Digital Assets Screening Lead Analyst/Manager (1LOD) at Citigroup

Job description

Are you looking for a career move that will put you at the heart of a global financial institution? Then bring your skills to Citi. By Joining Citi, you will become part of a global organization whose mission is to serve as a trusted partner to our clients by responsibly providing financial services that enable growth and economic progress. As Citi launches its pioneering digital assets custody and settlement capabilities, we are establishing a robust First-Line-of-Defense (1LOD) Financial Crime Operations function. Sitting within Citi’s Investor Services Operations division, this newly created role is responsible for leading the operational execution of front-line financial crime controls. The Digital Assets Screening Lead Analyst/Manager (1LOD) will oversee day-to-day screening operations, on-chain transaction reviews, and the development of the 1LOD Target Operating Model (TOM). This role combines blockchain innovation with rigorous banking controls, ensuring digital asset transactions are screened, triaged, and investigated to the highest standards of accuracy and regulatory compliance. Unlike traditional compliance oversight roles, this position sits directly within business operations (1LOD), owning front-line risk, executing real-time controls, and leading the team that serves as Citi's first line of defense against financial crime in the digital asset ecosystem. Key Responsibilities: Oversee the end-to-end execution of real-time financial crime screening across all digital asset transactions, ensuring timely alert triage, escalation, and resolution within agreed SLAs while maintaining strong operational discipline and backlog management. Make risk-based, timely, and well-documented decisions on client digital asset wallets and transaction activity, determining appropriate investigation outcomes and escalation actions. Lead complex investigations involving both traditional fiat and digital asset transactions across multiple blockchains, leveraging advanced blockchain analytics and on-chain intelligence to assess transaction risk, source of funds, and exposure to sanctioned entities, mixers, chain-hopping, darknet markets, and other illicit activity. Supervise the preparation of high-quality investigative narratives and escalation packages, ensuring that cases meeting established criteria are referred promptly to 2LOD Financial Crime Compliance for review and determination of regulatory reporting obligations. As the product and client base scale, define, document, and continuously enhance the 1LOD Target Operating Model (TOM) for digital assets screening and investigations, implementing scalable workflows, staffing models, escalation frameworks, and controls aligned with Citi’s three-lines-of-defense framework. Contribute to the development and maintenance of 1LOD policies, standard operating procedures, training materials, and desktop guides supporting digital asset AML and financial crime control activities. Recruit, lead, and develop a high-performing team of screening analysts and investigators, setting clear performance expectations and fostering a culture of accountability, accuracy, and digital asset subject matter expertise. Act as the primary 1LOD liaison and owner of the controls framework, partnering closely with Financial Crime Compliance, Legal, Risk, Technology, and Product teams to optimize screening and monitoring tools, drive workflow automation and vendor integrations, and provide key risk metrics, operational performance updates, and trend analysis to senior management and governance forums. Qualifications & Experience: 8+ years of relevant financial crime compliance, screening, or investigations experience within a large/complex financial institution, digital assets fintech, law firm, or regulatory body. 3+ years of direct, hands-on experience running AML investigations and screening specifically for digital assets and cryptocurrency cases. Master’s degree. Proven track record of managing, coaching, a