Solution Architect (Managing Consultant, Innovation Consulting)

Our Purpose Mastercard powers economies and empowers people in 200+ countries and territories worldwide. Together with our customers, we’re helping build a sustainable economy where everyone can prosper. We support a wide range of digital payments choices, making transactions secure, simple, smart and accessible. Our technology and innovation, partnerships and networks combine to deliver a unique set of products and services that help people, businesses and governments realize their greatest potential. Title and Summary Solution Architect (Managing Consultant, Innovation Consulting) Overview The Deploy team within Advisory & Customer Services (A&CS) is looking for a Solution Architect (Managing Consultant, Innovation Consulting) to play a critical role in enabling successful delivery of solutions for our clients. Based in Paris, France, this senior, client-facing role partners closely with Mastercard customers, delivery teams, and product stakeholders to define, document, and communicate robust, scalable solution architectures. The ideal candidate brings proven architectural experience within the banking and financial services domain, combined with strong leadership, communication, and stakeholder engagement skills. Role In this client-facing position, you will: • Lead architectural engagement with Mastercard clients, driving discovery, requirements definition, and solution design for complex implementations • Define end-to-end solution architectures for projects involving Mastercard products (such as Ethoca Clarity and Click to Pay), client-led initiatives, and Mastercard Engage partner solutions • Act as the primary architectural authority for Deploy-led engagements, guiding engineering teams through implementation and ensuring adherence to the agreed design • Drive architectural decision-making, balancing client requirements, Mastercard standards, security controls, scalability, and long-term maintainability • Produce high-quality architectural artefacts, including solution diagrams, architecture decision records, integration designs, and technical documentation • Communicate architecture clearly and effectively to diverse audiences, including client architects, developers, QA teams, product managers, and senior stakeholders • Identify technical risks early and work collaboratively with delivery teams to resolve challenges and ensure successful outcomes All About You The ideal candidate for this position should demonstrate: • Proven, advanced experience designing and delivering solution architectures within the banking, payments, or broader financial services industry • Strong experience working directly with clients to elicit requirements, manage ambiguity, and drive alignment on architectural decisions • Demonstrated ability to define and communicate complex, distributed system architectures clearly to both technical and non-technical stakeholders • Proven collaboration with cross-functional teams including architects, developers, QA, product managers, and delivery leads in a matrixed environment • Excellent written and verbal communication skills, with confidence presenting and defending architectural approaches at senior levels Desirable or additional capabilities include: • Experience designing solutions deployed on public cloud platforms such as Azure, AWS, and/or Google Cloud Platform (GCP) • Cloud architecture certifications (e.g., Azure Solutions Architect, AWS Solutions Architect, or GCP Professional Architect) are a strong advantage • Experience with API-driven, microservices-based, or large-scale distributed systems • Familiarity with payment ecosystems, fintech integrations, or Mastercard products and platforms Corporate Security Responsibility Every person working for, or on behalf of, Mastercard is respon