory expectations and customer experience ambitions.

Key Accountabilities of the role

Define and maintain the target-state architecture for the Digital Ecosystem across mobile, web, API, microservices, integration, identity, data, AI and partner-facing capabilities.
• Translate digital business priorities and product roadmaps into architecture roadmaps, transition states and platform evolution plans.

• Ensure digital architecture decisions support speed to market while protecting long-term platform health, scalability, resilience and maintainability.

• Architect digital capabilities to provide consistent, secure and high-performing customer experiences across digital channels.

• Promote reusable customer, product, authentication, notification, communication and servicing capabilities across the ecosystem.

• Ensure digital journeys are designed with clear consideration for performance, availability, observability, accessibility, security and operational support.

• Define and govern API-first architecture principles, API standards, service boundaries, interface contracts and integration patterns.
• Guide secure and scalable integration with core banking, cards, payments, CRM, risk, fraud, identity, analytics, third-party providers and fintech partners.
• Ensure ecosystem integrations are designed with clear ownership, versioning, error handling, throttling, monitoring, resilience and lifecycle management.
• Provide architecture direction for microservices, event-driven patterns, container platforms, cloud-native capabilities and digital platform modernization.

• Define reusable reference architectures, technology patterns and design guardrails to reduce duplication and improve consistency across squads.

• Assess platform constraints, architecture debt, technology obsolescence and scalability risks, and drive prioritised remediation plans.

• Own digital architecture review and design assurance for strategic digital initiatives, major ecosystem changes and reusable platform capabilities.

• Ensure solution designs address functional scope, non-functional requirements, dependencies, data flows, security, resilience, operational impacts and regulatory expectations.

• Govern architecture exceptions, architecture decision records, design standards and alignment with enterprise architecture principles.

• Embed secure-by-design and privacy-by-design principles across the Digital Ecosystem, including identity, access, data protection, API security and secrets management.

• Partner with Information Security, Risk, Compliance, Infrastructure and Operations teams to ensure digital architecture meets control, resilience and regulatory requirements.

• Ensure architecture decisions proactively mitigate operational, cyber, integration, performance and customer-impact risks.

• Provide architecture direction for AI-enabled digital capabilities, conversational banking, customer engagement automation and intelligent service journeys.

• Evaluate emerging technologies based on business value, architecture fit, ecosystem interoperability, security, supportability and total cost of ownership.

• Ensure new digital capabilities are introduced through governed architecture patterns rather than isolated point solutions.

• Act as the senior architecture advisor to Product Owners, Engineering Leads, Enterprise Architecture, Security, Infrastructure, Data, Operations and senior stakeholders.
• Lead and mentor architects and senior technical contributors to improve architecture discipline, decision quality and design consistency.

• Communicate architecture options, trade-offs, risks, dependencies and recommendations clearly to both technical and executive audiences.

Specialist Skills / Technical Knowledge Required for this role:

• Deep knowledge of digital banking ecosystem architecture, including mobile, web, APIs, microservices, integration, identity, data, AI and partner platforms.
• Ability to define target-state architecture, transition architecture, reference architecture, ecosystem principles, architecture standards and reusable design patterns.

• Strong understanding of API-first design, RESTful APIs, API gateways, service decomposition, domain boundaries, interface contracts and integration lifecycle management.

• Experience with microservices, event-driven architecture, domain-driven design, container platforms, cloud-native patterns and platform modernization.

• Strong understanding of non-functional requirements including scalability, availability, performance, resilience, observability, supportability, recoverability and operational readiness.

• Knowledge of secure architecture practices including IAM/CIAM, API security, authentication, authorisation, encryption, secrets management, data protection and secure integration patterns.

• Ability to assess third-party platforms, SDKs, fintech integrations and vendor solutions from architecture, security, interoperability, lifecycle and supportability perspectives.

• Experience with architecture governance, architecture decision records, design review forums, exception management, technical debt governance and standards adoption.

• Good understanding of modern software engineering practices, DevOps, CI/CD, automated testing, release governance, code quality and operational monitoring to guide architectural decisions.

• Excellent written, verbal and executive communication skills, with the ability to simplify architecture trade-offs for senior stakeholders.