Lead AI Engineer - Enterprise AI Products

Citi; Greater London; Hybrid; GBP 120,000 - 180,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

27 days annual leave (plus bank hols)

Discretional annual bonus

Private Medical Care & Life Insurance

Employee Assistance Program

Pension Plan

Parental Leave

Special discounts for employees

Job summary

Citi London seeks a seasoned Lead AI Engineer to combine hands-on engineering and architecture with strong business engagement. You will shape platform strategy, work with Generative AI, AI Agents and modern AI engineering in a fast-moving environment.

This senior role offers ownership, mentoring responsibility and direct engagement with senior stakeholders to drive scalable, production-grade AI platforms.

Qualifications

• Senior Engineer/Lead experience with architecture and business engagement.
• Strong Python and/or Java development background.
• Experience with Generative AI and AI Agents; Google ADK desired.

Responsibilities

• Own and lead technical components end-to-end aligning with business goals.
• Translate problems with stakeholders into technical solutions.
• Shape roadmaps, strategy and priorities with team leads and stakeholders.
• Design, develop scalable production-grade AI solutions with solid engineering principles.
• Build AI solutions including Generative AI and Agentic AI using Google ADK.
• Design, develop and test AI Agents with MCP servers.
• Write high-quality code in Python and/or Java across modern AI tech.
• Provide technical leadership, mentoring and team development.
• Drive code quality via reviews, testing, CI/CD practices.
• Ensure Citi risk, security and compliance requirements are met within platforms.

Skills

Python

Java

Software architecture

REST APIs

CI/CD

DevOps tooling

Mentoring

Technical leadership

Problem solving

Stakeholder engagement

Education

Bachelor's degree in Computer Science or related

Tools

Google ADK

Postgres

Model Context Protocol (MCP)

Neo4j

uDeploy

Jenkins

Kubernetes

Job description

About The Team

Join Citi’s Enterprise AI Products team, a small, high-impact global team building innovative AI solutions for the wider bank.

The Role

We are looking for a seasoned Lead AI Engineer to combine hands‑on engineering and architecture with strong business engagement. You will work directly with business partners to understand real‑world problems, translate them into technical solutions and support successful delivery and adoption of our AI platforms.

This is a senior role within a deliberately flat team where you will have significant ownership and influence. You will help shape the platform strategy and roadmap, while gaining exposure to Generative AI, AI Agents and modern AI engineering in a fast‑moving environment.

Key Responsibilities

• Own and lead technical components end‑to‑end, ensuring alignment with business and product objectives.
• Work directly with senior business and technology stakeholders to understand problems and translate them into technical solutions.
• Shape product roadmaps, technical strategy and priorities alongside the team lead and wider stakeholders.
• Design, develop and implement scalable, production‑quality solutions using sound engineering and architectural principles.
• Build and develop AI solutions, including Generative AI and Agentic AI using Google ADK.
• Design, develop and test AI Agents and work with Model Context Protocol (MCP) and MCP servers.
• Write high‑quality code in Python and/or Java, working across modern AI and platform technologies.
• Provide technical leadership, mentoring and guidance to other engineers and contribute to team development.
• Drive engineering quality through code reviews, technical design reviews, testing and robust CI/CD practices.
• Ensure solutions meet Citi’s risk, security and compliance requirements while integrating effectively with wider technology platforms.

Key Skills & Experience

• Proven experience as a Senior Developer, Technical Lead, Lead Engineer or similar senior engineering role.
• Strong expertise in object‑oriented programming, software architecture and technical design.
• Strong hands‑on development experience in Python and/or Java; experience with both is highly desirable.
• Experience with Generative AI and AI Agents, ideally including Google ADK.
• Practical experience with Model Context Protocol (MCP) and AI/data/service integration is highly desirable.
• Strong understanding of REST APIs, networking, databases and CLI tooling, with Postgres/Oracle experience preferred.
• Experience with CI/CD and modern DevOps tooling such as Jenkins, uDeploy, Tekton, Harness or equivalent.
• Demonstrable ability to shape technical strategy and roadmaps and influence senior stakeholders.
• A genuine interest in understanding business problems and working closely with non‑technical stakeholders — we are looking for engineers who are as comfortable in a conversation about business needs as they are in a code review.
• Strong problem‑solving, communication and presentation skills, with the confidence to engage directly with business and technology leaders.
• Experience providing technical leadership, mentoring or line management within software engineering teams.
• Desirable: Experience with Neo4j or other graph databases, UX/front‑end development, and broader AI platform technologies.
• Education: Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering or a related discipline preferred; graduate‑level or continuing education is a plus.

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.

Job Family Group

Technology

Job Family

Systems & Engineering

Time Type

Full time

Most Relevant Skills

Please see the requirements listed above.

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