Solutions Architect

About VGS VGS is building the trust infrastructure for a new era of commerce. As commerce becomes agentic, payments are increasing dramatically in volume, speed, and complexity, and the companies driving that shift need a foundation they can fully trust. That's where VGS comes in. We're the world's leader in payment tokenization, trusted by the most innovative AI and Fortune 500 companies, merchants, banks, and fintechs to power modern payments and agentic commerce. We store more than 9 billion tokens and process more than 10 billion monthly interactions, touching a third of all e-commerce. That scale isn't incidental. It's why leading companies embed our universal token vault and credential management platform directly into their stack, taming the complexity of payment data so they can move faster. Come build the platform that enables modern payments for the world's largest companies. We're helping businesses unlock new possibilities in an industry that never stops moving. And that takes exceptional people. About the Role VGS is looking for an experienced payments nerd who is passionate about understanding the inner workings of payment stacks and who, in a single day, can earn a prospect CTO's trust, map a complex payment flow with an existing customer payments leader, and work directly with VGS product and implementation engineers to design secure, scalable integrations. We are seeking a Solutions Architect with a solid software engineering background who excels at aligning technical strategy with business goals. You will collaborate closely with prospective and existing clients to understand their needs and translate technology into tangible business value, partnering with payment companies and enterprise merchants on complex challenges in global payment infrastructure, processor connectivity, credential portability, tokenization, and sensitive payment data. You will work closely with Sales and Account Management throughout the deal lifecycle, and with Product and Engineering to shape both our roadmap and go-to-market strategy based on what you learn in the field. What You'll Do Discovery & Solution Architecture • Conduct technical discovery with customers, Sales, and Account Management to clarify business goals, requirements, risks, and product gaps. • Map payment flows across merchants, PSPs, processors, acquirers, card networks, wallets, and third parties. • Architect solutions using VGS capabilities including vaulting, card management, network and Agentic Tokens, Account Updater, 3DS, wallet payments, account validation, and data security. • Guide customers on payment security best practices, PCI scope reduction, credential portability, multi-processor setups, resiliency, and scaling. • Identify technical and commercial risks early, including scope, dependencies, and ownership issues. Deal Support & Delivery • Lead technical strategy for qualified opportunities, from discovery through architecture approval and implementation handoff. • Create and deliver architecture diagrams, proposals, demos, and proofs of concept. • Lead responses for RFIs, RFPs, security reviews, and architecture assessments. • Collaborate with customer engineers on APIs, webhooks, auth, data models, error handling, and integrations. • Produce detailed handoffs covering solution architecture, assumptions, responsibilities, testing, success metrics, and out-of-scope items. • Provide technical oversight through launch to ensure implementations match approved architectures. Product Influence & Enablement • Translate customer and market feedback into actionable input for the VGS product roadmap and go-to-market strategy. • Develop reusable reference architectures, demos, integration patterns, and enablement assets. • Serve as a payments and technology subject matter expert in workshops, executive briefings, and industry events. What You Bring • 5+ years of experience across solutions architecture, sales engineering, technical consulting, payment implementation, software engineering, or a similar technical customer-facing role. • Experience with large-scale card or credential migrations. • Experience with multi-PSP, payment orchestration, processor-routing, or payment portability strategies. • Background at a merchant, PSP, processor, acquirer, issuer, card network, or payment infrastructure company. • Knowledge of PCI DSS, data security, privacy, and compliance architecture. • Proficiency with web services and APIs, and full-stack development, with the ability to understand how a wide variety of technologies and systems interact. • Strong communication skills — comfortable explaining complex concepts to technical and non-technical audiences, creating clear technical solution diagrams, and structuring/presenting sales and executive-level decks. • Comfortable writing production-grade code examples and reference implementations in one or more of VGS's primary deployment languages: Python, JavaScript, Java, or Ruby. • Strong collaboration, interpersonal, negotiation, and prioritization skills. Nice to Have: • Experience with tokenization, payment processing, or security products • BA/BS degree • A knack for out-of-the-box thinking that thrives in a fast-paced startup environment • Industry certifications such as PCI QSA, CPP (Certified Payments Professional), CISSP, or AWS Solutions Architect. • Direct experience with card network programs (Visa, Mastercard) such as network tokenization or account updater service $80,000 - $140,000 a year How We Work At VGS, we embrace a remote-first philosophy because we believe flexibility leads to great work and a healthy work-life balance. That said, if you live within 30 miles of one of our office locations, you'll be on a hybrid schedule with some in-person time, because we know there's real value in coming together. We're not about being in the office every day. We are about connection, collaboration, and the energy that comes from a great brainstorm, a team lunch, or celebrating a big win in person. Our Benefits Financial and retirement • Competitive salary • 401(k) with a 4% match and immediate vesting (applies to US only) • Early equity • Internet stipend • Learning stipend • Office set-up stipend (applies to US only) Health and Wellness • Insurance (medical, dental, and vision) • HSA/FSA options • Life and disability insurance • Pet insurance Vacation and time off • Flexible PTO • Paid national holidays • Global parental leave program Professional Development • Promote from within • Lunch and learns • Team events and summits Office life and perks • Remote and hybrid opportunities • Flexible working hours • Weekly office lunches • Employee discount platform Equal Opportunity We consider all applicants without regard to race, color, national origin, sex, age, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity, veteran status, marital status, physical or mental disability, or other protected classes under all applicable local, state, and federal laws and ordinances (AA/EOE/W/M/Vet/Disabled). Qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records will be considered for this position in accordance with the San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance. Where We're Hiring We are currently hiring in the following locations: Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Idaho, Illinois, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Texas, Utah, Virginia, Washington, Ontario (Canada), Alberta (Canada), and British Columbia (Canada). A Note on Our Hiring Process We may use artificial intelligence (AI) tools to support parts of the hiring process, such as reviewing applications, analyzing resumes, or assessing responses and identifying potential inconsistencies or verification signals in application materials based on available informa