Application Engineering Technical Lead - II

The Vanguard Group; United States; Hybrid; USD 160,000 - 230,000; Full time

Job summary

Vanguard seeks a senior platform engineer to own and evolve a cloud-native security scanning platform on AWS. You will surface findings as control checks, enforce security standards, and collaborate with security and engineering teams to embed secure development practices.

You will mentor engineers, lead API and CI/CD initiatives, improve observability and reliability, and champion AI-assisted development within a hybrid work model.

Qualifications

• 8+ years of software engineering 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.
• Experience designing APIs, automation solutions, CI/CD pipelines, and distributed systems.
• Proven ability to lead technical initiatives, build trust across organizational boundaries, and mentor engineers.

Responsibilities

• Own and evolve the platform that orchestrates security scanning and surfaces findings as control checks.
• Lead design and implementation of cloud-native platform services on AWS (IAM, ECS, Lambda, Step Functions, RDS, S3, CloudFormation).
• Develop APIs, event-driven integrations, automation services, and CI/CD capabilities for scalable security testing.
• Maintain reliability of the orchestration platform with automation, observability, and self-service to keep up with adoption.
• Collaborate with security and engineering to embed secure development practices across the lifecycle for multiple scanning capabilities.
• Provide technical leadership and mentoring to the team, promoting high-quality software engineering practices.
• Champion AI-assisted development and guide where it fits our products and delivery model.

Skills

AWS cloud

Java

Node.js

TypeScript

CI/CD

Distributed systems

Observability

Mentoring

Education

Bachelor's degree

Graduate degree

Tools

AWS

Java

Node.js

TypeScript

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. Vanguard, one of the world's leading investment management companies, serves individual investors, institutions, employer‑sponsored retirement plans, and financial professionals. We have a diverse and talented crew with a culture that promotes teamwork, along with an unwavering focus on serving our clients' best interests.

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