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Principal Architect - Compliance Risk Technology
Wells FargoCHARLOTTE, NC; ISELIN, NJSenior$159,000 - $305,0007+ years
Apply About this role:
Wells Fargo, one of the world’s leading financial institutions, is seeking a Principal Architect to help shape and lead the next generation of Compliance Risk Technology architecture across the enterprise.
In this highly visible role, you will provide architectural leadership and technical direction for modernization initiatives across Employee Compliance, Regulatory Compliance, Surveillance, and the broader Compliance Risk landscape. These platforms are central to the firm’s regulatory commitments and operational integrity, and the architectural decisions made in this role will have impact across the enterprise.
You will partner closely with senior leaders across business, risk, and technology, serving as a trusted advisor on architectural direction and long term strategy. You will translate complex regulatory and business requirements into clear, defensible technology approaches, while guiding how data, analytics, artificial intelligence, and intelligent automation are thoughtfully and responsibly integrated into Compliance Risk operations at scale.
This role is well suited for a seasoned architect with deep experience in regulated environments, a demonstrated ability to modernize complex technology ecosystems, and the judgment to balance immediate regulatory needs with long range platform evolution that delivers lasting value to the organization.
In this role, you will:
- Act as the architectural authority for Compliance Risk Technology, defining and driving a cohesive target‑state architecture across a complex landscape of legacy platforms, vendor solutions, and custom‑built systems
- Provide architectural leadership for modernization and transformation initiatives, ensuring solutions remain regulator‑ready, auditable, and defensible
- Translate regulatory requirements and business objectives into clear, actionable architectural designs and multi‑year technology roadmaps
- Design and govern enterprise‑scale application and microservices architectures aligned to Compliance Risk domains, including surveillance, investigations, attestations, issues management, and regulatory change
- Define API‑first, contract‑driven, and event‑driven integration patterns supporting near‑real‑time monitoring and alerting capabilities
- Architect modern data platforms that enable compliance analytics, reporting, lineage, and auditability, including object‑storage‑based data lake and lakehouse patterns
- Integrate structured and unstructured data into unified compliance data assets that support traceability, reproducibility, and evidentiary requirements
- Design and guide the implementation of AI‑enabled architectures, including ML‑based risk scoring, alert prioritization, anomaly detection, and NLP‑driven regulatory and case analysis
- Architect intelligent and agentic automation solutions with appropriate human‑in‑the‑loop controls, aligned with Responsible AI and Model Risk Management expectations
- Establish architecture standards, reference architectures, and guardrails across application, data, AI, integration, security, resiliency, and privacy domains
- Engage directly with delivery teams by reviewing designs, guiding implementation decisions, and resolving complex architectural trade‑offs
- Partner with leaders across Technology, Risk, Legal, and Compliance to influence investment decisions, platform consolidation efforts, and long‑term technology roadmaps
- Maintain awareness of emerging technologies, industry best practices, and regulatory trends, recommending innovations that enhance operational effectiveness and compliance outcomes
Required Qualifications:
- 7+ years of architecture experience, or equivalent demonstrated through one or a combination of the following: work experience, training, military experience, education
- 7+ years of experience as a Principal, Lead, or Enterprise Architect (or equivalent senior engineering leadership role)
- 7+ years of experience in Compliance, Regulatory, Surveillance, Employee Compliance, or Risk Management Technology architecture
- 5+ years of experience with microservices and domain‑driven architecture approaches
- 5+ years of experience architecting modern data platforms, including object storage and open technologies
- 5+ years of experience designing API‑first and event‑driven integration patterns
- 3+ years of experience designing and delivering AI/ML and NLP‑based solutions in regulated compliance, risk, or financial environments
Desired Qualifications:
- Ability to operate with executive presence while remaining hands‑on where it matters
- Comfort navigating complex legacy environments and regulatory constraints
- Bias toward simplification, reuse, and platform‑based thinking
- Willingness to challenge legacy patterns to drive durable, compliant, long‑term outcomes
- Proven ability to synthesize complex ecosystems into rationalized, target‑state architectures
- Demonstrated success modernizing large, fragmented technology estates into integrated platforms
- Hands‑on exposure to agentic frameworks, orchestration engines, or workflow‑driven AI systems
- Experience supporting regulatory remediation programs, consent orders, or sustained examination cycles
- Experience architecting platforms across first‑line, second‑line, and audit use cases
- Strong understanding of enterprise data governance and model risk management frameworks
- Strong communication skills with the ability to influence engineers, risk partners, and executive stakeholders
Job Expectations:
- Ability to work onsite at one of the posted locations
- Willingness to travel up to 10% of the time
- Partner with senior technical and business leaders to drive modernization, simplification, and target‑state strategies, including detailed, hands‑on architectures and prototypes
Pay Range
Reflected is the base pay range offered for this position. Pay may vary depending on factors including but not limited to demonstrated examples of prior performance, skills, experience, or work location. Employees may also be eligible for incentive opportunities.
$159,000.00 - $305,000.00Benefits
Wells Fargo provides eligible employees with a comprehensive set of benefits, many of which are listed below. Visit Benefits - Wells Fargo Jobs for an overview of the following benefit plans and programs offered to employees.
- Health benefits
- 401(k) Plan
- Paid time off
- Disability benefits
- Life insurance, critical illness insurance, and accident insurance
- Parental leave
- Critical caregiving leave
- Discounts and savings
- Commuter benefits
- Tuition reimbursement
- Scholarships for dependent children
- Adoption reimbursement
Posting End Date:
12 Jun 2026*Job posting may come down early due to volume of applicants.
We Value Equal Opportunity
Wells Fargo is an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, status as a protected veteran, or any other legally protected characteristic.
Employees support our focus on building strong customer relationships balanced with a strong risk mitigating and compliance-driven culture which firmly establishes those disciplines as critical to the success of our customers and company. They are accountable for execution of all applicable risk programs (Credit, Market, Financial Crimes, Operational, Regulatory Compliance), which includes effectively following and adhering to applicable Wells Fargo policies and procedures, appropriately fulfilling risk and compliance obligations, timely and effective escalation and remediation of issues, and making sound risk decisions. There is emphasis on proactive monitoring, governance, risk identification and escalation, as well as making sound risk decisions commensurate with the business unit’s risk appetite and all risk and compliance program requirements.
Applicants with Disabilities
To request a medical accommodation during the application or interview process, visit Disability Inclusion at Wells Fargo.
Drug and Alcohol Policy
Wells Fargo maintains a drug free workplace. Please see our Drug and Alcohol Policy to learn more.
Wells Fargo Recruitment and Hiring Requirements:
a. Third-Party recordings are prohibited unless authorized by Wells Fargo.
b. Wells Fargo requires you to directly represent your own experiences during the recruiting and hiring process.