Business Architect - Vice President

13 Sept 2025

London, LND, GB, EC2M 2AT

SMBC: A trusted partner for the long term 

 

Here at SMBC Group, we want to help you find the next step in your career so read on to discover if this opportunity is the one for you. We like to recognise potential in our people, so we welcome your application even when your experience doesn’t perfectly align with the job description. Whilst we’ll always strive to be better, we’re proud of our inclusive culture, and encourage our applicants and colleagues to be their authentic, unique selves. 

 

 

Who we are

United by a sense of purpose towards our customers – to be a trusted partner for the long-term – and our universal banking platform in EMEA, SMBC Group has an international growth agenda and award-winning products, meaning we provide exciting opportunities to work on a diverse range of projects and initiatives. We deliver a full suite of corporate finance products and solutions to our customers as well as investment banking and advisory services, and a range of innovative solutions in global capital markets. Read on to find out how you could enhance your skills and gain valuable experience, by joining us to support our clients transition to a sustainable future.

Role Summary

Is the next step in your career at SMBC Group EMEA? We’re looking for a Business Architect for our Transformation and Change Management - Business Design to join our team and lead the design of Target State Business Architecture across SMBC EMEA’s transformation portfolios, ensuring alignment with strategic goals and integration across business, technology, and data domains.

Essentials of the Role

  • Design and maintain the Target State Business Architecture blueprints and roadmap.
  • Collaborate across functions to develop holistic, integrated designs.
  • Produce and maintain Busienss Architecture framework and artefacts (e.g, busienss capabilities, business services, value streams etc.).

Candidate Requirements

  • Proven experience in business architecture  design.
  • Strong stakeholder engagement and cross-functional collaboration skills.
  • Familiarity with business architecture frameworks and modelling tools.

Transformation and Change Management Group - Business Design

The Transformation and Change Management Group has been established to drive and govern the prioritisation and governance of transformation initiatives and ensure that change investment in EMEA enables the EMEA business strategy and delivers the specified transformational business outcomes.

The Business Design team are a key part of the Transformation and Change Management Group lead the work to support target state design and then lead the work to design the Target State Business Architecture with a focus on near term priorities for 2025/26 delivery and then evolve this to give a multi-year view.

The Business Design team also support more detailed work for Transformation projects and programmes on an ongoing basis to ensure that their design solutions align with the Target State Business Architecture and Roadmap.

Position Description

The Business Architect in the Business Design team will be responsible for:

  • Design of the Target State Business Architecture blueprints and acompanying artefacts (capability map, operating model, value streams, business services model etc.) for transformation portfolios across SMBC EMEA. This will be done in collaboration with other departments and functions in EMEA and in collaboration with other regions and will require orchestrating and co-ordinating work across these areas. This is also likely to require assisting departments and functions to clarify their business strategy in order to provide sufficient detail to support the target state design.
  • Development of the Roadmap to deliver the Target State Business Architecture.
  • Development and maintenance of the Current State Business Architecture to a level of detail sufficient to inform the target state design and the development of the Roadmap.
  • Collaboration with the Front Office, Technology, Data, Compliance, Risk and other stakeholders to develop a holistic target state design that enables the business strategy of SMBC EMEA.

A key feature of the role will be to participate in development and maturing a sustainable business architecture capability. 

Skilla and Qualifications

  • Business Architecture Design: Experience of designing organisation-wide, multi-entity, target state business architecture (capability map, operating model, value streams, business services model etc.) that is informed by, and aligned with, macro business strategy.
  • Strategic thinking: Evidence of the ability to understand and influence business strategy and the ability to create strategic transformation strategies and design target state business architecture. Experience of doing this in Financial Services (ideally at a significant, multi-entity, wholesale/universal bank).
  • Senior Stakeholder Management: Proven ability to build positive working relationships with senior stakeholders and capable of influencing to gain agreement and resolve conflicting priorities in ambiguous environments.
  • Communication: Excellent communication skills. Able to communicate effectively at all levels of the organisation. Able to convey complex topics simply and to articulate issues in a way that eases decision making and drives action.
  • Influence: Able to influence at all levels of the organisation. Able to mobilise and align resources across the organisation– especially in teams outside of the direct reporting line.
  • Industry Knowledge: In-depth knowledge of best practice across the financial services industry (and beyond) and an ability to utilise that knowledge to enhance the capability at SMBC.

Competencies

Customer Focus
Driving Change
Driving Results
Embraces Diversity
Enterprise Leadership
Judgement and Decision Making
Risk Management
Strategic and Visionary
Trust and Integrity

What we offer

For all the expertise and experience you bring to help us make a difference, it’s only sustainable if we support you to build your career and be your best self so we offer competitive company benefits, centred around promoting positive well-bring and work-life balance. We also believe in fostering a diverse and inclusive work environment, where all team members perspectives and contributions are valued. Initiatives in place which promote a diverse and inclusive culture and healthy work life balance include hybrid working, Sport & Social Clubs and Diversity and Inclusion networks.

As an employee of SMBC you have access to a host of both useful and exciting benefit offerings. See below some of the benefits on offer to you:

  • Hybrid and flexible working 
  • Competitive paid leave days
  • Benefits to support your physical wellbeing, including private medical insurance and life and invalidity insurance 
  • Various policies to support your mental wellbeing, including a robust behavioural health network with counselling and coaching services  
  • Access a wide range of learning and development opportunities and career progression opportunities 
  • Ambitious remuneration package

So, if you like a challenge and want to continuously grow and develop in a role where you will be supported along the way by a dynamic and diverse team, apply today!!

 

We recognise our role as a bank to support social change and welcome all applications, including those from groups often under-represented in financial services. We value the uniqueness of professional and personal, backgrounds and perspectives as they play a vital role in continuing the sustainable growth of our organisation. We’ll ensure reasonable adjustments to our recruitment process are offered due to a disability or long-term condition whenever requested.  

 

About SMBC

A trusted partner for the long term
United by a sense of purpose towards our customers - to be a trusted partner for the long-term - and our universal banking platform in EMEA, we deliver a full suite of corporate finance products and solutions to our customers, including corporate, structured and trade finance, leveraged finance, loan market and treasury products. We can also provide investment banking and advisory services and a range of innovative solutions in global capital markets.
Find out more about what we do and who we are at www.smbcgroup.com/emea