Applications Development Tech Lead

Citi is looking for a Lead Software Engineer to take technical ownership of large-scale enterprise application development within our Technology function. In this senior individual contributor role, you will design and deliver complex, full-stack solutions using modern technologies — including Java, React, Kafka, and Oracle — while guiding mid-level engineers and collaborating across product, Dev Ops, and business teams. This is an opportunity to shape architecture decisions and drive meaningful technology outcomes at one of the world's leading financial services organizations.

Responsibilities

• Design, develop, and maintain large-scale enterprise applications across the full stack, applying hands-on expertise in Java, React, Kafka, PL/SQL, and RESTful API development.

• Architect and implement robust data exchange and messaging solutions using Kafka, ensuring scalable and reliable integration across distributed systems.

• Define and enforce engineering standards for coding, testing, debugging, and deployment to maintain high quality and consistency across the codebase.

• Collaborate with product owners, business stakeholders, Dev Ops teams, and program managers to translate business requirements into scalable technical solutions.

• Partner with architecture and infrastructure teams to ensure application designs align with the broader technology blueprint and long-term platform strategy.

• Identify and lead the resolution of high-impact technical and business process challenges, applying deep analytical skills to develop effective and innovative solutions.

• Coach and mentor mid-level developers and analysts, providing technical guidance and allocating work to support team delivery and professional growth.

• Assess technical and business risk in engineering decisions, ensuring solutions meet compliance, security, and quality standards.

Top 4 Core Skills

To successfully execute this role, the candidate must excel in the following four multi-disciplinary skill areas:

Skill 1:
Scalable Enterprise Architecture & Full-Stack Design (Java, UI, PL-SQL)

• Description: The ability to design, build, and maintain highly scalable, resilient, and secure enterprise applications. This spans the entire stack: high-performance database design in PL-SQL, robust business logic in Java/J2EE (Spring Boot, Microservices), and modular, responsive frontends in Angular and React JS.

• Key
  
  Competencies:
  
  

  • Designing microservices architectures that handle high throughput and low latency.

  • Optimizing complex PL-SQL queries, stored procedures, and database schemas for performance and data integrity.

  • Implementing state management and reusable component libraries in both Angular and React.

  • Applying design patterns (e.g., CQRS, Event Sourcing, Dependency Injection) to ensure system maintainability.

Skill 2: AI Engineering & Agentic AI Orchestration

• Description: Moving beyond simple API calls to LLMs, the candidate must understand how to design and implement autonomous, agentic AI workflows. This includes prompt engineering, Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG), and multi-agent orchestration frameworks.

• Key
  
  Competencies:
  
  

  • Integrating GenAI models (via gateways like R2D2 or direct APIs) into enterprise application workflows.

  • Designing "Agentic" systems where AI agents can plan, use tools (APIs, databases), and collaborate to solve complex business problems.

  • Implementing guardrails, semantic caching, and evaluation metrics to ensure AI safety, accuracy, and cost-efficiency.

  • Familiarity with AI orchestration frameworks (e.g., Lang Chain, Lang Graph, CrewAI, or internal equivalents like Agentflow).

Skill 3:
Enterprise Integration & API Ecosystem Design

• Description: Enterprise applications do not exist in a vacuum. The candidate must be an expert in designing secure, reliable, and scalable integration patterns to interface with numerous internal and external applications.

• Key
  
  Competencies:
  
  

  • Designing and documenting RESTful APIs, gRPC services, and GraphQL endpoints.

  • Implementing asynchronous, event-driven integration patterns using message brokers