Forward Deployed Engineer - Assistant Vice President

Citigroup Inc.; New York (NY); On-site; USD 121,000 - 182,000; Full time

Job summary

Citigroup Inc. in New York seeks an Applications Development Senior Programmer Analyst — Forward Deployed Engineer to build automated evaluation harnesses, curate regression testbeds, and ensure reliable AI agent performance.

You will optimize prompts, system instructions, and JSON output parsers, and drive automated CI/CD testing pipelines with Lightspeed CI/CD, Python apps, and tool integrations to deliver safe, accurate production AI solutions.

Qualifications

• 5+ years of relevant software engineering or systems analysis experience (or 2+ years with specialized focus in Python and Generative AI application development).
• Solid Python programming proficiency with experience integrating REST/gRPC APIs, Docker containers, and Git workflows.
• Strong knowledge of AI evaluation frameworks, benchmarking methodologies, and automated testing suites.

Responsibilities

• Constructs automated evaluation test suites and calibration of testbeds.
• Maintains domain-specific golden datasets and regression testbeds in collaboration with engineers.
• Optimizes prompt templates, system instructions, and JSON output parsers to maximize deterministic agent behavior.
• Authors and maintains automated test execution and deployment pipelines within Lightspeed CI/CD, enforcing gates prior to staging and production.
• Uses Python knowledge to analyze agent errors, evaluate performance, and propose coding and prompt solutions.
• Recommends security measures and guardrail policies to ensure safe functionality.
• Monitors evaluation cycles, provides metrics and diagnostics to stakeholders and squad leads.
• Operates with minimal supervision as an evaluation SME to pod team members.

Skills

Python programming

APIs integration

CI/CD experience

AI evaluation frameworks

communication under pressure

Education

Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science or related field

Tools

Docker

Git workflows

Lightspeed

Tekton

Jenkins

Job description

The Applications Development Senior Programmer Analyst — Forward Deployed Engineer (C12) is an intermediate-level software engineering position responsible for constructing automated evaluation harnesses, curating regression testbeds, optimizing prompts and output schemas, and automating testing pipelines within embedded LOB delivery pods. The overall objective of this role is to ensure the reliability, accuracy, and safety of production AI agents by building rigorous evaluation suites in Agentflow Studio and driving automated CI/CD test execution.

Responsibilities:

• Conducts tasks related to the construction, calibration, and execution of automated evaluation test suites using Agentflow Studio, measuring agent task completion, tool call correctness, latency, and hallucination metrics.
• Curates and maintains domain-specific golden datasets, synthetic benchmarks, and regression testbeds in collaboration with LOB domain experts and senior engineers.
• Optimizes prompt templates, system instructions, few-shot examples, and structured JSON output parsers (Pydantic/JSON Schema) to maximize deterministic agent behavior.
• Authors and maintains automated test execution and deployment pipelines within Lightspeed CI/CD, enforcing continuous evaluation gates prior to staging and production rollout.
• Utilizes in-depth specialty knowledge of Python applications development to analyze complex agent errors, evaluate system performance, and recommend advanced coding and prompt solutions.
• Recommends and implements security measures and Lakera Guardrail policies in post-implementation analysis of agent usage to ensure safe functionality.
• Monitors and controls evaluation test cycles, providing operational support, performance metrics, and prompt diagnostic reporting to business stakeholders and squad leads.
• Has the ability to operate with a limited level of direct supervision, exercising independence of judgement and autonomy while acting as an evaluation SME to pod team members.
• Appropriately assess risk when business decisions are made, demonstrating particular consideration for the firm's reputation and safeguarding Citigroup, its clients and assets, by driving compliance with applicable laws, rules and regulations, adhering to Policy, applying sound ethical judgment regarding personal behavior, conduct and business practices, and escalating, managing and reporting control issues with transparency.

Qualifications:

• 5+ years of relevant software engineering or systems analysis experience (or 2+ years with specialized focus in Python and Generative AI application development).
• Solid Python programming proficiency, with practical experience integrating REST/gRPC APIs, Docker containers, and Git workflows.
• Strong working knowledge of AI evaluation frameworks, benchmarking methodologies (BLEU, ROUGE, semantic similarity, LLM-as-a-judge), and automated testing suites.
• Experience in managing and implementing automated test pipelines in CI/CD environments (Lightspeed, Tekton, Jenkins).
• Ability to work effectively under pressure, managing tight sprint deadlines and unexpected changes in model outputs or LOB requirements.
• Good written and verbal communication skills with a methodical, detail-oriented approach to software quality and data integrity.

Education:

• Bachelor’s/University degree or equivalent experience in Computer Science, Data Science, or related quantitative discipline.

Job Family Group:

Technology

Job Family:

Applications Development

Primary Location:

New York New York United States

Primary Location Full Time Salary Range:

$121,200.00 - $181,800.00 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.

Illinois residents – AI Notice and Right

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.