Applied AI Lead Engineer for Banking Technology

Citi • Jersey City, NJ

18h • $176,720 - $265,080 • Hybrid

About The Position

Citi’s Banking Technology organization is seeking a hands-on full-stack AI engineer to lead the design, development, and deployment of AI solutions for banking. The role includes architecting and implementing scalable agentic AI frameworks, translating complex ideas into production-ready systems, and delivering business value. The successful candidate will provide technical leadership while remaining directly involved in engineering work, collaborating across teams to integrate and scale AI solutions within Citi’s products and services.

The position focuses on agentic and generative AI, machine learning, full-stack application development, and enterprise software architecture. It calls for rapid MVP development and experimentation, robust evaluation of AI systems and agents, and attention to performance, reliability, security, and operational stability. The role is based in Jersey City, New Jersey, and is hybrid. It is a full-time SVP-level position.

Requirements

• 10+ years of progressive software engineering experience, with a strong emphasis on hands-on coding and a track record of rapid delivery and launching multiple AI features into production.
• At least 3 years of professional software development experience focused on AI, prompt engineering, machine learning, generative AI, and/or agentic AI systems.
• Deep hands-on experience engineering and executing scalable enterprise solutions, including architecting and delivering enterprise-scale AI projects.
• Expert-level proficiency in Python, including frameworks such as FastAPI, Django, Flask, or PySpark, or Java, including Spring Boot, Spring Cloud, or Spring Security.
• Proficiency in UI technologies such as Angular, React, Next.js, Node.js, or TypeScript.
• Proficiency with database technologies such as Oracle, Postgres, or MongoDB.
• Solid understanding of knowledge representation, automated planning, decision-making under uncertainty, and multi-agent systems.
• Hands-on experience with agent frameworks such as LangGraph, LangChain, AutoGen, CrewAI, or N8N.
• Extensive experience with machine-learning frameworks such as TensorFlow or PyTorch and libraries such as Scikit-Learn, NumPy, or Pandas.
• Proven experience creating, deploying, and integrating Model Context Protocols (MCPs) into agentic AI systems.
• Deep familiarity with LLMs such as ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, and Llama, including their use in agentic systems.
• Demonstrated experience designing and implementing robust APIs for AI services.
• Proficiency in software development practices including Git, CI/CD, comprehensive testing, and code reviews.
• Strong understanding of agile methodologies, application resiliency, security principles, system design, application development, and operational stability for AI initiatives.
• Deep experience with application and data architecture patterns and designs, including managed services and existing platforms, API-first design, microservices, and event-driven architectures.
• Hands-on experience with Docker and Kubernetes.
• Excellent analytical and innovative problem-solving skills, with a pragmatic and creative approach to complex technical challenges.
• Motivated self-starter able to learn new skills quickly and navigate complex organizational structures.
• Bachelor’s degree, university degree, or equivalent experience.

Nice To Haves

• Previous experience in banking or financial services, including an understanding of regulatory environments and industry-specific challenges.
• Master’s degree.

Responsibilities

• Lead end-to-end design, hands-on implementation, and deployment of scalable agentic AI frameworks and generative AI solutions for banking use cases.
• Build full-stack applications integrating machine-learning and large-language-model tools and services.
• Use an MVP-first approach, rapid iterations, hypothesis testing, and A/B experiments to improve solutions and time to value.
• Design and implement metrics and evaluation strategies for AI systems and agent performance, and optimize system behavior.
• Explore, prototype, and integrate developments in agent-based systems, autonomous AI, and generative AI.
• Provide hands-on technical leadership and guide architectural decisions.
• Collaborate with AI researchers, data scientists, product managers, and software engineers to integrate and scale AI solutions across Citi products and services.
• Communicate and collaborate effectively with diverse stakeholders.

Benefits

• Medical, dental, and vision coverage
• 401(k)
• Life, accident, and disability insurance
• Wellness programs
• Paid time off, including vacation and sick leave
• Paid holidays
• Eligible employees may receive discretionary and formulaic incentive and retention awards

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Senior