The
Intelligence Analyst - Merchant and Loyalty Rewards Integrity role sits within the Fraud Fusion Center (FFC). This role focuses on identifying, analyzing and escalating rewards abuse, gamification-driven manipulation, and emergent threats across Citi's credit card, checking, and broader rewards ecosystem.
The ideal candidate is intellectually curious, fast-learning, proactive, and able to synthesize intelligence from many inputs to identify risks early. They will be the connective tissue between intelligence, fraud strategy, product partners, and external institutions.
Responsibilities:Intelligence Analysis & Threat Detection- Monitor and synthesize internal and external intelligence to identify emerging rewards-abuse schemes, including promotional abuse, manufactured-spend analogs, account linkage manipulation, referral or bonus gaming, and adversarial earn-and-burn strategies.
- Conduct qualitative and quantitative analysis to evaluate risk indicators, summarize patterns, and identify trends affecting Citi's rewards ecosystem.
- Assess at-risk accounts and behaviors, identify signals of potential abuse, and document findings clearly for internal partners.
Cross-Institution Engagement & Information Sharing- Serve as a liaison between the FFC and industry working groups, gathering insights on new reward-abuse tactics and mitigation approaches.
- Participate in external fraud/loyalty-abuse roundtables and information-sharing forums; bring intelligence back into Citi for action.
Internal Coordination & Escalation- Work closely with Fraud Policy & Strategy, Product Teams, Data Analytics partners, AML, Citi Security & Investigative Services, and other internal stakeholders to:
- Share emerging intelligence
- Coordinate assessments
- Drive awareness of new threats
- Support timely mitigation steps
- Assist with documenting processes, investigative flows, and escalation pathways for rewards-abuse incidents.
Process & Documentation Excellence- Maintain detailed investigative notes, intelligence summaries, and analytical artifacts within case-management systems.
- Support development of playbooks, best practices and process improvements relevant to rewards abuse detection.
- Ensure that investigative and analytic processes follow Citi standards and support the Fraud Fusion Center's operational model.
Operational Support & Prioritization- Balance day-to-day investigations with longer-term research initiatives.
- Prioritize assignments based on criticality, emerging risk and organizational needs.
- Escalate urgent issues when needed and assist with crisis-response workflows.
Qualifications:Required
- 2-5 years of relevant experience in one or more: Rewards abuse investigation, Loyalty or credit-card rewards operations with exposure to abuse cases, Fraud investigations in card or retail banking, Financial crime analysis or intelligence roles, Experience identifying or analyzing manufactured spend (MS) or MS-adjacent flows
- Experience engaging with, monitoring, or researching forums, online communities, blogs, or groups where reward optimization, MS, arbitrage, and abuse tactics are actively discussed.
- Strong analytical ability to identify subtle indicators and emerging patterns across qualitative or semi-structured inputs.
- Strong written and verbal communication skills; ability to summarize complex information clearly.
- Highly curious, detail-oriented, and capable of independent judgment with limited supervision.
- Demonstrated ability to build cross-functional relationships.
Preferred
- Direct prior work in: Credit-card loyalty programs, Offer/promotion design or governance, Merchant-funded rewards ecosystems, Financial fraud investigations
- Exposure to fraud lifecycle concepts and risk management practices.
- Experience briefing leadership or participating in working groups.
- Familiarity with MS mechanics (e.g., gift card chains, pseudo-MS escalations, liquidation paths, partner loopholes).
Education:- Bachelor's degree/University degree or equivalent experience
This job description provides a high-level review of the types of work performed. Other job-related duties may be assigned as required.
Job Family Group: Technology
Job Family:Information Security
Time Type:Full time
Primary Location:Tampa Florida United States
Primary Location Full Time Salary Range:$87,280.00 - $130,920.00
In addition to salary, Citi's offerings may also include, for eligible employees, discretionary and formulaic incentive and retention awards. Citi offers competitive employee benefits, including: medical, dental & vision coverage; 401(k); life, accident, and disability insurance; and wellness programs. Citi also offers paid time off packages, including planned time off (vacation), unplanned time off (sick leave), and paid holidays. For additional information regarding Citi employee benefits, please visit citibenefits.com. Available offerings may vary by jurisdiction, job level, and date of hire.
Most Relevant Skills Please see the requirements listed above.
Other Relevant Skills For complementary skills, please see above and/or contact the recruiter.
Anticipated Posting Close Date:Oct 09, 2026
Automated Processing and AIWe use automated processing, including artificial intelligence, for our legitimate business interests (or our reasonable and appropriate business purposes) to identify and align the candidate's skills and abilities with a specific job opening. Additionally, if you so choose, or consent, we can match your skills and abilities to other suitable roles at Citi.
Importantly, all our hiring processes and decisions, including determining your suitability for a role, are conducted, checked, and decided by individuals. Our automated processing and AI do not involve relying on automatic or autonomous decision-making. Please refer to any Jurisdictional Considerations, with specific provisions for your country (where relevant) for further details.
Illinois residents - AI Notice and Right
