Senior Forward Deployed Engineer - Vice President

Citigroup Inc.; New York (NY); On-site; USD 142,000 - 213,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical, dental & vision coverage

401(k)

Life, accident & disability insurance

Wellness programs

Paid time off

Job summary

Citigroup Inc. in New York is seeking a Senior Forward Deployed Engineer to build production-grade agent reasoning loops, MCP servers, and resilient execution pipelines.

You will integrate LLM APIs, design robust error handling, HITL escalation, and collaborate with squads to ensure compliance and scalable backend services.

Qualifications

• 6+ years of software engineering experience with 4+ years Python.
• Hands-on experience with LLM APIs (R2D2 Gateway, OpenAI, Vertex AI) and integrating foundations into backend services.
• Experience with REST/gRPC API development, Docker, Git, Linux environments, and CI/CD automation pipelines.
• Understanding of prompt engineering, JSON output validation, and vector search/retrieval patterns.
• Proven ability to work in fast-paced agile squads solving ambiguous technical problems.

Responsibilities

• Writes robust, production-quality agent reasoning logic, memory management, and sub-agent delegation workflows in Python.
• Develops MCP servers connecting AI agents to enterprise systems (ServiceNow, JIRA, DBaaS, Kafka, internal REST/gRPC).
• Implements resilient error handling, automated retries, fallbacks, and HITL escalation triggers.
• Integrates Lakera Guardrails for prompt-injection defense and PII filtering.
• Collaborates with engineers to build regression testbeds and deployment evaluation harnesses.
• Advises and coaches junior developers and participates in sprint delivery and code reviews.
• Assesses risk and ensures compliance, safeguarding Citi's reputation and assets.

Skills

Python

LLM APIs

REST/gRPC

Docker

Git

Linux

CI/CD

Prompt engineering

JSON validation

Vector search

Education

Bachelor’s degree or equivalent

Master’s degree preferred

Tools

Docker

Git

Linux

CI/CD pipelines

Job description

The Senior Forward Deployed Engineer is a hands-on core engineering position responsible for developing agent reasoning logic, custom tool integrations, and resilient execution pipelines embedded with LOB squads. The overall objective of this role is to build production-grade agent reasoning loops, custom Model Context Protocol (MCP) servers, and robust error-handling mechanisms adhering to enterprise safety and quality standards.

Responsibilities

• Writes robust, production-quality agent reasoning logic, memory management, and sub-agent delegation workflows in Python.
• Develops custom Model Context Protocol (MCP) servers connecting AI agents to enterprise systems (ServiceNow, JIRA, DBaaS, Kafka, internal REST/gRPC services).
• Implements resilient error handling, automated retry mechanisms, fallback routines, and Human-in-the-Loop (HITL) escalation triggers.
• Integrates Lakera Guardrails for synchronous and asynchronous prompt-injection defense, jailbreak mitigation, and automated PII filtering/redaction.
• Collaborates with C12 engineers to build automated regression testbeds and integrate Agentflow Studio evaluation harnesses into deployment workflows.
• Advises and coaches junior developers, participating actively in sprint delivery and peer code reviews.
• 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

• 6+ years of software engineering experience, with 4+ years of strong, professional Python proficiency.
• Hands‑on experience working with LLM APIs (R2D2 Gateway, OpenAI, Google Vertex AI) and integrating foundation models into backend services.
• Experience with REST/gRPC API development, Docker, Git, Linux environments, and CI/CD automation pipelines.
• Understanding of prompt engineering, structured JSON output validation (e.g., Pydantic), and vector search/retrieval patterns.
• Proven ability to work collaboratively in fast‑paced agile squads solving ambiguous technical problems.

Education

• Bachelor’s/University degree or equivalent experience; Master’s degree preferred.

Job Family Group

Technology

Job Family

Applications Development

Primary Location

New York New York United States

Primary Location Full Time Salary Range

$142,320.00 - $213,480.00

In addition to salary, Citi’s offerings may also include, for eligible employees, discretionary and formulaic incentive and retention awards.

• 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.

Available offerings may vary by jurisdiction, job level, and date of hire.

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.