Java Tech Lead – Vice President

Citi is looking for an experienced Java Tech Lead to join its Digital engineering organization, where you will drive architectural strategy and hands-on technical delivery across large-scale, Next Generation platform initiatives. In this Vice President-level role, you will serve as a recognized technical authority leading design reviews, shaping engineering standards, and enabling high-performing engineering teams to build resilient, scalable solutions that directly impact Citi's digital products and services. This is a high-ownership role for a senior Java Tech Lead who combines deep Java expertise with the ability to influence technology direction across cross-functional teams.

Responsibilities:

• Accountable for executing and driving results on large-scale efforts or multiple smaller efforts and serving as a development lead for most medium and large projects. This includes expertise with application development methodologies and standards for program analysis, design, coding, testing, debugging and implementation.

• Accountable for exhibiting a strong understanding of client core business functions.

• Required to support situations in which end user consultation is required to identify system function specifications and incorporate them into overall system design and delivery. Additionally, utilize comprehensive knowledge of multiple areas within technology to achieve technological objectives.

• Independent work style, requiring little or no guidance by more senior developers. Decisions will make a significant, measurable impact on the business goals for the client organization. During team discussions you will play a significant role with TPMs and engineering managers to determine potential risks to a schedule.

• Assist in the planning and managing of application development assignments generally involving large budgets, cross functional projects or multiple projects. This includes effectively understanding and analyzing both technical and business risks and impact.

• Expected to effectively communicate those risks to the business owners, so that they can make informed decisions.

• Accountable for providing guidance on architecturally significant efforts during the preplanning phase, and ensuring principles and best practices are followed prior to initiation of work. In doing so, closely watch and evaluate Digital roadmaps, including impacts to support upcoming journeys.

• Publish design review extensions, and provide documented guidance aligned to sprint plans and timelines.

• Be part of the design review board that will focus on the design process, search for generic patterns, and, at the same time, share best practices across the organization.

• Publish design patterns across lines of business and domain commonalities. Drive design reviews for Next Gen Architecture (NGA) and Plan of Record (POR) projects, supporting design principles and best practices.

• Participate in micro services and NGA code reviews.

• Empower SDEs and their teams by mentoring and coaching.

• Have a comprehensive understanding of the business domain, the systems, and the products in your space. Understand their accountabilities, boundaries, limitations, scale factors and the reasons behind architectural decisions.

• Provide a long-term perspective for business and technology choices; using technical judgment to vet architecture as required.

• Able to direct teams on how to develop and deliver systems that are efficient with resource usage such as hardware, runtime, performance, load, and memory requirements.

• Responsible for broader design decisions and development of long-term strategies that significantly influence the development process and standards.

• Accountable for Design Reviews of Agile and Plan of Record (POR) projects as well as accountable for Code Reviews of Next Gen Architecture (NGA) projects and are expected to elaborate, promote and communicate Design Patterns applicable to NGA architectures and solutions.

• Accountable for providing architectural guidance to the SDE’s based on best practices and in alignment with CTO guidelines and platform.

• Drive clarity and work with complete independence as business and or technical strategy is not defined.

• Provide the corresponding architectural guidance, and conduct design reviews and code reviews based on the projects assigned to your LOB. The product definition and technical planning is out of scope.

• Accountable for the overall strategy and for driving the teams inside and outside of your organization to deliver expected results. Drive mindful discussion with business and technical stakeholders that lead to timely decisions. Participate in discussions to drive smart trade-off decisions that balance efforts, delivery timelines, features, and technical constraints. Identify and remove blockers and always find the path forward in challenging situations.

• Create plans that have a clear path to delivery. Solve for dependencies between agile and waterfall delivery efforts. Help your teams organize for delivery while maximizing resources for the greater good of the Digital organization. Understand engineering best practices and apply best practices to the software development lifecycle (SDLC)

• Accountable for Design Reviews for Citi Agile and POR projects as well as Code Reviews for the NGA projects. Accountable for providing architectural guidance to the SDE’s based on best practices and in alignment with CTO guidelines and platform. Elaborate, promote and communicate Design Patterns applicable to NGA architectures and solutions.

• Elaborate, bring and communicate clear metrics on Design Reviews, Code Reviews, CI/CD and Design Patterns adoption.

• Communicate progress, anticipate bottlenecks, provide escalation management, identify, assess, track and mitigate issues/risks at multiple levels. Recognize discordant views and take part in constructive dialog to resolve them.

• Demonstrate the ability to implement continuous improvement and the induction of new technology. Demonstrate examples of influence in scrum teams beyond your own area of focus.

• 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.

Required Qualifications & Skills

• 6–10 years of software engineering experience, with a focus on application development or enterprise architecture at a senior or lead level.

• Deep expertise in Java and Spring Boot, with hands-on experience building and delivering production-grade microservices architectures.

• Proven ability to design distributed systems with a strong grasp of algorithms, data structures, networking, and system scalability.

• Hands-on experience with cloud platforms, including AWS and PCF (Pivotal Cloud Foundry), and content delivery technologies such as Akamai.

• Demonstrated ability to automate code quality, performance testing, and build processes within CI/CD pipelines.

• Bachelor's degree or equivalent in a relevant technical discipline.

Beneficial Skills & Qualifications

• Experience with front-end technologies such as Angular or React, enabling effective collaboration with full-stack engineering teams.

• Exposure to Artificial Intelligence concepts and their practical application within software engineering contexts.

• Master's degree in a relevant technical discipline.

Education:

• Bachelor's/University degree or equivalent experience, Master's degree preferred.

What We Offer

At Citi, you will work at the intersection of technology and global financial services, contributing to platforms that serve millions of clients worldwide. This role offers strategic ownership, real technical influence, and the opportunity to shape the engineering culture of a large-scale digital organization.

• Hybrid working model with 3 days in the office and 2 days working remotely, supporting flexibility and effective team collaboration.

• Strategic technical leadership at Vice President level, with the authority to shape architectural direction across Citi's digital engineering platform.

• Opportunity to work on complex, high-impact engineering challenges at global scale within one of the world's largest financial institutions.

• Access to continuous learning and professional development resources to keep your skills current across cloud, architecture, and emerging technologies.

• Competitive compensation and financial wellbeing benefits reflective of Vice President seniority.

• A performance-driven engineering culture that values technical excellence, clear decision-making, and measurable delivery outcomes.

Build the future of digital banking apply now to bring your Java Tech Lead expertise to one of the most impactful technology roles at Citi.

#LI-MB1

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Job Family Group:

Technology

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Job Family:

Digital Software Engineering

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Time Type:

Full time

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Primary Location:

Irving Texas United States

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Primary Location Full Time Salary Range:

$138,720.00 - $208,080.00

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.

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Other Relevant Skills

For complementary skills, please see above and/or contact the recruiter.

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Anticipated Posting Close Date:

Jul 30, 2026

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Automated Processing and AI

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

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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.

 

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View Citi’s EEO Policy Statement and the Know Your Rights poster.