Junior Software Engineer – Generative AI Platforms

Citigroup Inc.; Greater London; Hybrid; GBP 45,000 - 68,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

27 days annual leave

Discretional annual bonus

Private medical care & life insurance

Employee assistance program

Pension plan

Paid parental leave

Special employee discounts

Job summary

Citi London is seeking an early-career Software Engineer to join the Application, Platform and Engineering group and contribute to GenAI platforms and services. You will work alongside experienced engineers and product managers to build modern GenAI products used across Citi.

You will gain exposure to cloud-native architectures, Kubernetes ecosystems and distributed systems, with mentorship and hands-on development.

Qualifications

• Around 1–2 years hands-on software engineering experience.
• Strong fundamentals in data structures, algorithms and coding practices.
• Exposure to Golang (Go) or another backend language, Python is a plus.
• Basic understanding of React and TypeScript.
• Understanding of REST APIs and how modern applications communicate.
• Basic exposure to Kubernetes, OpenShift or containerised applications.
• Familiarity with databases such as MongoDB and Redis.
• Basic understanding of OAuth and JWT.
• Awareness of LLMs and Generative AI, with enthusiasm to learn more.
• Interest in RAG, context retrieval, fine-tuning and LLM-based app development.
• Basic awareness of secure coding practices and modern app security.
• Exposure to CI/CD and monitoring tools is advantageous.

Responsibilities

• Contribute to the development and support of Generative AI platforms, services and applications.
• Build components of products and platforms, including CLIs, SDKs and tooling.
• Write clean, tested, maintainable code with good documentation.
• Work with Golang or similar backend languages.
• Collaborate with senior engineers, PMs and SMEs to deliver solutions.
• Participate in pair programming, code reviews and collaborative development.
• Contribute to design discussions and scalable system design.
• Support integration of LLM-based applications and GenAI capabilities.
• Investigate bugs and improve reliability and performance of products.
• Develop understanding of cloud-native tech, containers and Kubernetes/OpenShift.
• Contribute to testing and validating changes as platforms scale.
• Learn GenAI through hands-on engineering and mentorship.
• Communicate progress clearly with adjacent teams.

Skills

Golang

React

TypeScript

REST APIs

Kubernetes

CI/CD

MongoDB

Redis

OAuth/JWT

GenAI awareness

Git

Tools

Git

Job description

Role

Join Citi's Application, Platform and Engineering group and start your engineering career at the forefront of Generative AI. This is an exciting opportunity for an early-career Software Engineer to work alongside experienced engineers, product managers and AI specialists to build and support modern GenAI platforms and products used across the bank.

Team

You'll join a growing technology team with a start-up mentality inside a global organisation. The team is focused on shaping the future of AI and engineering across Citi, bringing together talented engineers, product managers and subject‑matter experts to turn ambitious ideas into real products.

The team works across Generative AI, cloud-native architectures, modern application stacks, security, open source and the Kubernetes ecosystem. We're highly collaborative, encourage engineers at every level to contribute ideas, and believe in learning through hands-on development, pair programming, experimentation and continuous iteration.

As an early-career engineer, you'll have access to experienced mentors and the opportunity to learn from engineers working on complex AI and distributed systems at scale.

Key Responsibilities

• Contribute to the development and support of Generative AI platforms, services and applications.
• Build well-defined components of products and platforms, including CLIs, SDKs and supporting tooling.
• Write clean, tested, maintainable and well-documented code.
• Work primarily with modern backend technologies, including Golang or comparable languages.
• Collaborate with senior engineers, product managers and SMEs to understand requirements and deliver solutions.
• Participate in pair programming, code reviews and collaborative development practices.
• Contribute to design discussions and develop an understanding of distributed and scalable system design.
• Support the development and integration of LLM-based applications and GenAI capabilities.
• Investigate bugs, respond to feedback and help improve the reliability and performance of existing products.
• Develop an understanding of cloud-native technologies, containers and Kubernetes/OpenShift.
• Contribute to testing and validating changes as platforms and applications scale.
• Build your knowledge of GenAI through hands-on engineering, structured learning and mentorship.
• Work collaboratively with adjacent teams and communicate clearly on technical challenges and progress.
• Stay curious about emerging technologies and actively identify opportunities to improve how the team builds and delivers software.
  

Skills & Experience

• Around 1–2 years of hands-on software engineering experience; internships, substantial academic projects and personal projects will also be considered.
• Strong foundation in software engineering fundamentals, including data structures, algorithms and coding practices.
• Exposure to Golang (Go) or another backend programming language, with enthusiasm to develop deeper Go expertise. Python is a plus.
• Basic understanding of React and TypeScript fundamentals.
• Understanding of REST APIs and how modern applications communicate.
• Basic exposure to Kubernetes, OpenShift or containerised applications.
• Familiarity with databases or data technologies such as MongoDB and Redis.
• Basic understanding of authentication concepts such as OAuth and JWT.
• Awareness of Large Language Models (LLMs) and Generative AI, with genuine enthusiasm to learn more.
• An interest in areas such as RAG, context retrieval, fine-tuning and LLM-based application development.
• Basic awareness of secure coding practices and modern application security.
• Exposure to CI/CD, monitoring or observability tools such as Grafana or ELK is advantageous but not essential.
• Exposure to ETL concepts, data pipelines, vector stores or AI infrastructure is advantageous but not expected.
• Strong problem-solving skills, curiosity and a proactive approach to learning.
• Comfortable working collaboratively, receiving feedback and learning through pair programming and code reviews.
  

What We Believe In

We believe great engineers can come from different backgrounds. You don't need to have every technology listed above — what matters is a strong engineering foundation, curiosity, a willingness to learn and a genuine interest in Generative AI.

There are no rigid boundaries between engineering and research. Engineers at every level are encouraged to explore new ideas, experiment with emerging technologies and contribute to solving challenging problems.

We work in a fast-moving environment where we build, test, learn and iterate. We value practical solutions over unnecessary bureaucracy and invest in helping early-career engineers develop the technical skills, confidence and experience to grow their careers.

If you're at the beginning of your software engineering career and excited by the opportunity to work with Generative AI, modern software engineering and experienced technical mentors, we'd love to hear from you.

By joining Citi London, you will not only be part of a business casual workplace with a hybrid working model (up to 2 days working at home per week), but also receive a competitive base salary (which is annually reviewed), and enjoy a whole host of additional benefits such as:

• 27 days annual leave (plus bank holidays)
• A discretional annual performance related bonus
• Private Medical Care & Life Insurance
• Employee Assistance Program
• Pension Plan
• Paid Parental Leave
• Special discounts for employees, family, and friends
  

Visit ourGlobal Benefitspage to learn more.

Alongside these benefits Citi is committed to ensuring our workplace is where everyone feels comfortable coming to work as their whole self, every day. We want the best talent around the world to be energized to join us, motivated to stay and empowered to thrive.

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.