Let's shape the future of Finance - together.At Isabel, we believe that real innovation happens when people and ideas connect.That's why we're building more than technology, we're building an ecosystem.One where every voice counts, and where your work can truly make a difference.We're looking for curious minds and collaborative builders.People who believe success means growing together, learning from each other, and challenging the status quo.If that sounds like you, keep reading.What you'll do?As Application Architect you will be part of our Architecture team, with a specific focus on our payment application landscape.You'll contribute to solution designs that meet both business and technical objectives, ensuring alignment with Isabel's long-term vision. In addition to contributing to design and review activities, you'll actively promote architecture documentation as code, using the C4 model to describe software systems at multiple levels of abstraction. This ensures that documentation remains accurate, version-controlled, and aligned with the development lifecycle, while fostering transparency and knowledge sharing across teams.Your tasks will includeEngage actively with all relevant parties to gather comprehensive requirements — encompassing user, technical, and performance specifications — and synthesize these into unified solution designs.Champion your architectural proposals, striving to achieve excellence in fulfilling stakeholder needs and maximizing the value of project outcomes.Take the helm during the project's initiation phase and provide ongoing leadership and expertise to the delivery teams throughout the execution phase, serving as the project's architectural lead when necessary.Ensure that the proposed solutions are aligned with the overarching technology strategy and comply with corporate governance standards.Cultivate a practice of thorough documentation, guaranteeing that it is a true and clear reflection of active operations and is readily understandable and available to stakeholders.Stay abreast of technology trends to drive innovation and continuous improvement within the application domain.Perform deep dives into existing codebases to extract architectural patterns, assess modularity and dependencies, and identify improvement areas — without participating in hands-on development.Understand and deconstruct legacy and modern systems to inform design decisions, guide modernization efforts, and propose architecture roadmaps for payment services.Job requirementsWhat makes you a great fit?This role is ideal for someone who can analyze and understand complex, large-scale (Java) applications independently — not to develop them, but to extract architectural insights, assess design quality, and support strategic evolution of our application ecosystem.You'll thrive in this role if you:have a deep understanding of the software development life cycle, including coding standards, code reviews, source control management, build processes, testing, and operations.have experience in architectural design patterns, MicroServices architecture, and creating system architectures that are scalable, resilient, and aligned with business needs.are able to identify, quantify, and strategize the reduction of technical debt.have a track record in reliability engineering & performance optimization.have an understanding of security best practices (you'll be supported by a Security Architect).have an understanding of cloud computing platforms, infrastructure as code, containerization, and orchestration technologies (you'll be supported by a Infrastructure Architect).have Integration and Messaging Insight: Awareness of asynchronous communication mechanisms such as Kafka and RabbitMQ. Can assess their use in the architecture for reliability, decoupling, and event-driven design.have familiarity with IAM frameworks such as ForgeRock, to assess access control, identity flows, and federation strategies at the system level.have familiarity with Oracle and PostgreSQL/Enterprisedb from an architectural perspective. Capable of analyzing how data Storage, access, and integration are handled in enterprise systems, particularly in high-availability financial environments.can effectively communicate complex technical concepts to non-technical people and work with various departments to understand their needs and constraints.have the ability to adapt to and work with various development and project management methodologies: Whether it's Agile, Scrum, Waterfall, or DevOps.are able to explore and understand unfamiliar, complex systems with minimal guidance, especially through source code and system documentation.Are fluent in English (knowledge of Dutch and/or French are a strong plus).Why join usAt Isabel, we offer more than a job, we offer a place to grow, contribute, and thrive.A human-sized Belgian company (250 people) where your ideas and impact matter50% hybrid work, flexible hours, and autonomy to manage your timeCoaching, training, and tailored development paths for every career stageA flat, collaborative structure with real ownership and cross-functional workCompetitive rewards: Flex Income Plan, annual bonus, insurance, meal vouchersA strong engagement culture and inclusive mindsetEasy mobility options: our Mobi strategy supports flexible, low-footprint commuting, whether by bike, public transport, or electric carProfessional gatherings that encourage collaboration and networking, as well as fun and purposeful activities led by our Befun teamA certified Top Employer with 30 years of tech leadership and ambitionReady to join us?Your voice, your vision, and your impact all have a place here.Let's shape smarter solutions and a stronger digital economy. Together.