Applications Development – Director

Job Overview

Citi is looking for a Director, Applications Development, to lead strategic engineering across the Investor Services Technology organization building the next generation of AI-enabled, cloud-native, and client-facing platforms that underpin our global Custody, Funds Services, and Securities Finance business. This senior leadership role is for a hands‑on technology leader who combines deep expertise in distributed systems, modern UI engineering, and enterprise‑scale platform delivery with the business acumen to drive meaningful digital transformation  role offers the scope and influence to shape engineering direction, build world‑class teams, and deliver platforms that directly serve institutional clients globally.

• Custody: provides securities settlement and clearing, safekeeping, and asset servicing to institutional clients through a proprietary sub‑custody network of 60+ markets and third‑party custodians or International Central Securities Depositories (ICSDs) in an additional 40+ markets.
• Fund Services: offers comprehensive solutions, including fund accounting and administration, middle office, transfer agency, fiduciary services, and ETF services.
• Securities Finance: supports our global clients with value‑added services such as agency securities lending and collateral management.

• Define and execute an AI-first engineering strategy across front‑end and back‑end platforms, aligning technology direction with Citi’s broader digital transformation priorities and the evolving needs of the Investor Services business.
• Lead end‑to‑end delivery of mission‑critical applications spanning React‑based client‑facing UIs and complex backend systems, ensuring platforms are scalable, resilient, secure, and built to enterprise standards.
• Architect and oversee modernization of legacy systems into cloud‑native, API‑driven, microservices‑based platforms, accelerating the shift toward event‑driven architectures and responsive UI design using React and micro‑frontend patterns.
• Establish and enforce modern engineering practices across global teams, including Agile delivery, Dev Ops, CI/CD pipelines, and automated testing, to raise quality and accelerate release velocity.
• Build and lead a high‑performing global engineering organization spanning UI, full‑stack, and backend disciplines by attracting, developing, and retaining top talent in modern web technologies and distributed systems.
• Partner with senior business and product stakeholders to translate client and commercial priorities into technology investments, delivering measurable value through engineering‑led innovation.
• Manage the technology budget and ensure delivery risks, technical, operational, and program level, are identified early and addressed with clear controls, supporting regulatory and audit requirements with full transparency.

• 15+ years of application development experience, including at least 8 years leading senior engineering teams at scale in a global organization.
• Demonstrated ability to deliver large‑scale, client‑facing platforms in financial services – ideally within Investor Services, Custody, or Securities Processing environments.
• Hands‑on expertise in modern front‑end engineering, with React.js as a mandatory skill, alongside Type Script, JavaScript ES6+, and micro‑frontend architecture patterns.
• Deep knowledge of modern platform architectures including microservices, event‑driven systems, cloud‑native design, and API‑first development (REST/Graph
  
  QL), with practical experience across AWS, Azure, or GCP.
• Fluency across the full technology stack – back‑end languages such as Java, messaging systems such as Kafka, and CI/CD and Dev Ops tooling used in enterprise delivery.
• Proven ability to lead, inspire, and grow globally distributed engineering teams, with a track record of building cultures of accountability, innovation, and continuous improvement.

• Exposure to AI and ML technologies, including AI‑assisted development tools integrated into engineering workflows.
• Experience leading or contributing to significant digital transformation…