We are seeking a Senior Application Engineer (Backend cloud based application development), with deep technical expertise and thought leadership. You will drive strategy for your area of expertise across teams and foster a developer community within your domain. The role involves mentoring junior staff, ensuring high-quality deliverables, promoting best practices like TDD and BDD, and leading engineering practices across the SDLC.
In this role you will
Provide advanced technical expertise in Backend Development, supporting the team with effective solutions and practical insights
Participate in all phases of the Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC), including requirements gathering, development, deployment, and ongoing maintenance
Demonstrate a commitment to keeping up with industry trends, emerging technologies, and best practices, actively applying them in your work
Contribute new ideas, tools, and methodologies to help foster a culture of continuous improvement and innovation within the team
Share knowledge and mentor peers and junior engineers, supporting their growth and skills development
Collaborate with technical leads, IT teams, and business stakeholders to understand project requirements, implications, and dependencies
Review and provide feedback on technical documentation, suggesting improvements where appropriate
Promote and practice best development approaches such as Test-Driven Development (TDD) and Behavior-Driven Development (BDD) to deliver high-quality, maintainable code
Apply design patterns to address complex problems, ensuring code is efficient, readable, and reusable
Adhere to IT and Information Security policies and procedures in all engineering activities
Participate in special projects and perform other related duties as assigned
What it takes
Preferred - Experience of building distributed scalable microservices using Java/Kotlin, Spring Boot, OAuth 2.0, Secure API design
Understanding of API design for mobile application with event driven architecture
Strong analysis and problem-solving skills
Undergraduate degree in a related field or the equivalent combination of training and experience
Knowledge of the financial services industry
Other technologies/areas: AWS, API Design, Automation testing
Special Factors
Vanguard is not offering sponsorship for this position
This is a hybrid position and would require you to work in the office Tuesday-Thursday
This role encompasses activities that fall within the remit of UK Financial Conduct Authority ('FCA') regulation. The successful candidate will therefore be subject to UK regulatory requirements in relation to conduct rules, regulatory references and the assessment of fitness and propriety, knowledge, experience and competence. Where appropriate, the role may also be subject to approval by the UK FCA.
Why Vanguard?
Vanguard is a different kind of investment company. It was founded in the United States in 1975 on a simple but revolutionary idea: that an investment company should manage its funds solely in the interests of its clients.
This is a philosophy that has helped millions of people around the world to achieve their goals with low-cost, uncomplicated investments.
It's what we stand for: value to investors.
Inclusion Statement
Vanguard's continued commitment to diversity and inclusion is firmly rooted in our culture. Every decision we make to best serve our clients, crew (internally employees are referred to as crew), and communities is guided by one simple statement: Do the right thing."
We believe that a critical aspect of doing the right thing requires building diverse, inclusive, and highly effective teams of individuals who are as unique as the clients they serve. We empower our crew to contribute their distinct strengths to achieving Vanguard's core purpose through our values.
When all crew members feel valued and included, our ability to collaborate and innovate is amplified, and we are united in delivering on Vanguard's core purpose: to take a stand for all investors, to treat them fairly, and to give them the best chance for investment success.
Our commitment to equal employment opportunity
Vanguard is an equal opportunity employer. Vanguard is committed to providing all crew members a working environment that is free from discrimination, prejudice and bias. Through this Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) Policy, Vanguard reaffirms its commitment to equal employment opportunity for all applicants and crew members without regard to race, color, national origin or ancestry, religion, gender, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, age, disability, marital status, veteran or military status. In addition, Vanguard prohibits discrimination based on genetic information, as well as any other characteristic protected by federal, state or local law.
Applicants with disabilities may be entitled to reasonable accommodation under the Americans with Disabilities Act and certain state or local laws. A reasonable accommodation is a change in the way things are normally done which will ensure an equal employment opportunity without imposing undue hardship on Vanguard. Please inform careers@vanguard.com if you need assistance completing this application or to otherwise participate in the application process.
How We Work
Vanguard has implemented a hybrid working model for the majority of our crew members, designed to capture the benefits of enhanced flexibility while enabling in-person learning, collaboration, and connection. We believe our mission-driven and highly collaborative culture is a critical enabler to support long-term client outcomes and enrich the employee experience.