Principal Architect Sydney – a hands-on C# / .NET architecture role at a profitable, scaling fintech, placed by Big Wave Digital. We are hiring a Principal Architect in the Sydney CBD to help shape the next version of a complex product platform from inside the engine room. $250k package, five days onsite, start ASAP.
There are architect roles where you spend your life in meetings, polishing diagrams, renaming boxes and trying to convince people that “strategic alignment” means something. This is not that role.
Big Wave Digital is partnering with one of our premier fintech clients — a profitable, scaling technology business based in the Sydney CBD. They have pace. They have money coming in. They have smart engineers. They have proper technical ambition. And now they need someone very good to help shape what the next version of the platform becomes. Not from the sidelines. From inside the engine room.
This Is Where You Come In
You will be the person helping set the technical standard across engineering. The person who can look at a complex C# / .NET platform and quickly work out what needs to be cleaned up, what needs to be protected, what needs to be rebuilt and what absolutely should not be touched at 4pm on a Friday.
You’ll work across multiple squads, helping create cleaner architecture, better boundaries, stronger patterns and a codebase that future engineers don’t quietly curse under their breath. You’ll be close to the code. Close to the decisions. Close to the people building the thing. This is architecture with fingerprints on it.
The Kind of Problems You’ll Be Solving
You’ll be helping answer questions like:
- How should the platform be structured as the business scales?
- Where are the domain boundaries? What should become a service? What should stay together?
- Where is logic duplicated? Where are teams working around the system instead of through it?
- How do we improve testing without creating theatre?
- How do we make the codebase easier to change, easier to reason about and easier for strong engineers to onboard into?
- How do we lift the engineering bar without becoming the person everyone avoids in Slack?
That last one matters.
The Work Itself
You’ll define architecture standards, guide backend patterns, improve API design, help shape domain modelling and lead high-impact refactoring. You’ll review code, write useful architecture decision records, coach technical leads and help create standards people actually use because they make sense.
You’ll work with a sharp, engaged and passionate technology team that wants to build things properly. This is not a “write the strategy and disappear” role. You’ll still be technical. You’ll still be hands-on. You’ll still be expected to know what good code looks like.
The Sort of Person Who Will Love This
You’re probably already a Principal Architect, Principal Engineer, Staff Engineer, hands-on Solutions Architect or senior technical leader. You know C# / .NET deeply. You’ve worked with modern backend architecture, API design, service boundaries, domain-driven design, CQRS, testing strategy and complex product platforms.
You’ve seen messy systems before. Not “messy” in a cute way. Actually messy. The kind where the business has grown fast, the platform has carried a lot of weight, and now it needs sharper structure for the next stage. You know how to improve that without acting like you’ve arrived from Mount Architecture to judge everyone.
You can influence smart engineers. You can challenge ideas without turning every discussion into a cage fight. You can write clearly. You can simplify complexity. You can make technical standards feel useful, not bureaucratic. And you still care about the craft.
Why This Is a Cracker of a Role
Because the timing is excellent. The business is already established and profitable, but still moving with scale-up pace. The engineering team is strong, engaged and ambitious, but the platform is ready for its next level of maturity. That creates a rare sweet spot.
Enough stability that this is not chaos dressed up as opportunity. Enough growth that the work actually matters. Enough complexity to be interesting. Enough influence to make a visible difference. You’ll get to help shape architecture, engineering standards and the way teams build for years to come. Not as a passenger. As one of the key technical voices in the room.
The Deal
- $250k package
- $200k base + super + bonus
- Sydney CBD location
- 5 days onsite
- Full-time permanent role
- Start ASAP
- Profitable scaling fintech environment
- Smart, passionate and highly engaged engineering team
Worth Knowing
This role is onsite five days a week in the Sydney CBD. For the right person, that is part of the appeal. You’ll be close to the team, close to the decisions and close to the pace of the business. No floating around the edge of the organisation. No waiting three weeks for a steering committee to approve common sense. This is for someone who wants to be in the room where the technical decisions are made.
Final Word
If you are one of Sydney’s stronger hands-on C# / .NET architecture leaders and you want a role with real influence, real complexity and real ownership, this is well worth a conversation. Not every architect wants to inherit a platform at the exact moment the business is ready to lift the engineering bar. But the good ones usually do.
Big Wave Digital would love to speak with you.
