Lead Solutions Architect (AI/ML & Credit Card Technology)

About Citi:
Citi, the leading global bank, has approximately 200 million customer accounts and does business in more than 160 countries and jurisdictions. Citi provides consumers, corporations, governments, and institutions with a broad range of financial products and services, including consumer banking and credit, corporate and investment banking, securities brokerage, transaction services, and wealth management.

As a bank with a brain and a soul, Citi creates economic value that is systemically responsible and in our clients’ best interests. As a financial institution that touches every region of the world and every sector that shapes your daily life, our Enterprise Operations & Technology teams are charged with a mission that rivals any large tech company. Our technology solutions are the foundations of everything we do from keeping the bank safe, managing global resources, and providing the technical tools our workers need to be successful to designing our digital architecture and ensuring our platforms provide a first-class customer experience. We reimagine client and partner experiences to deliver excellence through secure, reliable, and efficient services.

Our commitment to diversity includes a workforce that represents the clients we serve from all walks of life, backgrounds, and origins. We foster an environment where the best people want to work. We value and demand respect for others, promote individuals based on merit, and ensure opportunities for personal development are widely available to all. Ideal candidates are innovators with well-rounded backgrounds who bring their authentic selves to work and complement our culture of delivering results with pride. If you are a problem solver who seeks passion in your work, come join us. We’ll enable growth and progress together.

The Lead Solutions Architect is a strategic professional positioned at the intersection of credit card domain expertise and cutting-edge generative AI innovation. This role offers a unique opportunity to build foundational knowledge in one of Citi's most dynamic business areas—U.S. Credit Cards—while working alongside some of the brightest engineering minds in the organization. We seek an intellectually curious, technically skilled individual who thrives on learning, embraces complexity, and is eager to shape the future of AI-driven financial services from the ground up.

The successful candidate will embark on a transformative journey, mastering credit card domain knowledge as the essential foundation for applying generative AI and machine learning to real-world business challenges. You will contribute to building the technical and domain expertise required for the Forward Deployment Engineer role, working hands-on with backend systems, web applications, databases, and middleware while gaining exposure to modern DevOps practices, cloud platforms, and containerization. Your work will directly impact how Citi leverages AI to reimagine customer experiences, streamline operations, and deliver innovative solutions at scale—all while learning from world-class engineers who are redefining what's possible in financial technology.

• Provides architectural vision for assigned IT systems, including those that support Internet applications, ensuring that architecture conforms to enterprise blueprints.

• Develops architecture, strategy, planning, and problem solving solutions on assigned systems. Interfaces across several channels, acting as a visionary to proactively assist in defining direction for future projects.

• Maintains continuous awareness of business, technical, and infrastructure issues and acts as a sounding board or consultant to aid in the development of creative solutions.

• Depending on project scope, may be accountable for end-to-end results including such items as: budgeting, policy formulation as well as providing future state technology strategies for an effort.

• Interfaces with vendors to assess their technology and to guide their product roadmap based on Citi requirements.

• Exhibits in-depth knowledge of how own specialism contributes to the business and has a good understanding of the commercial environment.

• Provides thought leadership in subjects that are key to the business.

• Requires sophisticated analytical thought to resolve issues in a variety of complex situations. Impacts the technology function through contribution to technical direction and strategic decisions.

• Uses developed communication skills to negotiate and often at higher levels.

• Performs other job duties and functions as assigned. Appropriately assess risk when business decisions are made, demonstrating particular consideration for the firm's reputation and safeguarding Citigroup, its clients and assets, by driving compliance with applicable laws, rules and regulations, adhering to Policy, applying sound ethical judgment regarding personal behavior, conduct and business practices, and escalating, managing and reporting control issues with transparency.

• Design Solution Architecture For Cloud Native Applications

• Selecting Project Technology Stack

• Perform Project Architecture Reviews

• Cloud Architecture Reviews (CART)

• Partner with all internal/external stakeholders to provide solutions to business and engineering team

• 6+ years of hands-on technical experience in software development, with strong proficiency in backend programming and system design.

• Hands on Experience of technologies like Java, Tibco, Python, AI/ML, COBOL

• Deep expertise in backend programming languages such as Java (Spring Boot, Spring Framework, Hibernate), Python 3.x (FastAPI, Flask, Django), C#, or Node.js, with proven ability to build scalable, production-grade applications.

• Strong proficiency in web development technologies including HTML5, CSS3, JavaScript (ES6+), TypeScript, and modern frontend frameworks such as React, Angular, or Vue.js.

• Hands-on experience with relational databases such as Oracle, PostgreSQL, MySQL, or SQL Server, including schema design, SQL query optimization, indexing strategies, and transaction management.

• Experience with NoSQL databases such as MongoDB, Cassandra, DynamoDB, or Redis for handling unstructured or semi-structured data at scale.

• Proven experience with middleware technologies such as Apache Kafka, RabbitMQ, IBM MQ, TIBCO, or MuleSoft for building event-driven architectures and integrating enterprise systems.

• Strong understanding of RESTful API design and development, including API versioning, authentication (OAuth 2.0, JWT), and best practices for microservices communication.

• Experience with message-oriented middleware (MOM) and enterprise service bus (ESB) patterns for asynchronous communication and system integration.

• Familiarity with CI/CD tools and practices such as Jenkins, GitLab CI/CD, GitHub Actions, or Azure DevOps, including building automated pipelines for testing and deployment.

• Knowledge of cloud platforms such as AWS (EC2, S3, Lambda, RDS), Microsoft Azure (App Service, Functions, Cosmos DB), or Google Cloud Platform, with experience deploying and managing cloud-based applications.

• Experience with containerization technologies such as Docker and orchestration platforms like Kubernetes, OpenShift, or Amazon EKS for deploying microservices.

• Understanding of DevOps principles and practices, including infrastructure as code (Terraform, CloudFormation), configuration management, and continuous delivery.

• Strong knowledge of version control systems such as Git, including branching strategies, pull request workflows, and collaborative development practices.

• Familiarity with monitoring and logging tools such as Splunk, ELK Stack, Prometheus, Grafana, or Datadog to ensure application reliability and performance.

• Understanding of security best practices including secure coding standards, encryption, authentication, authorization, and compliance requirements in financial services.

• Eagerness to learn credit card domain knowledge, including payment processing, fraud detection, customer management, and regulatory compliance.

• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills with the ability to troubleshoot complex technical issues and optimize system performance.

• Consistently demonstrates clear and concise written and verbal communication skills with the ability to collaborate effectively with cross-functional teams.

• Self-starter with intellectual curiosity, a passion for learning new technologies and business domains, and the ability to work independently.

• Ability to thrive in a fast-paced, dynamic environment while managing multiple priorities and delivering high-quality results.

Bachelor's/University degree in Computer Science, Engineering, Information Systems, or related technical field, or equivalent experience; Master's degree preferred.

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In addition to salary, Citi’s offerings may also include, for eligible employees, discretionary and formulaic incentive and retention awards. Citi offers competitive employee benefits, including: medical, dental & vision coverage; 401(k); life, accident, and disability insurance; and wellness programs. Citi also offers paid time off packages, including planned time off (vacation), unplanned time off (sick leave), and paid holidays. For additional information regarding Citi employee benefits, please visit citibenefits.com. Available offerings may vary by jurisdiction, job level, and date of hire.

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We use automated processing, including artificial intelligence, for our legitimate business interests (or our reasonable and appropriate business purposes) to identify and align the candidate's skills and abilities with a specific job opening. Additionally, if you so choose, or consent, we can match your skills and abilities to other suitable roles at Citi.

Importantly, all our hiring processes and decisions, including determining your suitability for a role, are conducted, checked, and decided by individuals. Our automated processing and AI do not involve relying on automatic or autonomous decision-making. Please refer to any Jurisdictional Considerations, with specific provisions for your country (where relevant) for further details.

Illinois residents – AI Notice and Right

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Citi is an equal opportunity employer, and qualified candidates will receive consideration without regard to their race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, status as a protected veteran, or any other characteristic protected by law.

If you are a person with a disability and need a reasonable accommodation to use our search tools and/or apply for a career opportunity review Accessibility at Citi.
View Citi’s EEO Policy Statement and the Know Your Rights poster.