Junior Software Engineer – Generative AI Platforms

Citi; Greater London; Hybrid; GBP 60,000 - 80,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

27 days annual leave (plus bank H

Discretionary annual bonus

Private Medical Care & Life Insurance

Employee Assistance Program

Pension Plan

Paid Parental Leave

Employee discounts

Job summary

Citi London is seeking an early-career Software Engineer to join the Application, Platform and Engineering group and help build GenAI platforms and products used across the bank.

You'll work with experienced engineers, product managers and AI specialists, focusing on backend services, cloud-native tech and LLM-based applications, with mentorship and hands-on learning. This role is hybrid, offering growth for graduates and engineers with 1–2 years experience.

Qualifications

• 1–2 years hands-on software engineering experience
• Strong fundamentals in data structures and algorithms
• Exposure to Go or another backend language; Python is a plus
• Familiarity with React and TypeScript basics
• Understanding of REST APIs and distributed systems

Responsibilities

• Contribute to GenAI platforms, services and applications
• Build components including CLIs, SDKs, and tooling
• Write clean, tested, documented code
• Work with Golang or similar backend languages
• Collaborate with engineers, product managers and SMEs
• Participate in pair programming and code reviews
• Support cloud-native architectures, containers, Kubernetes/OpenShift
• Help design distributed, scalable systems
• Assist in the integration of LLM-based capabilities
• Investigate issues and improve reliability and performance
• Learn through mentoring and projects

Skills

Golang

React/TypeScript

REST APIs

Kubernetes/OpenShift

MongoDB/Redis

OAuth/JWT

LLMs & GenAI

CI/CD

Tools

Grafana

ELK

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.

Working with close guidance and mentorship from senior engineers, you’ll contribute to real-world engineering challenges while developing your skills across backend development, distributed systems, cloud-native technologies and LLM-based applications. You’ll have the opportunity to work with cutting‑edge technology, learn quickly and build experience that can shape a long‑term career in AI and software engineering.

We’re looking for candidates with around 1–2 years of software engineering experience, but we’re equally interested in strong graduates and early‑career engineers who can demonstrate their ability through internships, academic projects, personal projects or other hands‑on experience.

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

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 our Global Benefits page 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.

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.

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.

View Citi’s EEO Policy Statement and the Know Your Rights poster.