Principal Generative AI Engineer, SVP

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.

Position Overview

Citi is looking for a Principal Generative AI Engineer to lead the design, development, and deployment of intelligent operations and automation platforms within the AI Automation Forward Deployed Engineering (FDE) team, part of Consumer Operations Technology division. In this senior role, you will set the technical direction for generative AI solutions from LLM orchestration and RAG pipelines to AI governance frameworks, ensuring our AI capabilities meet the highest standards of security, compliance, and reliability in financial services. This is a high-impact opportunity to shape how Citi applies cutting-edge AI at scale, working alongside senior technology leaders across a global organization.

Responsibilities

• Architect and deliver end-to-end generative AI solutions for intelligent operations, including advanced chatbots, agentic workflow automation, and AI-assisted decision platforms that improve operational efficiency at scale.
• Lead the engineering of LLM pipelines by fine-tuning, prompt-engineering, and deploying open-source models such as Llama, Mistral, and Gemma alongside proprietary models via Google Vertex AI.
• Build and maintain Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) pipelines using vector databases such as Pinecone, Milvus, and Chroma to enhance model accuracy and contextual relevance.
• Design and implement AI governance frameworks, including guardrails (NeMo Guardrails, Llama Guard), deterministic controls, semantic routing, and hallucination detection systems to ensure safe and compliant production AI.
• Deploy scalable, cloud-native AI infrastructure using Python, Docker, Kubernetes, and OpenShift, supported by robust CI/CD pipelines for continuous delivery.
• Apply deep knowledge of financial services technology to ensure all AI models meet strict risk management, auditability, and data security standards aligned with regulatory requirements.
• Partner with senior technology leaders and cross-functional teams to translate complex business challenges into production-ready AI solutions, setting credible technical direction throughout delivery.

Required qualifications & skills

• 10 or more years of experience in application development or engineering, with a significant focus on AI and machine learning solutions in production environments.
• Deep expertise in LLM architectures, embedding models, and AI orchestration frameworks such as Google ADK and LangChain, applied to real-world operational use cases.
• Hands-on experience deploying open-source LLMs (Llama, Mistral, Gemma) and working with enterprise AI platforms including Google Vertex AI or equivalent cloud AI suites.
• Expert-level Python skills, including proficiency with AI/ML libraries such as PyTorch, Hugging Face, Pandas, and NumPy, and API development frameworks including FastAPI and Flask.
• Demonstrated ability to implement deterministic controls, bias detection, and hallucination mitigation in production AI systems operating under strict compliance requirements.
• Strong experience with containerisation technologies (OpenShift, Docker, Kubernetes) and cloud-native application delivery, including CI/CD pipeline management.
• Background in financial services technology, with working knowledge of financial products, compliance requirements, and data security standards in a regulated environment.

Beneficial skills & qualifications

• Experience leading global technology teams or AI engineering programmes from concept through to production deployment.
• Familiarity with AI safety standards, emerging guardrail technologies, and the evolving regulatory landscape for AI in financial services.
• A Bachelor’s degree/University degree or equivalent experience. Master's degree in Computer Science, Artificial Intelligence, or a related technical discipline, preferred.
• Exposure to managing cross-functional stakeholder relationships and communicating complex technical decisions to senior non-technical audiences.

What we offer

At Citi, you will work at the forefront of AI innovation within one of the world's leading financial institutions, contributing to technology programs that operate at genuine global scale. Our Consumer Operations Technology team offers a performance-driven environment where senior engineers have real ownership, the space to lead, and direct influence over how AI reshapes financial services operations.

• A hybrid working model with 3 days in the office and 2 days working remotely, supporting effective work-life balance.
• Strategic ownership and technical leadership on high-visibility AI programmes that directly impact Citi's global consumer operations.
• Access to continuous learning and development resources, including exposure to state-of-the-art AI platforms, tools, and methodologies.
• Collaboration with senior technology leaders across a global organisation, with the opportunity to shape technical standards and influence delivery at scale.
• Competitive compensation and a comprehensive financial wellbeing package commensurate with a senior-level engineering role.
• Wellbeing support and family-friendly benefits designed to help you perform at your best, both professionally and personally.

Apply now to lead the next generation of AI-powered operations at Citi and bring production-grade generative AI solutions to one of the world's most influential financial institutions.

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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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Automated Processing and AI

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.