Principal Banking Technology & Solution Architect (Canada only)

Principal Banking Technology & Solution Architect — Credit Unions (Contract) Location: Canada — Remote, with occasional client travel Engagement: Independent Contractor / Consulting Seniority: Principal / Senior Technology Advisory Industry: Canadian Credit Unions, Banking Technology and Financial Services About Aequilibrium Aequilibrium is a Canadian digital transformation and technology consulting company helping financial institutions modernize their technology platforms, improve member experiences, and deliver complex transformation programs. We combine business and technology strategy, solution architecture, experience design, software engineering, quality assurance, and AI-enabled innovation. We are seeking an experienced, client-facing Principal Banking Technology & Solution Architect to advise Canadian credit unions on critical platform decisions, architecture modernization and complex technology migrations. The Opportunity You will work directly with credit union CTOs, CIOs and transformation leaders as a trusted technical advisor. Our clients are navigating significant changes across digital banking, core banking integrations, enterprise data and analytics, payments, CRM and cloud platforms. Several are migrating away from Central 1 Forge while simultaneously modernizing other components of their technology landscape. Your role is to help these institutions make informed technology decisions, manage architectural complexity and reduce delivery risk. This is a hands-on advisory role requiring strong architecture judgment, banking domain knowledge, vendor evaluation experience and the ability to translate technical complexity into practical executive recommendations. Key Responsibilities 1. Technology Strategy and Platform Selection Lead structured evaluations of enterprise technology platforms, including data analytics, digital banking, CRM, payments and integration solutions. Define business and technical evaluation criteria, requirements, architecture principles and vendor scorecards. Assess products such as Microsoft Fabric, Snowflake, Fiserv and Finastra analytics solutions, as well as relevant digital banking platforms. Facilitate vendor demonstrations, technical due diligence, reference checks and proof-of-concept evaluations. Assess functional fit, interoperability, security, scalability, operational complexity, licensing and total cost of ownership. Prepare decision papers, target architectures and recommendations for CTOs and executive steering committees. 2. Enterprise and Solution Architecture Assess current-state enterprise architectures and design pragmatic future-state architectures. Evaluate integration dependencies across core banking, digital banking, CRM, payments, data warehouses, fraud systems and third-party services. Define integration patterns, API strategies, data flows, architectural boundaries and transition roadmaps. Review vendor solution designs, identify architectural gaps and challenge unsupported technical assumptions. Provide architecture oversight across multiple vendors and implementation partners. 3. Digital Banking and Forge Migration Advisory Advise credit unions transitioning from Central 1 Forge to modern digital banking platforms. Evaluate replacement capabilities, functional parity, integration requirements and migration dependencies. Assess the implications of different platform versions, vendor configurations and customization approaches. Support migration planning, technical readiness assessments and architectural risk management. Work with delivery and QA leaders to define technical acceptance criteria and evidence-based go-live readiness. 4. Data and Analytics Modernization Lead assessments of legacy banking analytics and reporting environments. Evaluate modern data warehouses, lakehouses, data integration platforms and banking-specific analytics products. Define data migration approaches, data quality controls, governance, security and reporting continuity requirements. Assess data integration with banking core systems, digital channels and enterprise applications. Develop architecture recommendations that support future AI, advanced analytics and member personalization. 5. Executive Advisory and Delivery Assurance Build trusted relationships with CTOs, CIOs, business sponsors and technology leadership teams. Communicate complex architecture and technology decisions in clear business language. Work alongside project managers, delivery directors, business analysts, designers and QA leads. Provide independent technical oversight without duplicating the responsibilities of existing implementation partners. Identify emerging risks early and recommend practical mitigation options. Produce concise architecture assessments, executive presentations, technical recommendations and implementation roadmaps. Required Qualifications 12+ years of experience in enterprise technology, solution architecture, technical consulting or banking technology delivery. Significant experience in banking, credit unions or regulated financial services. Demonstrated experience leading technology platform evaluations and vendor selections. Strong understanding of digital banking architectures, core banking integrations, APIs, data integration and cloud platforms. Experience with enterprise data platforms, including Microsoft Azure, Microsoft Fabric, Snowflake or comparable technologies. Ability to evaluate architecture trade-offs across security, scalability, maintainability, cost and implementation risk. Experience working with multiple technology vendors and complex transformation programs. Strong executive communication, stakeholder facilitation and technical documentation skills. Ability to operate independently as a senior advisor across multiple client engagements. Based in Canada and available to work with Canadian credit union clients. Highly Desirable Experience Direct experience with Central 1 Forge or Canadian credit union digital banking migrations. Familiarity with VeriPark, Intellect Design, Backbase, ebankIT, Plumery or comparable digital banking platforms. Knowledge of Fiserv DNA, RFS360 or other credit union core banking systems. Experience with Temenos analytics, Microsoft Fabric, Snowflake, Fiserv analytics or Finastra platforms. Experience with Microsoft Dynamics 365, Salesforce, Power BI and enterprise data governance. Familiarity with Canadian financial services regulatory, security and privacy requirements. Experience with migration readiness, technical assurance, QA strategy and release governance. Previous experience as a CTO, Chief Architect, Principal Architect or senior technology consultant in a financial institution or consulting organization. What Success Looks Like Within the first 90 days, the consultant should be able to: Lead at least one structured technology platform assessment and produce an executive-ready recommendation. Establish a current-state and target-state architecture for a credit union modernization initiative. Identify material integration, vendor dependency and migration risks for active client programs. Provide practical architecture guidance that improves decision quality and reduces avoidable delivery risk. Build trusted working relationships with multiple credit union technology leaders. Success will be measured by the quality of decisions supported, risks reduced, client confidence and tangible progress toward modernization outcomes—not by the volume of documentation produced. Engagement Model This is a flexible, part-time or full-time consulting engagement depending on client demand. The successful candidate may support multiple Canadian credit union engagements concurrently, combining remote advisory work with occasional stakeholder workshops or on-site sessions. Applicants should provide their relevant banking architecture experience, availability, preferred hourly consulting rate and examples of comparable technology selection or modernization engagements.