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.
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Job Family Group: Technology------------------------------------------------------
Job Family:Applications Development------------------------------------------------------
Time Type:------------------------------------------------------
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.
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Most Relevant Skills Please see the requirements listed above.------------------------------------------------------
Other Relevant Skills For complementary skills, please see above and/or contact the recruiter.------------------------------------------------------
Anticipated Posting Close Date:------------------------------------------------------
Automated Processing and AIWe use automated processing, including artificial intelligence, for our legitimate business interests (or our reasonable and appropriate business purposes) to identify and align the candidate's skills and abilities with a specific job opening. Additionally, if you so choose, or consent, we can match your skills and abilities to other suitable roles at Citi.
Importantly, all our hiring processes and decisions, including determining your suitability for a role, are conducted, checked, and decided by individuals. Our automated processing and AI do not involve relying on automatic or autonomous decision-making. Please refer to any Jurisdictional Considerations, with specific provisions for your country (where relevant) for further details.
Illinois residents – AI Notice and Right
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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.
Skills Required
- 5-8 years of relevant software engineering or systems analysis experience, or 2-4 years with specialized focus in Python and Generative AI application development
- Solid Python programming proficiency
- Practical experience integrating REST and gRPC APIs
- Experience with Docker containers
- Experience with Git workflows
- Strong working knowledge of AI evaluation frameworks and benchmarking methodologies, including BLEU, ROUGE, semantic similarity, and LLM-as-a-judge
- Experience with automated testing suites
- Experience managing and implementing automated test pipelines in CI/CD environments, including Lightspeed, Tekton, or Jenkins
- Ability to work under pressure and manage tight sprint deadlines and changing model outputs or business requirements
- Good written and verbal communication skills with a methodical, detail-oriented approach to software quality and data integrity
- Bachelor's or university degree, or equivalent experience, in Computer Science, Data Science, or a related quantitative discipline
Citi Compensation & Benefits Highlights
The following summarizes recurring compensation and benefits themes identified from responses generated by popular LLMs to common candidate questions about Citi and has not been reviewed or approved by Citi.
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Healthcare Strength — Health coverage is presented as comprehensive, including free in-network preventive care, mental-health resources, and the Be Well Program. Materials also state new hires have access to health and insurance benefits from the outset.
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Retirement Support — The retirement plan offers a $1-for-$1 match up to 6% of eligible pay. New employees are eligible for the plan, with automatic enrollment after 90 days if they do not enroll themselves.
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Inclusive Benefits Coverage — Benefits highlight fertility treatment coverage, adoption/surrogacy reimbursement up to $30,000, and disability coverage. Coverage extends to spouses and domestic partners regardless of gender identity or sexuality, with gender-affirming care-related support noted.
Citi Insights
What We Do
Citi's mission is to serve as a trusted partner to our clients by responsibly providing financial services that enable growth and economic progress. Our core activities are safeguarding assets, lending money, making payments and accessing the capital markets on behalf of our clients. We have 200 years of experience helping our clients meet the world's toughest challenges and embrace its greatest opportunities. We are Citi, the global bank – an institution connecting millions of people across hundreds of countries and cities.
