Chief Architect

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Varo is an entirely new kind of bank. All digital, mission-driven, FDIC insured, and designed for the way our customers live their lives.
A bank for all of us.

About the Chief Architect role
Varo Technology group is looking for a Chief Architect, who will be the top technical leader and subject matter expert within engineering, working alongside technical and product leaders, reporting to our Chief Technology Officer. You will evolve, create, and implement Varo's strategic technical vision and projects for years to come. One of Varo's core values is Customer First. This role embodies our customer obsession by focusing on developing and deploying high-performance, highly scalable, and highly available architectures.

This role will partner closely with all engineering teams, including backend, frontend, data, platform, security, and AI/ML, and other stakeholders across Varo to identify automation opportunities, accelerate innovation, and ensure delivery of impactful solutions for the business.

What you'll do
Varo’s architect is responsible for making sure all development teams follow a consistent strategy and partners up with engineering leaders to deliver a reliable, secure, and scalable platform. In nutshell, this role is the custodian of architecture.

What you'll be doing

  • Provide consulting and guidance to development teams throughout the Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC) including coding & design. 
  • Build and maintain architecture roadmap and collaborate with engineering leaders to execute.
  • Collaborate with team members to determine and maintain best practices and requirements. 
  • Review software designs for architectural consistency and completeness and fit.
  • Partner with CTO in the development of a comprehensive Architecture Strategy and Technology Roadmap.
  • Lead the implementation of the architecture strategy, partnering with senior technical leaders, as well as product engineering teams to translate architecture into design.
  • Lead the development and implementation of the architecture governance framework (Varo's architecture guild, architecture review board, reference architecture(s), standards/policies).
  • Ensure delivery of consistent cross-cutting concerns such as logging, monitoring, tracing, and security.
  • Make sure up-to-date architecture and backend microservices documentation is maintained by partnering up with teams. 
  • Maintain in-depth knowledge of the industry's best practices, technologies including crypto, architectures, and emerging technologies consistent with Varo’s objectives.
  • Engage in hands-on prototyping and proof of concept work related to the architecture, including evaluation of new technologies and solutions that might benefit our product.
  • Contribute to a great work environment by providing exemplary leadership. 
  • Serve as the primary steward and key voice of the architecture strategy, communicating decisions and tradeoffs to all stakeholders.
  • Facilitate communication and collaboration between engineering teams (Front-End, Back-End, Platform, Security, Data Lake, AI/ML).
  • Required skills and experiences

  • 10+ years of experience building large-scale distributed systems and applications, including design, development, (distributed) architectures, networking, security, and performance tuning.
  • Motivated, autonomous, and responsible with a history of shaping and establishing technical vision and architecture within successful companies.
  • A mentor, leader, and culture-builder. Has extensive experience leading complex technical projects, mentoring, and coaching engineers in tackling technical challenges at a large scale and accelerated pace.
  • An outstanding ability to recognize, analyze, and synthesize complex information – then clearly communicate insights in language either technical or business-oriented to audiences of varied expertise.
  • Detail-oriented and curious. When faced with a black box - opens it up and figures out how it works.
  • Effectively prioritizes time and can collaborate easily in any medium - email, slack, phone, face-to-face.
  • Great communication skills. Asking questions, listening, facilitating and arbitrating discussions, and presenting complex ideas to groups large and small, and to any audience from a senior engineer to C-level executives.
  • Self-starter and self-motivated with the proven ability to deliver results in a fast-paced, high-energy environment.
  • Works effectively with cross-functional teams to build a trusted partnership.
  • Working experience in consumer-focused finance industry preferred.
  • About Varo
    Varo launched in 2017 with the vision to bring the best of fintech into the regulated banking system. We’re a new kind of bank – all digital, mission-driven, FDIC-insured, and designed around the modern American consumer. 

    As the first consumer fintech to be granted a national bank charter in 2020, we make financial inclusion and opportunity for all a reality by empowering everyone with the products, insights, and support they need to get ahead. Through our core product offerings and suite of customer-first features, we aim to address a broad range of consumer needs while profitably serving underserved communities that have been historically excluded from the traditional financial system.

    We are growing quickly in our hub locations of San Francisco, Salt Lake City, and Charlotte along with colleagues located across the country. We have been recognized among Fast Company’s Most Innovative Companies, Forbes’ Fintech 50, and earned the No. 7 spot on Inc. 5000’s list of fastest-growing companies across the country.

    Varo. A bank for all of us.

    Our Core Values
    - Customers First
    - Take Ownership
    - Respect
    - Stay Curious
    - Make it Better


    Varo is an equal opportunity employer. Varo embraces diversity and we are committed to building teams that represent a variety of backgrounds, perspectives, and skills. All applicants will be considered for employment without attention to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, veteran or disability status.

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    Pursuant to the San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance, we will consider for employment qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records.