Chapter Lead - Architects

It is Finance & Financial Risk's purpose to provide trusted architectural leadership that enables the CFO, CRO and Global Financial Crime & Fraud Prevention organisations to achieve their strategic, regulatory and transformation ambitions. 

The Chapter Lead Architecture – Finance & Financial Risk is responsible for building and leading a high-performing architecture chapter that delivers architectural excellence across the Finance & Financial Risk landscape. The role ensures architects have the capabilities, standards, guidance, architecture discipline and environment required to translate business strategy, regulatory requirements and technology objectives into high-quality architecture outcomes. 

The Chapter Lead combines people leadership with architectural content leadership, fostering a strong architecture community while ensuring consistent application of enterprise standards, governance, modelling standards and best practices across the domain. The role acts as a key partner to business, technology and architecture leadership, helping to shape future-state architectures and enabling successful execution of strategic initiatives. 

A core part of the role is to ensure that architects can formulate architectural models and solution architecture artefacts based on the strategic direction of Finance & Risk, and for specific solutions, based on critical functional and non-functional requirements. 

The role also ensures compliance with ING's EA3.0 architectural governance process and policies, including the appropriate use of modelling standards as and when required. 

The base location of this function is in Amsterdam, although collaboration across ING countries and global functions is expected. 

 

The Team 

As Chapter Lead Architecture – Finance & Financial Risk, you lead a chapter of approximately 11–15 architects supporting the Finance & Financial Risk domain. The chapter consists of senior architecture professionals across multiple disciplines, including Domain, Business, Information and Solution Architecture. 

You report hierarchically to the Chief Architect Finance & Risk and are part of the Finance & Risk Architecture Leadership Team. You work closely with enterprise architecture leadership, CIO Finance & Risk stakeholders, Domain Architects, Product Leads and senior business leaders across Finance, Risk and Technology. 
 

Roles & Responsibilities 

As Chapter Lead Architecture – Finance & Financial Risk you are responsible for: 

• Leading, coaching and developing a team of architects while creating a strong architecture community and culture. 

• Developing architectural craftsmanship, professional standards and learning pathways as part of the global architecture practice. 

• Ensuring the chapter has the right skills, capacity and expertise to support strategic priorities and transformation initiatives. 

• Driving architecture excellence through the development, review and continuous improvement of architecture deliverables, standards and practices. 

• Ensuring architecture outputs are aligned with enterprise architecture principles, regulatory requirements and business objectives. 

• Facilitating architectural decision-making and governance processes, including Architecture Content Meetings, Architecture Review Meetings and Design Approval Boards. 

• Ensuring compliance with ING's EA3.0 architectural governance process and related architecture policies, including correct application of governance checkpoints, decision records, exception handling and architecture control requirements. 

• Promoting modelling quality, architecture traceability, documentation standards, repository integrity and the use of approved modelling standards as and when required. 

• Supporting the creation of target-state architectures, transformation roadmaps and implementation-ready designs. 

• Ensuring architecture decisions are translated into successful implementation and delivery outcomes. 

• Managing architecture risks, technical debt, exceptions and deviations from agreed standards and principles. 

• Building trusted relationships with senior stakeholders across Finance, Risk, Technology and Architecture and acting as a strategic advisor on architectural matters. 

• Driving continuous improvement of the architecture operating model, governance processes, tooling and ways of working. 

• Stimulating collaboration, knowledge sharing and consistency across architects, domains and locations. 

• Supporting architecture innovation initiatives and the adoption of emerging technologies, methods and practices to improve architecture effectiveness and business value. 

• Driving architecture discipline across the chapter, ensuring architects can formulate architectural models and solution architecture artefacts that translate the strategic direction of Finance & Risk into clear, traceable and implementation-ready designs; and ensuring specific solution designs are explicitly shaped by critical functional and non-functional requirements, including data, integration, security, resilience, scalability, performance and operational needs. 

How to Succeed 

We hire smart people like you for your potential. Our biggest expectation is that you'll stay curious. Keep learning. Take on responsibility. In return, we'll support you in developing into an even more awesome version of yourself. 

Experience & Education 

• Extensive experience in architecture leadership roles within large, complex organisations. 

• Proven track record leading, coaching and developing senior architects and architecture teams. 

• Experience operating in highly regulated business environments. 

• Strong understanding of enterprise architecture, solution architecture and architecture governance. 

• Education in Information Technology, Computer Science, Engineering or similar, or equivalent professional experience. 

• Experience within Banking, Finance, Financial Risk or Regulatory Reporting is highly preferred. 

• Proven experience operating successfully within matrix and international organisations. 

Technical Expertise 

• Strong knowledge of enterprise architecture frameworks, methods and governance practices. 

• Deep understanding of ING's EA3.0 architectural governance process, architecture policies and the practical application of governance controls across architecture deliverables and decision-making. 

• Deep understanding of architecture deliverables including target architectures, roadmaps, standards and solution designs. 

• Strong understanding of architecture modelling, traceability, architectural repository management and the application of approved modelling standards when required. 

• Expertise in architecture review, quality assurance and governance implementation. 

• Ability to translate business strategy, regulatory requirements and risk considerations into executable architecture outcomes. 

• Strong knowledge of technology trends, cloud, integration, data and platform architectures relevant to Finance & Financial Risk. 

• Ability to facilitate complex architecture discussions and guide teams towards pragmatic decisions and outcomes. 

• Deep expertise in architecture modelling techniques and architectural artefact development, including capability models, domain models, information models, reference architectures and solution architectures. 

• Ability to formulate end-to-end architectural designs that align Finance & Risk strategic direction with specific solution choices and implementation guidance. 

• Strong understanding of functional and non-functional requirements engineering and the translation of those requirements into architecture decisions and solution architecture artefacts. 

• Ability to balance business, data, integration, security, resilience, performance, scalability and operational requirements when defining and reviewing solution architectures. 

• Ability to create and challenge architectural artefacts that provide clear guidance to engineering teams while maintaining alignment with Finance & Risk strategy and enterprise architecture standards. 

• Strong knowledge of architecture traceability, ensuring linkage between strategy, capabilities, requirements, architecture decisions, solution design and implementation outcomes. 

Leadership & Strategy 

• An inspiring and credible people leader with a passion for developing architects and growing talent. 

• A strong communicator who can simplify complex problems and articulate architecture direction to both senior executives and technical audiences. 

• A consistent leader who creates structure, clarity and accountability while operating in a dynamic and regulated environment. 

• A recognised leader capable of influencing architectural outcomes without formal authority across matrix organisations. 

• Acts as a role model for architectural professionalism, governance, policy compliance and quality. 

• Creates an environment of continuous learning, innovation and knowledge sharing. 

• Collaborates effectively with business, technology and architecture stakeholders while balancing strategic ambitions with practical delivery realities. 

• Drives operational excellence and measurable improvements in architecture maturity, quality and effectiveness. 

• Acts as the custodian of architecture discipline and content quality, ensuring the chapter possesses both the leadership capability and the architectural expertise required to shape strategic architectures and solution-level designs. 

• Champions adoption of ING's EA3.0 governance process, related policies and modelling standards, ensuring they are applied pragmatically and consistently across Finance & Financial Risk architecture work. 

Rewards and benefits
We want to make sure that it’s possible for you to strike the right balance between your career and your private life. Find out more about our employment conditions.

The benefits of working with us at ING include:

• 25-28 vacation days depending on contract

• Pension scheme

• 13th month salary

• 8% Holiday payment

• Hybrid working

• Personal growth and challenging work with endless possibilities

• An informal working environment with innovative colleagues

About us
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