Senior Solutions Architect

About Advice & Wealth Management

Vanguard's Advice & Wealth Management organization delivers investor-centric advice and wealth management services across digital, hybrid, and advisor/relationship manager-led experiences.

Role Summary

As a Senior Solutions Architect, you are a strategic advisor and technical leader operating at the intersection of business strategy, architecture, and technology delivery. You shape and guide enterprise-scale solutions across the Advice & Wealth Management portfolio, ensuring alignment to business outcomes, architectural integrity, and long-term platform evolution.

You partner with senior business and technology leaders to define future-state solutions, influence strategic direction, and enable delivery teams to execute effectively in complex, evolving environments. You influence direction without direct authority.

• Provide architectural leadership across large, cross-domain initiatives within and outside of Advice & Wealth Management
• Translate business goals into scalable, secure, and resilient solution architectures
• Ensure alignment to enterprise standards, reference architectures, and platform strategies

• Drive solutioning across key domains including:
  
  
  • Advisor desktop and client experience platforms
  • Brokerage and trading integrations
  • Recordkeeping and account lifecycle management
  • Back-office servicing, reconciliation, and operational workflows
• Provide both short-term and long-term architectural guidance to multiple delivery teams
• Ensure solutions balance client and crew experience, scalability, regulatory considerations, and cost

• Act as a trusted advisor to senior business and technology leaders
• Influence architectural direction without formal authority
• Facilitate alignment across complex stakeholder groups and competing priorities
• Communicate trade-offs clearly to enable informed decision-making

• Produce executive-ready artifacts (capability models, system diagrams, solution options)
• Clearly articulate complex tradeoffs to both technical and non-technical audiences
• Enable informed decision-making through structured solution evaluations

• Mentor engineers, solution consultants, and architects on solution design and best practices
• Contribute to architecture patterns, reusable designs, and governance processes
• Act as a thought leader driving innovation and continuous improvement

• Significant experience (10+ years) in solution architecture, enterprise architecture, or complex system design
• Proven track record leading large-scale, cross-functional initiatives in enterprise environments
• Experience shaping architecture strategy and guiding delivery across multiple teams
• Strong knowledge of Advice, Wealth Management, or regulated financial services domains with depth in one or more of the following:
  
  
  • Brokerage and trading systems
  • Recordkeeping platforms (retirement, accounts, positions, transactions)
  • Custody and clearing integrations
  • Back-office operations (reconciliation, servicing, compliance workflows)

• Deep understanding of modern architecture patterns (APIs, event-driven systems, cloud-native design, AI)
• Experience with integration across internal platforms and third-party/vendor ecosystems
• Strong data architecture awareness (data flows, governance, analytics enablement)

• Exceptional systems thinking and problem framing
• Ability to operate effectively in ambiguity and drive clarity
• Strong executive communication and influencing skills
• Ability to balance strategic vision with pragmatic delivery

• Experience with modern architecture patterns (APIs, event-driven systems, cloud platforms)
• Understanding of data, integration, and operational resiliency considerations in financial services ecosystems
• Ability to balance architectural rigor with delivery pragmatism

• Strategic, outcome-oriented, and intellectually curious
• Comfortable challenging assumptions and driving better solutions
• Collaborative, with a strong ability to build alignment across teams
• Passionate about improving client and crew experiences, and operational efficiency at scale

• Shape the future of Advice & Wealth Management at enterprise scale
• Influence critical platform decisions and strategic initiatives
• Work at the intersection of business strategy, architecture, and innovation
• Partner with senior leaders on high-impact, high-visibility programs