Lead Solutions Architect, Vice President

Citi, the leading global bank, has approximately 200 million customer accounts and does business in more than 160 countries and jurisdictions. Citi provides consumers, corporations, governments, and institutions with a broad range of financial products and services, including consumer banking and credit, corporate and investment banking, securities brokerage, transaction services, and wealth management.

As a bank with a brain and a soul, Citi creates economic value that is systemically responsible and in our clients’ best interests. As a financial institution that touches every region of the world and every sector that shapes your daily life, our Enterprise Operations & Technology teams are charged with a mission that rivals any large tech company. Our technology solutions are the foundations of everything we do from keeping the bank safe, managing global resources, and providing the technical tools our workers need to be successful to designing our digital architecture and ensuring our platforms provide a first-class customer experience. We reimagine client and partner experiences to deliver excellence through secure, reliable, and efficient services.

Our commitment to diversity includes a workforce that represents the clients we serve from all walks of life, backgrounds, and origins. We foster an environment where the best people want to work. We value and demand respect for others, promote individuals based on merit, and ensure opportunities for personal development are widely available to all. Ideal candidates are innovators with well-rounded backgrounds who bring their authentic selves to work and complement our culture of delivering results with pride. If you are a problem solver who seeks passion in your work, come join us. We’ll enable growth and progress together.

About the Team

The Lead Solutions Architect is a strategic professional and visionary technologist within the Consumer Operations Technology Engineering & Architecture organization. Operating at the leading edge of enterprise architecture, digital transformation, and intelligent automation, this pivotal role establishes the structural foundation for scalable, resilient, and next-generation platforms that power financial services for millions of customers globally. As a subject matter expert in end-to-end system design, artificial intelligence integration, and enterprise workflow orchestration, the successful candidate will bridge technical strategy with complex business execution, spearheading architectural blueprints that ensure continuous modernization, operational excellence, and long-term competitive advantage.

In this role, you will partner collaboratively with engineering directors, business executives, product strategists, and cross-functional technology teams across a global matrixed environment. You will champion innovation by identifying emerging industry paradigms—such as generative AI, intelligent decisioning, and low-code workflow platforms—driving technical governance, and de-risking critical technology investments while safeguarding the enterprise against operational and regulatory risks. By translating ambitious business imperatives into high-performing, future-proof architectural frameworks, you will play an instrumental role in elevating Citi’s technological capabilities and driving our mission of delivering secure, seamless, and world-class client experiences.

Responsibilities

• Design and deliver enterprise architecture solutions across major, complex IT programs, ensuring all systems align with and conform to established enterprise blueprints and standards.
• Build and maintain technology roadmaps that reflect emerging industry trends, and present clear, evidence-based recommendations to guide business direction and investment decisions.
• Translate complex business problems into well-structured, technically sound solutions that span hardware, software, and system integration design.
• Architect and integrate Artificial Intelligence (AI), Machine Learning (ML), and Generative AI solutions into enterprise workflows to enhance decisioning, automate operations, and optimize consumer banking journeys.
• Provide technical leadership across systems design initiatives, taking ownership of both individual components and overall solution architecture where required.
• Identify and recommend innovative technologies and platforms that enhance existing systems and strengthen IT infrastructure to meet strategic goals.
• Advise and mentor junior architects and engineers, sharing technical expertise to raise capability and support professional development across the team.
• Assess risk in architectural and technology decisions with a focus on safeguarding the organization, ensuring adherence to relevant laws, regulations, and internal policies.

Qualifications

• 6+ years of hands-on experience in solutions architecture, system design, software engineering, or enterprise IT architecture.
• Demonstrated hands-on expertise in architecting end-to-end distributed systems across diverse hardware, software, and networking topologies using sound engineering principles.
• Working knowledge of industry-standard enterprise architecture frameworks such as TOGAF or Zachman, with experience applying architectural artifacts, principles, and governance models.
• Practical knowledge and experience applying Agentic AI, Autonomous AI agents, Large Language Models (LLMs), and retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) in solutioning and automating complex business applications.
• Hands-on experience architecting and deploying scalable, secure, and resilient cloud-native solutions on platforms such as AWS (EC2, S3, Lambda, Bedrock, SageMaker, EKS) or Microsoft Azure (AKS, Azure OpenAI, Functions, Cosmos DB).
• Proficiency in core programming languages such as Java, Python 3.10+, TypeScript, Go, or C++, with direct experience developing and maintaining high-throughput enterprise systems.
• Extensive experience designing event-driven and message-oriented integration architectures using technologies such as Apache Kafka, TIBCO, or RabbitMQ.
• Strong practical knowledge of containerization and orchestration platforms, including Docker, Kubernetes, and Red Hat OpenShift, covering cluster deployment, scaling, and fault tolerance.
• Practical experience with CI/CD automation pipelines using tools such as Jenkins, GitLab CI/CD, GitHub Actions, or ArgoCD to support automated testing and deployment lifecycles.
• Proficiency with enterprise data stores, including relational databases such as Oracle and PostgreSQL as well as NoSQL platforms such as MongoDB, Redis, or vector databases, with expertise in schema design and performance optimization.
• Proven experience implementing observability, telemetry, and distributed tracing solutions using tools such as Splunk, Grafana, Prometheus, or ELK Stack to maintain system health and reliability.
• Robust analytical and technical debugging capability to solve multi-variable architectural bottlenecks, latency challenges, and failure modes across complex IT ecosystems.

Education

• Bachelor's degree or equivalent professional experience in a relevant technology or engineering field.
• Master's degree in a technology, engineering, or related discipline is beneficial.
• TOGAF certification, or relevant Cloud/AI Architecture certifications are an advantage.

At Citi, you will work within a high-performing global team where your architectural expertise shapes real outcomes for millions of customers. We invest in the professional growth of our people and provide the tools, flexibility, and environment needed to do your best work.

• Hybrid working model with 3 days in the office and 2 days working remotely, supporting a sustainable and productive work-life balance.
• A strategic leadership role with direct influence over enterprise technology decisions and long-term architectural direction.
• Access to continuous learning and development programmes to keep your skills sharp and your career progressing.
• The opportunity to solve complex, large-scale technical challenges within one of the world's most prominent financial institutions.
• Collaborative team environment where technical knowledge is valued, shared, and applied to meaningful outcomes.
• Competitive compensation and a comprehensive benefits package designed to support your financial and personal wellbeing.
• Global exposure and the chance to work alongside skilled professionals across Citi's international network.

Apply today to bring your architectural expertise to Citi and help define the technology that powers global financial services.

------------------------------------------------------

------------------------------------------------------

------------------------------------------------------

------------------------------------------------------

------------------------------------------------------

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.

------------------------------------------------------

------------------------------------------------------

------------------------------------------------------

------------------------------------------------------

We 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

------------------------------------------------------

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.