Principal Architect

Requisition ID: 252259

Join a purpose driven winning team, committed to results, in an inclusive and high-performing culture.

Business Banking is seeking a Principal Architect to define, own, and drive the Architecture & Platform strategy for the Business Banking domain. This role sets the technical direction for the domain, ensuring architecture, platforms, and engineering practices enable rapid innovation, operational excellence, and regulatory compliance at scale.
This is a domain-level leadership role, operating as a strategic partner to the Director, Business Banking Domain. Working closely with the leadership, you will run the domain with a startup mindset—clear strategy, fast feedback loops, strong engineering fundamentals, and disciplined execution—while operating within a regulated financial institution.
The Principal Architect translates business strategy into a cohesive architectural vision, establishes shared platforms and patterns, and enables teams to move faster by reducing friction, duplication, and unnecessary complexity.

Is this role right for you? In this role, you will:

• Own the end-to-end Architecture & Platform strategy for Business Banking.
• Define and evolve the target-state architecture and multi-year roadmap.
• Act as the senior technical leader shaping strategy and trade-offs.
• Define domain-wide architectural principles, reference architectures, and guardrails.
• Drive modernization initiatives across multiple applications and teams.
• Establish shared platform capabilities (APIs, integration, identity, observability, resiliency).
• Lead architectural decision-making through clear decision records and Architecture Review Board (ARB) engagement.
• Define how AI and automation are applied across the SDLC to improve speed, quality, and consistency.
• Enable responsible AI-assisted development and testing (e.g., GitHub Copilot) as part of a broader productivity and platform strategy.
• Review, validate, and refine AI-generated code to ensure it meets architectural standards, security requirements, and production-quality expectations.
• Provide architectural oversight of AI-generated solutions by identifying risks, correcting design flaws, improving abstractions, and ensuring alignment with domain standards and long-term platform strategy.
• Establish guardrails for AI-generated code, defining when output can be accepted as-is, when refactoring is required, and when human redesign is necessary.
• Mentor engineers on modern engineering practices, architectural thinking, and responsible use of AI-enabled tools.

Do you have the skills that will enable you to succeed in this role? We'd love to work with you if you have:

• 10+ years of IT experience, including 5+ years in senior or principal-level architecture roles.
• Proven experience defining and executing domain-level architecture or platform strategies.
• Strong hands-on background with distributed, cloud-native systems using Java or Node.js.
• Deep experience with cloud platforms such as GCP and/or Azure.
• Business banking or financial services experience preferred.

What's in it for you?

• Diversity, Equity, Inclusion & Allyship - We strive to create an inclusive culture where every employee is empowered to reach their fullest potential, respected for who they are, and are embraced through bias-free practices and inclusive values across Scotiabank. We embrace diversity and provide opportunities for all employee to learn, grow & participate through our various Employee Resource Groups (ERGs) that span across diverse gender identities, ethnicity, race, age, ability & veterans.
• Accessibility and Workplace Accommodations - We value the unique skills and experiences each individual brings to the Bank and are committed to creating and maintaining an inclusive and accessible environment for everyone. Scotiabank continues to locate, remove, and prevent barriers so that we can build a diverse and inclusive environment while meeting accessibility requirements.
• Upskilling through online courses, cross-functional development opportunities, and tuition assistance.
• Competitive Rewards program including bonus, flexible vacation, personal, sick days, and benefits will start on day one.
• Community Engagement - no matter where you choose to work from; we offer opportunities for community engagement & belonging with our various programs.

Location(s): Canada : Ontario : Toronto

Scotiabank is a leading bank in the Americas. Guided by our purpose: "for every future", we help our customers, their families and their communities achieve success through a broad range of advice, products and services, including personal and commercial banking, wealth management and private banking, corporate and investment banking, and capital markets.

At Scotiabank, we value the unique skills and experiences each individual brings to the Bank, and are committed to creating and maintaining an inclusive and accessible environment for everyone. If you require accommodation (including, but not limited to, an accessible interview site, alternate format documents, ASL Interpreter, or Assistive Technology) during the recruitment and selection process, please let our Recruitment team know. If you require technical assistance, please click here. Candidates must apply directly online to be considered for this role. We thank all applicants for their interest in a career at Scotiabank; however, only those candidates who are selected for an interview will be contacted.