Strategic Initiatives Program Lead – Senior Vice President

Citi Belfast is one of the largest employers in Northern Ireland with a diverse and talented team of over 4000 people from over 68 different nationalities across our four Belfast offices. We are the only global investment bank operating in Northern Ireland. Every day, our local experts interact with global teams in over 100 countries developing and supporting next-generation technology solutions for the enterprise and delivering critical services to the bank and its customers, to make sure we are a stronger and safer organization for our clients. You will have a truly global reach, which will provide you with new experiences and development opportunities right here in Belfast’s iconic Titanic Quarter.

The successful candidate will lead key strategic initiatives in support of enterprise strategy and resilience, ensuring Citi's critical business services maintain operational resilience in alignment with regulatory requirements and business objectives. Driving strategic vision, governance, and organizational change across technology teams to embed resiliency principles into application design, recovery capabilities, and operational practices; this role is accountable for establishing and maintaining a robust resiliency framework that protects critical business services, minimizes client impact, and ensures compliance with global regulatory standards.

Responsibilities:

Strategic Leadership & Vision:

• Lead strategic initiatives in support of enterprise strategy and resilience across all technology organizations, ensuring alignment with business priorities, regulatory requirements, and industry best practices.
• Provide executive leadership for the resiliency program, overseeing the workstreams to drive progress
• Establish strategic partnerships with senior technology leaders, business executives, Enterprise Resilience, Risk Management, and regulatory stakeholders to drive resiliency transformation.
• Champion organizational change to embed resiliency-first thinking into application development, architecture decisions, and operational practices.

Governance & Regulatory Compliance:

• Ensure compliance with regulatory requirements for operational resilience across all jurisdictions, including MAS, OCC, PRA, and other regulatory mandates.
• Oversee the Enterprise Criticality Framework, ensuring accurate framework to identification of Enterprise Critical Applications (ECAs) and alignment with Critical Business Services (CBS).
• Support engagement with regulators and auditors on resiliency matters, providing evidence of program effectiveness and compliance.
• Drive resolution of regulatory findings and Corrective Action Plans (CAPs) related to application resiliency and recovery capabilities.

Program Oversight & Accountability:

• Provide executive oversight and accountability for the resiliency program, ensuring delivery of strategic initiatives and achievement of annual targets.
• Monitor program health, risks, and performance metrics, making strategic decisions to optimize outcomes and resource allocation.
• Support budget and resource allocation across resiliency initiatives, balancing strategic priorities with operational constraints.

Technology & Platform Strategy:

• Drive the strategic direction for resiliency platforms and tools, including One-Touch Recovery (OTR), ServiceNow BCM, and emerging technologies.
• Champion investment in automation, API integration, and self-service capabilities to scale resiliency practices across the enterprise.

Stakeholder Management & Communication:

• Communicate resiliency strategy, progress, and risks to executive committees and governance forums.
• Build consensus and drive decision-making across diverse stakeholder groups with competing priorities.
• Represent technology resiliency in enterprise-wide business continuity and crisis management forums.

Key Qualifications:

• Progressive technology leadership experience in large, complex organizations.
• Senior leadership roles managing large teams and strategic programs.
• Experience in resiliency, disaster recovery, business continuity, or operational risk management.
• Proven track record leading enterprise-wide transformation initiatives in highly regulated industries.
• Experience managing responses to regulators and navigating complex compliance requirements.

• Deep understanding of application architecture, distributed systems, and cloud technologies.
• Knowledge of disaster recovery, business continuity, and operational resilience frameworks.
• Familiarity with SRE principles, chaos engineering, and automated recovery practices.
• Understanding of regulatory requirements for operational resilience in financial services.
• Experience with enterprise platforms, APIs, and system integration strategies.
• Experience managing program budgets and resources.

• BS degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or equivalent field required.

Leadership Competencies:

• Strategic thinking and ability to translate business objectives into technology strategies.
• Strong executive presence with ability to influence and drive change across organizational boundaries.
• Exceptional communication skills with ability to articulate complex technical concepts to business and executive audiences.
• Strong business and financial acumen.

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.

#LI-BH1

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

Job Family Group:

Technology

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

Job Family:

Applications Support

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

Time Type:

Full time

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

Most Relevant Skills

Please see the requirements listed above.

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

Other Relevant Skills

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

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

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.