SRE Observability Technical Lead - Vice President

SRE Observability Technical Lead - Vice President

Full-Time 70000 - 90000 £ / year (est.) Home office (partial)
Citigroup, Inc.

At a Glance

  • Tasks: Engineer the future of global finance and redefine tech in banking.
  • Company: Join Citi, a leading global finance company with a collaborative culture.
  • Benefits: Enjoy competitive salary, 27 days leave, private medical care, and hybrid work options.
  • Other info: Be part of a diverse team committed to innovation and continuous learning.
  • Why this job: Make a real impact on global markets while growing your skills in a dynamic environment.
  • Qualifications: Experience in SRE or observability engineering and strong collaboration skills required.

The predicted salary is between 70000 - 90000 £ per year.

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.

The SRE Observability Specialist is a hands‑on expert, delivering the future of Observability across Services Technology. This role is a part of a central SRE enablement team within Services Production, working closely with SREs, developers, and platform teams to embed telemetry, implement SLOs, and build meaningful visualizations for key production flows — particularly in critical Payments Business. The ideal candidate will have deep technical knowledge, a collaborative mindset, and the ability to translate strategy into scalable engineering outcomes. You will also act as a bridge between Services Technology teams and central infrastructure/CTO teams, prioritizing observability needs from line‑of‑business teams and driving improvements. A strong understanding of observability tooling, evolving AI/ML capabilities, and enterprise tooling ecosystems will be essential.

This role requires providing technological support solution for Function called Project Orion which provides End‑to‑End payment monitoring like Building an End‑to‑End payments Dashboard, Toil Reduction, Transformation of legacy monitoring into observability based monitoring solution, requires good understanding of different Payments Taxonomy (ACH, Wires, Instant Payments, etc.). Strong commercial awareness, technical credibility, and excellent communication skills are essential to negotiate internally, influence peers, and drive change. Some external communication may be necessary.

Key Responsibilities
  • Define the roadmap for Engineering enablers for Project Orion team aligned with enterprise reliability and SRE Services organization goals.
  • Translate Organization strategy into an actionable delivery plan in partnership with Services Products, Operations & Engineering function, delivering incremental, high‑value milestones.
  • Understand Critical Business Services functional scope and translate into End‑to‑End monitoring solutions.
  • Deliver against the observability roadmap for Services Technology by building scalable, reusable telemetry solutions.
  • Periodic review and analyze application monitoring TOIL and collaborate with stakeholders and remediate them as per organization goal.
  • Create and maintain dashboards and visualizations for critical client journeys, including real‑time flows across Payments.
  • Guide line‑of‑business teams in implementing SLIs/SLOs, golden signals, and effective alerting to support operational excellence.
  • Support integration and adoption of observability tooling across on‑prem, public cloud (AWS/GCP), and containerized environments (ECS, Kubernetes).
  • Customize shared dashboards and observability components in partnership with CTI and other central Engineering functions, ensuring usability and flexibility.
  • Provide technical support and implementation guidance to SREs and developers facing integration or tooling challenges.
  • Effectively manage the observability book of work for Services Technology and drive initiatives to reduce MTTD and improve recovery outcomes.
  • Serve as a key connection point between line‑of‑business SREs and central infrastructure functions by gathering tooling feedback, surfacing systemic issues, and influencing platform enhancements via the Services Observability Forum.
  • Stay current with observability trends, including AI/ML‑driven insights, anomaly detection, and emerging OSS practices, and assess their applicability.
  • Maintain strong knowledge of observability platform features and vendor offerings to advise teams and maximize the value of tooling investments.
  • Foster AI adoption by building use cases performed by Orion L1 Functions and remediation using Citi AI tech stack.
Qualifications
  • Experience in SRE, Observability Engineering, or platform infrastructure roles focused on operational telemetry.
  • Bachelor's degree (computer science or related fields) or equivalent experience in building scalable solutions to improve the service reliability and/or increase productivity and efficiency.
  • Hands‑on experience in observability tools and stacks such as Grafana, Prometheus, OpenTelemetry, ELK, Splunk, and similar platforms.
  • Deep understanding of SLIs, SLOs, Error Budgets, and telemetry best practices in high‑availability environments.
  • Proven ability to troubleshoot integration issues and support observability across hybrid platforms (on‑prem, cloud, containers).
  • Experience building dashboards aligned to business outcomes and incident workflows, especially in critical flows like payments.
  • Experience with agile systems development methodologies, building dashboards aligned to business outcomes and incident workflows, especially in critical flows like payments.
  • Familiarity with modern observability tooling ecosystems, including AI/ML capabilities, trace correlation, baselining, and alert tuning.
  • Strong interpersonal and collaboration skills — able to operate across federated engineering teams and central infrastructure groups.
  • Experience in enablement or platform teams with a track record of scaling best practices across diverse business units.
What we’ll provide you

By joining Citi, you will not only be part of a business casual workplace with a hybrid working model (up to 2 days working at home per week), but also receive a competitive base salary (which is annually reviewed), and enjoy a whole host of additional benefits such as:

  • 27 days annual leave (plus bank holidays)
  • A discretional annual performance related bonus
  • Private Medical Care & Life Insurance
  • Employee Assistance Program
  • Pension Plan
  • Paid Parental Leave
  • Special discounts for employees, family, and friends
  • Access to an array of learning and development resources

Alongside these benefits Citi is committed to ensuring our workplace is where everyone feels comfortable coming to work as their whole self, every day. We want the best talent around the world to be energized to join us, motivated to stay and empowered to thrive.

SRE Observability Technical Lead - Vice President employer: Citigroup, Inc.

Citi is an exceptional employer that fosters a dynamic and inclusive work culture, where innovation thrives and employees are empowered to make a real impact in the world of finance. With a commitment to continuous learning, mentorship, and a flexible hybrid working model, employees enjoy generous benefits including 27 days of annual leave, private medical care, and access to extensive development resources. Join us to be part of a global team that values your contributions and supports your professional growth while tackling meaningful challenges in the financial sector.

Citigroup, Inc.

Contact Details:

Citigroup, Inc. Recruitment Team

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We think you need these skills to ace SRE Observability Technical Lead - Vice President

SRE (Site Reliability Engineering)
Observability Engineering
Operational Telemetry
Grafana
Prometheus
OpenTelemetry
ELK Stack

Some tips for your application 🫡

Showcase Your Problem-Solving Skills:In IT consulting, it's all about problem-solving, so make sure your CV highlights your analytical skills and any relevant projects you've tackled. Mention specific technologies or methodologies you've used to resolve issues or improve processes; this shows you can think critically and deliver results, which is vital for us at Citigroup, Inc..

Highlight Relevant Certifications:Certifications like ITIL, PMP, or even specific tech stack qualifications can really make you stand out. Make sure to include these in your CV, as they not only demonstrate your expertise but also your commitment to staying current in the field. We love seeing candidates who are proactive about their professional development!

Tailor Your Cover Letter:Your cover letter is your chance to connect personally with us at Citigroup, Inc.. Share stories about your experiences in IT consulting, and how they shaped your desire to join our team. Mention why you’re excited about this particular role, and how you see yourself contributing to our projects.

Keep It Clear and Concise:We're all busy, so make sure your application is easy to read. Use bullet points for key achievements, and don’t overload us with jargon. A clean, professional layout goes a long way. Remember, the clearer your application, the more likely we are to invite you in for an interview!

How to prepare for a job interview at Citigroup, Inc.

Brush Up on Your Technical Skills

For an IT consulting role, be ready to demonstrate your technical prowess. You might face questions on systems integration, cloud technologies, or even troubleshooting specific software. If you have experience with tools like AWS, Azure, or even specific programming languages, make sure you can talk about them fluently.

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IT consulting is all about solving problems for clients. Think about how you can illustrate your approach to a past challenge using the STAR method (Situation, Task, Action, Result). It's a great way to show how you tackle complex issues and come up with effective solutions.

Know the Business Impact of IT Solutions

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