The Role

Vanguard is one of the world’s leading investment management companies, trusted by millions of investors globally and powered by more than 18,800 crew members across 19 locations.

We’re looking for an experienced Application Engineering Tech Lead to join our UK-based Index Team and play a key role in our Index Modernisation programme. This initiative is transforming Index Data Management from a legacy platform to a modern, cloud‑native AWS architecture, using technologies such as Lambda, ECS, and Angular.

In this senior leadership role, you’ll shape technical direction, guide solution design, review code, and work closely with teams in the UK and US to deliver a secure, scalable, and resilient Index Management platform. While you’ll stay close to the technology, the focus is on technical leadership, architecture, and collaboration rather than day‑to‑day coding.

Join Vanguard and help build modern investment technology that supports long‑term client success.

In this role you will

• Build thought leadership and expertise around best-practice design and implementation

• Be part of a business facing IT team delivering new modernised solutions to the business, understanding/reviewing requirements, helping translate into program specifications and designs, and liaising with our Product Team and end users for user acceptance testing

• Comply with defined code and documentation standards, including conducting code reviews

• Be a self-starter with the ability to effectively manage time across a complex and fast moving programme

Essential Criteria

• Proven significant hands-on experience designing and building robust, scalable applications, using languages such as Java or C++

• Previous experience of working within financial services

• Experience in cloud development (AWS strongly preferred) and CI/CD technologies such as Bit Bucket/Bamboo and GitHub.

• Experience with modern front end frameworks such as React or Angular

• Experience in designing and consuming API‑driven systems, including REST and/or GraphQL

• Proven ability to lead technical design, set coding standards, and perform high‑quality code reviews

• Experience translating business requirements into clear technical designs and program specifications

• Ability to articulate complex technical concepts clearly to non‑technical stakeholders

• Strong collaboration skills, with the ability to work effectively across product, business, and engineering teams

• Comfortable operating independently while also contributing as part of a high‑performing team

• Ability to manage priorities and deliver outcomes in a fast‑moving, complex programme environment

Desirable Criteria

• Strong backend development experience using Python, with frameworks such as Flask (or equivalent)

• Experience in end-to-end testing with tools such as Cypress, Selenium and Playwright.

• Knowledge of agile software development process/practices and familiarity with JIRA, Confluence, and other productivity tools

• Understanding of Index Funds and the Index Data management domain

Special Factors

• Vanguard is not offering visa sponsorship for this position

• This is a hybrid position and would require you to work in the office 3 days per week (Tuesday, Wednesday & Thursday)

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.