Application Engineering Technical Lead - II

The Vanguard Group; Lees (PA); Hybrid; USD 170,000 - 230,000; Full time

Job summary

Vanguard Group is seeking a senior platform engineer to lead the cloud-native, security-focused platform. You will own the platform that orchestrates security scanning across applications, surface findings, and enforce standards through GitHub policies.

You will design services on AWS and build API-driven automation that scales testing for developers. You will mentor engineers, drive architectural excellence, and champion AI-assisted development where it adds value.

Qualifications

• 8+ years of software engineering or platform work, with at least 3 years hands-on development.
• Undergraduate degree; graduate degree preferred.
• Strong AWS cloud technologies expertise and cloud-native architectures.
• Proficiency in Java; also experience with Node.js and TypeScript; willing to learn.
• Experience designing APIs, automation, CI/CD pipelines, and distributed systems.
• Ability to lead initiatives, mentor engineers, and collaborate across teams.

Responsibilities

• Own and evolve the security-scanning platform across apps and enforce security standards.
• Design and build cloud-native services on AWS (IAM, ECS, Lambda, Step Functions).
• Develop APIs, event-driven integrations, and CI/CD capabilities for scalable security testing.
• Maintain reliability with automation, observability, and self-service tooling.
• Partner with security and engineering to embed secure development practices across teams.

Skills

AWS cloud technologies

Java

Node.js

TypeScript

AI-assisted development

APIs

CI/CD

Distributed systems

Observability

Mentoring & leadership

Education

Bachelor's degree in Computer Science or related field

Graduate degree preferred

Tools

AWS

Job description

Key responsibilities

• Own and evolve the platform that orchestrates security scanning across applicable applications, surfaces findings as control checks, and enforces security standards through GitHub's policy engine.
• Lead the design, development, and implementation of cloud-native platform services on AWS, using services including IAM, ECS, Lambda, Step Functions, RDS, S3, and CloudFormation.
• Develop APIs, event-driven integrations, automation services, and CI/CD capabilities that make security testing reliable at scale and easy for developers to adopt.
• Maintain the reliability of the orchestration platform as adoption grows, using automation, observability, and self-service so support does not scale with usage.
• Partner with security and engineering teams to embed secure development practices into the development lifecycle across a growing set of scanning capabilities as the threat landscape evolves, including SAST, SCA, container, and API security testing.
• Provide technical leadership and mentoring to the team, promoting high-quality software engineering practices.
• Champion thoughtful adoption of AI-assisted development across the team, coaching engineers on where it fits our products and delivery model and where it does not.
• Collaborate with stakeholders to define technical direction, manage risks, and ensure successful delivery of business-critical solutions.
• Partner with leaders across DevSecOps to stay aligned to senior leadership strategic initiatives, adjusting team priorities and deliverables as direction evolves.
• Drive continuous improvement in architecture, engineering standards, and operational excellence.

Qualifications

• 8+ years of software engineering, application development, or platform engineering experience, including at least three years of hands‑on development.
• Undergraduate degree or equivalent combination of training and experience. Graduate degree preferred.
• Strong expertise with AWS cloud technologies and cloud‑native architectures.
• Strong object‑oriented programming fundamentals (Java) and the ability to work effectively in more than one language. Experience with Node.js and TypeScript is a plus, and is what we use today. Willingness to learn new technologies.
• Practical perspective on AI‑assisted development, including where it adds value and where it does not. Prior experience applying AI to engineering or product work is a plus; a genuine interest in doing so is expected.
• Experience designing APIs, automation solutions, CI/CD pipelines, and distributed systems.
• Experience operating and supporting production platform services, including observability and reliability practices.
• Proven ability to lead technical initiatives, build trust and influence across organizational boundaries, and mentor engineers.

Preferred experience

• Platform engineering, DevOps, or CI/CD pipeline engineering, building services and pipelines that application and product teams across the organization depend on.
• Large‑scale cloud migration or modernization work in an enterprise environment.
• Building automation solutions at enterprise scale, where adoption spans many teams.
• AWS certifications, such as Solutions Architect (Associate or Professional), DevOps Engineer Professional, or AI Practitioner.
• Understanding of application security, DevSecOps, or secure software development practices.

Special Factors

Sponsorship

Vanguard is not offering visa sponsorship for this position.

About Vanguard

At Vanguard, we don't just have a mission—we're on a mission.

To work for the long-term financial wellbeing of our clients. To lead through product and services that transform our clients' lives. To learn and develop our skills as individuals and as a team. From Malvern to Melbourne, our mission drives us forward and inspires us to be our best.

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.