Lead Generative AI Engineer, VP

Citi; Jacksonville (FL); Hybrid; USD 126,000 - 189,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Hybrid work

Continuous learning

Benefits package

Health coverage

401(k)

Insurance

Wellness programs

Paid time off

Incentives

Job summary

Citi is seeking a Lead Generative AI Engineer (VP) to design, develop, and deploy generative AI solutions for intelligent operations and automation. This role emphasizes hands-on leadership in deploying LLMs, RAG, and AI safety frameworks in financial services contexts.

The ideal candidate will have deep expertise in LLM architectures, vector databases, Python ML stacks, and cloud-native deployments, along with a track record of delivering production-grade AI systems.

Qualifications

• Deep understanding of LLM architectures, vector databases, embedding models, and AI orchestration frameworks.
• Hands-on experience with Google Vertex AI and deploying open-source models such as Llama, Mistral, Gemma.
• Proven production experience implementing deterministic controls, semantic routing, guardrails, and bias/hallucination detection.
• Expert-level Python skills with ML libraries: PyTorch, Hugging Face, Pandas, NumPy; plus FastAPI and Flask.
• Strong containerization and delivery experience with OpenShift, Docker, Kubernetes, and CI/CD pipelines.
• Experience in financial services tech, including regulatory compliance and risk management.
• Demonstrated ability to lead AI and automation efforts from concept through production.

Responsibilities

• Lead hands-on development and delivery of intelligent operations capabilities, including advanced chatbots, agentic workflow automation, and AI-assisted decision platforms.
• Fine-tune, prompt-engineer, and deploy open-source LLMs and proprietary models using Google Vertex AI.
• Implement RAG pipelines.
• Build AI safety frameworks using guardrails and deterministic controls to reduce hallucinations and ensure data privacy.
• Design and deploy scalable AI pipelines using Python and cloud-native architectures with Docker and Kubernetes.
• Apply financial services tech expertise to align AI model usage with risk management and auditability.

Skills

LLM architectures

Vector databases

Embedding models

AI orchestration

Python

PyTorch

Hugging Face

Pandas

NumPy

FastAPI

Flask

Docker

Kubernetes

OpenShift

CI/CD

Vertex AI

Guardrails

Deterministic controls

Risk management

Financial compliance

Leadership

Education

Bachelor’s degree or equivalent

Master’s degree preferred

Tools

Google Vertex AI

Open-source models

API development

Job description

Citi is hiring a Lead Generative AI Engineer (VP) to design, develop, and deploy generative AI solutions for intelligent operations and automation.

Responsibilities

• Lead hands-on development and delivery of intelligent operations capabilities, including advanced chatbots, agentic workflow automation, and AI-assisted decision platforms
• Fine-tune, prompt-engineer, and deploy open-source LLMs (including Llama, Mistral, Gemma, etc.) and proprietary models using Google Vertex AI
• Implement RAG (Retrieval-Augmented Generation) pipelines
• Build and operationalize AI safety frameworks using guardrails (for example, NeMo Guardrails and Llama Guard) plus deterministic controls to reduce hallucinations, support data privacy, and maintain regulatory compliance
• Design and deploy scalable AI pipelines using Python and cloud-native architectures with containerization (Docker, Kubernetes)
• Apply financial services technology expertise to align AI model usage with risk management, auditability, and financial data security requirements

Requirements

• Deep understanding of LLM architectures, vector databases (Pinecone, Milvus, Chroma), embedding models, and AI orchestration frameworks (Google ADK, LangChain, etc.)
• Hands-on experience with Google Vertex AI (or equivalent cloud AI suites) and deploying open-source models such as Llama, Mistral, and Gemma
• Proven production experience implementing deterministic controls, semantic routing, guardrails, and bias and hallucination detection
• Expert-level Python skills, including AI/ML libraries: PyTorch, Hugging Face, Pandas, NumPy; plus API development with FastAPI and Flask
• Strong containerization and delivery experience with OpenShift, Docker, Kubernetes, and CI/CD pipelines
• Experience with financial services technology, including financial products, compliance requirements, and the competitive AI landscape in fintech
• Demonstrated ability to lead AI and automation efforts from concept through production, establishing credible senior-level technical direction

Technologies

• Google Vertex AI
• Python, Docker, Kubernetes, OpenShift
• NeMo Guardrails, Llama Guard
• LLMs: Llama, Mistral, Gemma
• RAG (Retrieval-Augmented Generation)
• Pinecone, Milvus, Chroma
• Google ADK, LangChain
• PyTorch, Hugging Face, Pandas, NumPy
• FastAPI, Flask
• CI/CD pipelines, containerization

Beneficial Skills & Qualifications

• Experience deploying and tuning models on Google Vertex AI or equivalent enterprise-grade cloud AI platforms
• Familiarity with additional AI orchestration tools and emerging open-source LLM frameworks beyond core requirements
• Bachelor’s degree or equivalent experience; Master’s degree in Computer Science, Artificial Intelligence, or a related technical discipline preferred

Benefits

• Hybrid working model: 3 days in the office and 2 days working remotely
• Continuous learning and development opportunities
• Competitive financial wellbeing and benefits package
• Medical, dental & vision coverage
• 401(k)
• Life, accident, and disability insurance
• Wellness programs
• Paid time off packages, including planned time off (vacation), unplanned time off (sick leave), and paid holidays
• Discretionary and formulaic incentive and retention awards (for eligible employees)

Job Details

• Location: Jacksonville, FL (hybrid)
• Employment type: Full time
• Job family group: Technology
• Job family: Applications Development
• Salary range: USD 125,760 - 188,640 per year
• Primary location (listed): Irving Texas United States
• Anticipated posting close date: Aug 15, 2026

Automated Processing

We use automated processing, including artificial intelligence, for legitimate business interests to identify and align candidate skills and abilities to the job opening. This automated processing does not involve relying on automatic or autonomous decision-making.

Additional Notes

• Other relevant skills: Artificial Intelligence (AI), Containerization, Generative AI, Large Language Models (LLMs), Python (Programming Language)