Head of Digital Assets Risk Approvals and Portfolio Oversight - Citi in London

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This is a critical senior leadership role at the forefront of Citi's strategic evolution, accountable for providing independent portfolio oversight and authoritative approval for all Digital Asset initiatives across the enterprise. Digital Assets, in this context, refers to Crypto, Stablecoins, tokenized securities, Blockchain, Central Bank Digital Currencies, and such related tokenized real-world assets. This role is the firm's key second-line leader responsible for the risk posture of a vast and complex portfolio, ensuring that our adoption of Digital Assets is both ambitious and safe.

This position is central to navigating the risks and opportunities of Digital Assets across 90+ countries, hundreds of products, and core enterprise processes. The individual in this role will set the standard for responsible Digital Assets adoption, balancing innovation with a strong commitment to risk management in a dynamic and often unregulated global landscape. This includes proactively monitoring and responding to the evolving industry and competitive landscape, especially concerning unregulated industry players. A sound understanding of the full lifecycle of digital assets, from inception to decommissioning, and comprehensive strategic risk management across this lifecycle is paramount.

• Act as the primary 2LOD approval authority for all Digital Asset initiatives firm-wide, owning the aggregate risk posture of the Digital Assets portfolio throughout its lifecycle.
• Set and continuously refine the strategic vision for Digital Assets risk management and technology risk strategy within the portfolio, ensuring frameworks are effectively implemented and aligned with Citi's risk appetite and accounting for emerging threats and opportunities.
• Champion a Digital Assets-focused mindset by challenging existing processes and driving the re-engineering of workflows to unlock efficiency and simplicity, always with an emphasis on addressing strategic risk at every stage.
• Provide decisive, independent challenges on all Digital Asset initiatives, from strategy and design through execution and post-production monitoring, grounded in deep technical expertise and a thorough understanding of the digital asset lifecycle.
• Leverage subject matter expertise in critical Digital Asset risk areas, including market integrity, liquidity risk, operational resilience, smart contracts, distributed ledger technology, cryptography, custody solutions, interoperability, anti-money laundering (AML), combating the financing of terrorism (CFT), sanctions compliance, and consumer protection, to assess and mitigate novel risks, ensuring all use cases are robust and compliant with existing and emerging regulations.
• Conduct thematic reviews to identify emerging risk trends related to Digital Assets and ensure the control environment remains effective as the technology and regulatory landscape evolves.
• Drive the execution and continuous refinement of the Digital Assets Risk Management Framework, adapting processes to meet evolving technological and regulatory demands.
• Define, monitor, and report on Key Performance and Risk Indicators (KPIs/KRIs) to govern progress and ensure the realization of committed business value from Digital Asset initiatives.
• Ensure governance frameworks are applied consistently across all teams and that changes to Digital Asset initiatives are rigorously reviewed and approved throughout their lifecycle.
• Serve as the primary Digital Assets risk advisor to senior leaders and business/function heads, articulating complex risk exposures to influence strategic decisions.
• Lead a high-performing team of senior risk professionals, fostering a culture of proactive partnership, expertise, and credible challenge.
• Represent Citi's Digital Assets risk posture in key regulatory discussions and industry forums.

• Extensive experience in a large, complex financial institution, regulatory body, or related field.
• Experience in a senior leadership role within risk management, audit, model governance, or technology risk.
• Demonstrated knowledge in Digital Assets, including current and emerging technologies and their specific risk implications within a financial services context.
• Proven track record of scaling large, complex Digital Asset or technology initiatives from concept through to production and continuous improvement.
• Proven ability to provide decisive, independent challenges to senior leadership and influence strategic outcomes.
• Demonstrated success leading high-performing, multi-disciplinary teams and driving change in a complex, global organization.
• A track record of operating effectively in high-pressure, fast-paced environments.
• Bachelor's degree required; Master's degree preferred.

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.