Core Engineering Java Development Lead – FX Tech (SVP) in London

Engineer the future of global finance. At Citi, our Tech team doesn’t just support finance – we are helping to redefine it. Every day, $5 trillion crosses through our network. We do business in 180+ countries operating at a scale few can match. From deploying advanced AI to helping shape global markets, we build systems that matter. Look to join a team where your work helps influence economies, your ideas can drive innovation and outcomes, and your growth is backed by mentorship, continuous learning and flexibility with potential hybrid work opportunities. Help solve real‑world challenges that touch millions and get the opportunity to build the future of finance with Citi Tech.

This is a hands‑on role for a Java expert who enjoys building high‑quality robust and scalable services, shaping technical direction, and working with modern event‑driven architectures. You'll play a key role in designing, building and evolving core services, working closely with other senior engineers and quants. While you'll have influence over technical decisions, this role is firmly rooted in delivery – ideal for someone who loves writing code, solving complex problems, and continuously raising engineering standards.

• Hands‑On Engineering: Designing, developing and maintaining high‑performance Java services that are scalable, secure and resilient.
• Modern Backend Design: Applying Domain‑Driven Design and message‑/event‑driven design principles to build loosely coupled, well‑structured systems.
• Code Quality & Craftsmanship: Writing clean, maintainable code and contributing to peer reviews, championing best practices and continuous improvement.
• System Evolution: Helping modernise and evolve existing platforms, balancing pragmatic delivery with long‑term architectural health.
• Collaboration: Working closely with trading, quants and fellow engineers to turn complex business requirements into robust technical solutions.
• Developer Experience: Contributing to improvements in build tooling, CI/CD pipelines, testing approaches and overall engineering productivity.
• Operational Excellence: Supporting systems in production, improving observability, performance and resilience.

• Strong Java Expertise: Proven experience building backend systems using Java and frameworks such as Spring with deep understanding of the JVM ecosystem.
• AI‑Driven Development Focus: Experience using AI tooling to accelerate design exploration, prototyping and embedding AI capabilities into product workflows and services.
• Event‑Driven Design: Experience designing systems using event‑driven approaches (e.g. Solace, Kafka, Web Sockets or similar technologies), with a solid grounding in Domain‑Driven Design.
• Engineering Fundamentals: Strong grasp of SOLID principles, design patterns, dependency injection and persistence technologies.
• Problem‑Solving Mindset: Solid knowledge of algorithms and data structures, with the ability to reason about performance, complexity and scalability.
• Cloud‑Ready Development: Experience building software for cloud environments, including containerization and modern deployment practices.
• Quality & Resilience: Understanding of secure coding practices, fault tolerance and building reliable systems in a distributed environment.

• Competitive base salary, annually reviewed.
• 27 days annual leave (plus bank holidays).
• Discretionary annual performance‑related bonus.
• Private medical care and life insurance.
• Employee assistance program.
• Pension plan.
• Paid parental leave.
• Special discounts for employees, family and friends.
• Access to learning and development resources.

Citi is an equal‑opportunity employer, and qualified candidates will receive consideration without regard to race, colour, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, veteran status or other protected characteristics.