Forward Deployed Engineer - Director

Citi • Jersey City, NJ

1d • $170,000 - $300,000 • Onsite

About The Position

The Director - Forward Deployed Engineer is a senior strategic technical leader responsible for shaping and delivering AI-powered solutions for Citi Payment Express (CPX). The role combines applied AI, modern software engineering, client engagement, and people leadership. It drives CPX build-out and delivery across multiple markets, works directly with stakeholders to deliver measurable business value, and ensures solutions are production-grade, scalable, and aligned with enterprise standards. The director leads and mentors an engineering team while remaining actively involved in architecture, code, and delivery.

The role owns the technical strategy, architecture, and delivery roadmap for CPX market rollouts. It works with clients, stakeholders, and end users to understand workflows, identify opportunities for AI and engineering, and deliver solutions from concept through production. The position also leads platform engineering, security, full-stack development, AI tooling, migrations, and integrations, partnering with senior leaders across Services and Technology.

The position is based in Jersey City, New Jersey. The full-time salary range is $170,000 to $300,000. Citi may also offer eligible employees incentive and retention awards, medical, dental and vision coverage, a 401(k), life, accident and disability insurance, wellness programs, paid time off, and paid holidays. Benefit availability may vary by jurisdiction, job level, and hire date.

Requirements

• 15+ years of experience as a senior engineering leader, engineering manager, or technical architect, with a record of building, leading, and scaling high-performing engineering teams.
• Ability to lead, coach, and mentor engineers at all levels, supporting technical growth, career development, and succession planning.
• Experience establishing engineering culture and team values, and driving accountability, innovation, and technical excellence.
• Strong leadership in PDLC best practices, CI/CD pipelines, automated testing frameworks, and engineering performance metrics, including DORA metrics.
• Experience in customer-facing, consulting, embedded, or Forward Deployed Engineering environments, translating business challenges into technical solutions.
• Hands-on experience developing agentic AI solutions using Google Agent Development Kit (ADK) and Model Context Protocol (MCP) servers, including architecting and integrating AI capabilities into production workflows.
• Expert-level proficiency in Python and Java, with strong skills in API design, microservices, and distributed systems architecture.
• Extensive hands-on experience architecting, deploying, and operating services on Kubernetes, including pod management, service mesh, ingress controllers, cluster autoscaling, and multi-cluster orchestration.
• Hands-on experience with containerization technologies, including Docker, multi-stage builds, and container registries.
• Proficiency in cloud-native architectures and modern deployment methodologies, including solution architecture on AWS (EKS, Lambda, S3, RDS, and DynamoDB).
• Experience with event-driven architectures and message brokers such as Apache Kafka, RabbitMQ, AWS SNS/SQS, or Google Pub/Sub, including designing for fault tolerance and scalability.
• Strong understanding of NoSQL databases such as MongoDB.
• Bachelor’s degree, university degree, or equivalent experience.

Nice To Haves

• Master’s degree preferred.

Responsibilities

• Lead Citi Payment Express market rollouts for payments.
• Own the technical strategy, architecture, and delivery roadmap for CPX in key markets.
• Drive rapid, reliable deployment of solutions into production environments.
• Ensure engineering execution aligns with business objectives and client needs.
• Work directly with clients, stakeholders, and end users to understand workflows and challenges.
• Identify high-value opportunities where AI and engineering can deliver measurable impact.
• Deliver end-to-end solutions from concept through production deployment.
• Lead, mentor, and develop a team of engineers; foster technical excellence, innovation, and accountability.
• Balance strategic leadership with hands-on technical contribution.
• Design and build solutions leveraging Google Agent Development Kit (ADK) and Model Context Protocol (MCP) servers.
• Develop scalable APIs and backend services using Python and Java, and contribute across the software development lifecycle.
• Deploy, operate, and maintain services on Kubernetes and AWS; apply networking and cloud-native architecture principles.
• Drive platform reliability, scalability, and operational excellence.
• Champion AI Product Development Lifecycle (PDLC) practices and continuous improvement through DORA metrics and engineering KPIs.
• Lead migration and integration initiatives across strategic internal platforms, including ARC and AgentFlow.
• Ensure platform migrations and integrations align with organizational standards and technology strategy.
• Partner with senior leaders across Services and Technology; communicate delivery progress, risks, and strategic recommendations.
• Align technical execution with business priorities.

Benefits

• Medical coverage
• Dental coverage
• Vision coverage
• 401(k)
• Life insurance
• Accident insurance
• Disability insurance
• Wellness programs
• Paid vacation
• Paid 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: Director