Engineering Manager, Real-Time Fraud Prevention

Vanguard; Charlotte (NC); Hybrid; USD 150,000 - 190,000; Full time

Job summary

Vanguard's Fraud Prevention Technology division is seeking an Engineering Manager to lead the team that builds and operates the fraud decisioning integration with our debit card processor. You will guide 3-6 engineers, own the delivery roadmap for the integration layer, and write code alongside your team.

The role partners with the Principal Engineer on technical direction, emphasizes low-latency, high-availability services, strict SLAs, and on-call readiness, with hands-on coding expected

Qualifications

• 8+ years in software engineering with 2+ years in a tech lead or engineering management role.
• Strong proficiency in Node.js; working familiarity with Java.
• Experience building low-latency, high-availability services—ideally in payments or financial services.
• Demonstrated ability to balance technical leadership with people management.
• Experience integrating with third-party processors or financial service providers via REST/gRPC APIs and webhooks.
• Familiarity with ETL pipelines and ML/analytics workflows.
• Comfort with AI-assisted development practices and tooling.

Responsibilities

• Lead a team of 3-6 engineers building real-time fraud decisioning services in the debit authorization path.
• Own the integration layer between Vanguard's fraud platform and the debit processor (webhook handling, auth-time enrichment, orchestration).
• Translate architectural direction into executable sprints, designs, and working software.
• Write production code—spending 40-60% of time hands-on in the codebase.
• Drive engineering quality: code reviews, testing strategy, incident response, on-call practices.
• Manage team health: hiring, career development, 1:1s, performance management.
• Partner with the processor's technical team on API contracts, certification, and production readiness.
• Ensure latency, reliability, and compliance requirements for payment authorization.

Skills

Node.js

Java

Fraud decisioning

Payments domain

Team leadership

REST/gRPC APIs

Webhooks

ETL pipelines

ML/Analytics

Latency optimization

SLA management

Tools

Kafka

Kinesis

Redshift

Athena

Git

CI/CD

Job description

Vanguard's Fraud Prevention Technology division is seeking an Engineering Manager to lead the team that builds and operates the fraud decisioning integration with our debit card processor. You will guide 3-6 engineers, own the delivery roadmap for the integration layer, and write code alongside your team.

The role partners with the Principal Engineer on technical direction, emphasizes low-latency, high-availability services, strict SLAs, and on-call readiness, with hands-on coding expected