Advanced Technology Analyst > Analyst

Business Description

We have designed these sections to aid you in your understanding of what Technology within a Investment Banking means, the services we provide to our clients and how we are structured. In the subsequent tabs we have asked for input from our Analysts/Summer Interns and also the recruiters describe the type of person we are looking for as well as the recruitment process.

What is Technology?

As one of the key enabling forces behind Citi, Technology supports all areas from multi-million dollar international trades to individual investors' portfolios. Our objective is to deliver seamless services to meet today's needs, while at the same time ensuring our technology and systems are flexible enough to seize opportunities in the future.

What services do we provide to our clients?

The Technology division is a vital business function solving problems, enhancing services, finding more efficient ways to build business, raise productivity, boost our competitiveness and expand globally. Our commitment to technology is unprecedented: we put massive financial resources behind our information infrastructure, whether it's a ground-up development project, the acquisition of a technology partner or the enhancement and operation of our day-to-day systems. The investment results in technological advancement unheard of outside of the industry.

Our technology division:

• Develops sophisticated worldwide trading operations, financial systems, databases and internal and external communications networks

• Designs and develops the firm's websites and the architecture of our global applications, databases, networks and hardware

• Customizes and recommends software in response to changing business needs

How we are structured?

Software Development is closely aligned to the business areas in Markets & Banking Technology. You will work hand-in-hand with the world's leading computer and software technologies to develop new, components and enhance existing platforms to provide competitive advantage to many of the key business functions within Citi. You will learn how to architect, design, and build some of the largest and most Global solutions available in the financial service market. You will gain exposure to breakthrough technologies before they become available, and also work extensively with existing Service Oriented Architectures and Web Services Frameworks. You will gain exposure to market leading technologies platforms, such as BEA Weblogic, IBM Websphere, and Oracle.

Technology Infrastructure provides hardware, operating systems, and telecommunication products and services to all Citi's businesses, including Markets & Banking, Global Consumer Bank and Global Wealth Management. Technology Infrastructure offers exciting opportunities in business analysis, project management and business continuity. In addition it provides voice, e-mail, Internet, data processing and desktop support. Technology Infrastructure provides market data services, system and database administration functions, as well as operates the firm’s data centers, command and customer service centers, security control devices, gateways for remote access, mobile computing technologies, and host and server systems.

Roles of an Analyst

Roles an Advanced Technology Analyst may undertake:

As products in the financial markets become more sophisticated and trading becomes more automated, the successful integration of quantitative methods with trading takes on a greater significance. Today's automated trading environment means that algorithms make many trading and risk management decisions. These algorithms and the infrastructure required to make them perform is one of the most complex problems facing industry today. A system failure or a faulty algorithm can lead to multi million dollar losses while a successful system can lead to profitability unmatched in most other industries.

The Advanced Technology Analyst program is designed to be the primary entry point for the quantitative engineers that design and build these solutions. You will be the key interface for technology with the front office, trading, risk and research areas and will be working in close partnership with the front office.

The optimal candidate must have exceptional skills in software development and quantitative methods while having a passion for applying these skills to financial markets. We focus less on your knowledge of a specific language (Java, C#, C++) or specific mathematical techniques commonly used in finance (stochastic calculus) than strong fundamentals in mathematics and development (object oriented design and understanding of the issues surrounding the development of high performance distributed software).

Our quantitative developers tend to develop projects on an agile basis. This means that we look for people who are not reliant on fully developed project plans. We are looking for self-motivated engineers who learn how capital markets works today, work well within their team, and leverage their hybrid skills to deliver solutions that give Citi a competitive advantage in its trading business.

Our Programmes

The Advanced Technology Analyst (ATA) program is an elite initiative to hire full-time Post Doctorate and Masters of Science students from specific courses who can create engineering solutions to support our quantitative products and processes such as Equities, Derivatives, Fixed Income and Risk Management. Students are hired into the technology organizations supporting the Citi Markets & Banking businesses and will be assigned to problem-solving projects.

Training:

In addition to the responsibilities within their respective divisions, the Analysts are aligned with a training curriculum that focuses on the development of personal skills, business knowledge and technical skills. Training is closely aligned to the business area you will be in and you will receive training in Financial Modelling and also Financial Markets.

The training enhances the performance of the Analysts in their day-to-day business assignments and encourages participants to understand and support the strategic direction of the firm.

Who we are looking for

Going forward we see our business continuing to flourish, and the challenges and opportunities facing our clients around the world mean challenges and opportunities for our people. We are looking for people who can face these challenges and help us to continue to succeed and meet our business goals.

We are unwavering in our commitment to investing in our Analyst programmes. We ensure that they have superior financial knowledge and are equiped with the necessary skills to successfully develop and maintain profitable client relationships.

We asked our technology recruiters to describe what makes a good candidate and what specific skills they are looking for:

We encourage applications from all backgrounds. We look for highly motivated individuals with strong academic performance and excellent communication skills. Having a genuine passion for the industry and building profitable client relationships is crucial to becoming a successful Analyst.

To qualify for this programme you should have a PhD or Post Doctorate Training in one of the following courses: Computer Science, Computer Engineering, Computational Finance, Financial Engineering, Mathematics, Electronic/Electrical and Mechanical Engineering, Quantitative Science.
We will also consider applications with a Master of Science in Quantitative Science, Computational Finance and Financial Engineering.

Some of the key skills we look for are:

• Strong academic performance

• Exceptional numerical ability

• Solid problem solving and analytical skills

• Effective communication, interpersonal and relationship building skills

• The ability to work independently and in a team environment

• Drive and motivation

• Flexibility, adaptability and resilience to work in a challenging environment

• Leadership potential

• You should also be aware of and comfortable with working in the regulated environment of the financial services industry.

Recruitment Process

We open for applications on the 1st September 2007

The application deadline is: 27th of January 2008

Our interview process for the full time programme will commence in November 2007

Below is an outline of the recruitment process from application received to offer:
Stage 1: Application is reviewed by Graduate Recruitment
Stage 2: Invited to an online Numerical Reasoning Test
Stage 3: Further review by Graduate Recruitment
Stage 4: First round interviews:
              Two 1:1 competency based interviews
              Numerical Reasoning Test 
              Diagrammatical Reasoning Test
Stage 5: Assessment Centre:
              Two 1:1 competency based interviews with Senior Managers
              One technical interview with Senior Manager
              Written Case Study Analysis/Presentation & Group Discussion
Stage 6: Offer extended by Graduate Recruitment; follow up by business

Where

Western Europe

• UK – London