Senior Forward Deployed Engineer - Vice President

Citi • New York, NY

9d • $142,320 - $213,480

About The Position

The Senior Forward Deployed Engineer is a hands-on core engineering position embedded with line-of-business squads. The role focuses on developing agent reasoning logic, custom tool integrations, and resilient execution pipelines that meet enterprise safety and quality standards. This includes building production-grade agent reasoning loops, custom Model Context Protocol (MCP) servers, and robust error-handling mechanisms.

The engineer collaborates with C12 engineers on automated regression testbeds and integrates Agentflow Studio evaluation harnesses into deployment workflows. The position also involves coaching junior developers and participating in sprint delivery and peer code reviews. The role carries responsibility for assessing business risks, protecting Citi’s reputation, clients, and assets, complying with applicable laws, rules, regulations, and policies, exercising sound ethical judgment, and transparently escalating, managing, and reporting control issues.

Requirements

• At least 6 years of software engineering experience, including at least 4 years of strong professional Python proficiency.
• Hands-on experience with LLM APIs, such as R2D2 Gateway, OpenAI, or Google Vertex AI, and integrating foundation models into backend services.
• Experience with REST/gRPC API development, Docker, Git, Linux environments, and CI/CD automation pipelines.
• Understanding of prompt engineering, structured JSON output validation (e.g., Pydantic), and vector search/retrieval patterns.
• Ability to collaborate in fast-paced agile squads to solve ambiguous technical problems.
• Bachelor’s or university degree, or equivalent experience.

Nice To Haves

• Master’s degree preferred.

Responsibilities

• Write production-quality agent reasoning logic, memory management, and sub-agent delegation workflows in Python.
• Develop custom Model Context Protocol (MCP) servers connecting AI agents to enterprise systems, including ServiceNow, JIRA, DBaaS, Kafka, and internal REST/gRPC services.
• Implement resilient error handling, automated retries, fallback routines, and Human-in-the-Loop (HITL) escalation triggers.
• Integrate Lakera Guardrails for synchronous and asynchronous prompt-injection defense, jailbreak mitigation, and automated PII filtering and redaction.
• Collaborate with C12 engineers to build automated regression testbeds and integrate Agentflow Studio evaluation harnesses into deployment workflows.
• Advise and coach junior developers, participate in sprint delivery, and conduct peer code reviews.
• Assess risk in business decisions, safeguard Citi’s reputation, clients, and assets, drive compliance with applicable laws, rules, regulations, and policies, apply sound ethical judgment, and transparently escalate, manage, and report control issues.

Benefits

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

What This Job Offers

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