Staff Software Engineer/Tech Lead (Distributed systems) - SVP

Citigroup Inc.; Belfast; Hybrid; GBP 70,000 - 90,000; Full time

Job summary

A multinational financial services corporation is seeking a Staff Software Engineer to lead the development of its next-generation developer experience platform using Kotlin. This role involves creating a near-real time system to integrate data, leading architectural design, and mentoring fellow engineers. With a focus on technical excellence, this position provides an opportunity to impact thousands of engineers globally. The role offers a competitive salary and a hybrid working model, along with extensive benefits including medical care and annual leave.

Benefits

27 days annual leave

Discretionary annual performance bonus

Private Medical Care

Life Insurance

Employee Assistance Program

Pension Plan

Paid Parental Leave

Special discounts for employees, family, and friends

Access to learning and development resources

Qualifications

• 10-15+ years of expertise in server-side engineering with Kotlin or Java.
• Proficiency in building and consuming RESTful APIs and asynchronous programming.
• Experience in Event-Driven architectures and related principles.

Responsibilities

• Create a near-real time platform that integrates data across the bank.
• Lead the architectural design of the system for near-real-time requirements.
• Establish working relationships with team members.

Skills

Server-side engineering expertise

Event-Driven architectures

Kotlin (or Java)

Building RESTful APIs

Asynchronous programming

PostgreSQL expertise

NoSQL databases knowledge

Design patterns knowledge

Containerization (Docker)

Kubernetes orchestration

CI/CD tools familiarity

Tools

Kotlin/Java

Spring Boot

Apache Kafka

Docker

Kubernetes

Job description

We’relooking forexceptionalStaffSoftware Engineerto help buildand tech leadour next-generation Developer Experience (DevEx) platform at Citiusing Kotlin.You’llbe joining a small, high-impact team,shaping the daily lives of our 50,000 engineers globally bybuildingthecockpitwhereengineerscansee allparts of thesoftware development life cycletied together intoaworkflow in near real-time, being able to action and monitor agentic AI flows from the cockpit. This is an exciting technical challenge for an ambitious candidate.

Where you’ll work

You’llsit within Development Enablement, part of Citi’s CTO organisation.A group focused on innovation, developer platforms andinternal tools used across the bank, where we experiment and ship fast, like a startup inside a global bank.Ourmission is totransform developerproductivitysavingourengineerstens of minutes per day, equating to£10,000,000sof savingsatCiti’sscale.

What you’ll be doing in the first year

You’llbe creating a near-real time platform thatrequests and receivesdata from across the bank, using a mixture ofstreaming (e.g. Kafka), webhooksand other integrations.You’llbe creating a system that can orchestrate parts of theSDLC andcreate a lineage fromcommitto prodwith a mixture derived and source of truth systems.You’llenable agenticworkflows across the bank at scale.

What you’ll have achieved in your first year

By 3 months –You will have created thesystem architecture,andestablishedkeyrelationships

• Lead the architectural designof the systemthattakes into considerationour future nearreal-time requirements,complex data integration, and scalability.You will havecreated architecturaldiagrams that stakeholders can understand.
• Createcore architectural principles, engineering best practices,anddeliverperformance SLAsfor the platform, ensuring team alignment and a clear technical roadmap.

• Haveestablishedworking relationshipwith 5-10 membersof our organisation

By 6 months– You haveestablishedalignment within theteam andintegratedwith several services.

• Integratedwith severalupstream APIs(e.g., CI/CD status aggregation, production error metrics), ensuring architectural consistency,scalable, fault tolerant,data ingestion.

• Be thetechnicalauthorityin solving ambiguous, large-scale engineering challenges,
• Onboarded requiredtechnologies(e.g., Kafka, PostgreSQL, advanced observability tools) as needed, ensuring they align with the architectural vision and meet evolving strategic requirements.

• Have mentoredfellow engineers, fostering a culture of technical excellence, collaborative problem-solving, and continuous learning.

By 12 months –You willhave delivered the key parts of theplatformreaching over 1,000 users.

• You will have delivered key parts of the systemthat supportpart of the SDLCworkflow, such as tracing a JIRA ticket's progression through build, test, and deployment into production.
• Ensure the platform's architecture and implementationis technicallyrobustcouldtheoretically scale to10,000users in near real-time

What you will bring

• Deepexpertise(10-15+ years)inserver-side engineering:Kotlin (or Java witha strong desireto learn Kotlin), building and consuming RESTful APIs, asynchronous programming.
• Proficiencyin Event-Driven architectures, and related principles.
• Expertisewith relational and/or NoSQL databases: PostgreSQL, MongoDB.
• Experience with Design patterns for high-throughput, low-latency data streams.
• Deep understanding of containerization (Docker) and orchestration (Kubernetes).
• Familiarity with CI/CD tools likeTektonand deployment automation platforms like Harness.
• Comfortable collaborating withproduct, design, and UIengineers, and other stakeholders to understand requirements and deliver robust backend solutions.

Tools and technologies you might use

• Kotlin/Java, Spring Boot,http4k,ktor, PostgreSQL, MongoDB, Apache Kafka,Docker, Kubernetes, Helm,Tekton, Harness,OpenShift
• Mac or PC –it’sup to you
• Access to time-saving AI tools such as GitHub Copilot andCognition.ai’sDevin

Why you’ll love working here

• Be a key architect and driver in defining the future of developer experiencefor one of the world's largest engineering organizations, directlyimpactingtens of thousands of engineers.
• Lead and innovate within a high-autonomy, outcome-focused team, where your technical leadership and strategic decisions have global reach and measurable impact.
• Tackle intellectually stimulating, greenfield engineering challengestransforming complex problems into high-performance solutions.
• Operate in an environment that values technical excellence, mentorship, and continuous learning, supported by access to advanced tools and a culture of innovation.

What we’ll provide you

By joining Citi Belfast, 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
• Access to an array of learning and development resources

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.

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.