Core Banking Architect - PMO

Project Description:

We are seeking a seasoned Core Banking Architect with Project Management Office (PMO) Consultant skills to lead and oversee the implementation of Oracle FlexCube as the core banking platform. This is a high-visibility engagement requiring close coordination between the software vendor, the system integrator (SI), and internal stakeholders to ensure the project is delivered on time, within budget, and fully aligned with the institution's strategic and operational requirements. The successful candidate will act as the client's trusted advisor and guardian throughout the implementation lifecycle, ensuring that all decisions, deliverables, and milestones serve the institution's best interests.

Responsibilities:

• Client Advocacy & Guardrailing: Serve as the primary representative of the client's interests in all interactions with the vendor (Oracle) and the system integrator, ensuring that project scope, design decisions, and delivery commitments remain aligned with business needs and contractual obligations.
• Project Governance & Oversight: Establish and maintain robust PMO governance frameworks, including steering committee reporting, RAID management (Risks, Assumptions, Issues, Dependencies), milestone tracking, and escalation protocols.
• Budget & Schedule Management: Monitor and control project budget and timeline, proactively identifying deviations, assessing impact, and driving corrective actions to keep the programme on track.
• Stakeholder & Executive Reporting: Provide regular, transparent, and concise reporting to senior/executive management on project status, key risks, financial health, and strategic decisions requiring leadership input.
• Vendor & SI Management: Oversee vendor and SI performance against contractual SLAs, deliverables, and quality standards. Challenge and validate estimates, change requests, and resource plans.
• Scope & Change Control: Manage the change control process rigorously, ensuring that scope changes are properly assessed for impact on budget, timeline, and business outcomes before approval.
• Quality Assurance: Ensure that deliverables meet defined acceptance criteria and that testing strategies (SIT, UAT, performance, migration) are comprehensive and aligned with go-live readiness requirements.
• Risk Management: Proactively identify, assess, and mitigate project risks, with particular focus on integration complexity, data migration, regulatory compliance, and operational readiness.
• Cross-functional Coordination: Facilitate alignment across business units, IT, operations, compliance, and finance to ensure end-to-end readiness for the new core banking platform.
• Transition & Go-Live Readiness: Drive cutover planning, business continuity considerations, and post-implementation support frameworks to ensure a smooth transition to production.

Mandatory Skills Description:

• 10+ years of experience in project/programme management within financial services, with a strong focus on capital markets and/or retail/commercial banking.
• Proven experience in core banking implementations, ideally with Oracle FlexCube (Universal Banking or similar modules). Experience with other core banking platforms (Temenos T24, Finacle, Mambu) will also be considered.
• Deep understanding of banking operations, including deposits, lending, payments, treasury, regulatory reporting, and accounting integration.
• Demonstrated experience managing vendor and SI relationships in complex technology transformation programmes.
• Strong PMO methodology expertise (Waterfall, Agile, Hybrid) with relevant certifications (PMP, PRINCE2, MSP, or equivalent).
• Executive-level communication skills – ability to synthesise complex technical and operational information into clear, actionable insights for senior leadership.
• Fluent Spanish speaker (native or C2 level) – all day-to-day interactions and reporting will be conducted in Spanish.
• Professional English proficiency – required for vendor/SI interactions and documentation.
• Availability to work Spanish business hours (approximately 9:00–18:00 CET/CEST).

Nice-to-Have Skills Description:

• Experience with regulatory environments in the Spanish/European banking sector (ECB, Bank of Spain requirements).
• Familiarity with data migration strategies from legacy core banking systems.
• Experience with similar implementation, in particular for core banking
• Desirable: Agile certifications (SAFe, Scrum Master) in addition to traditional PM credentials.

Languages:

• English: C1 Advanced
• Spanish: C2