Application Engineer

Join an elite SWAT team of experts to provide operational trade-floor support to traders and portfolio managers on the Vanguard equity desk. The equity trade floor is comprised of highly professional, demanding and most thoughtful clients in the industry; they use a series of world-class tools requiring performant deterministic applications with accurate data and portfolio holdings which need to be ready on-time, every day. This desk trades equity stocks, ETF's and a few derivates to populate our funds, active and passive exceeding $6T, with quarterly trading of around $160B. This is a unique opportunity to work directly with Vanguard’s core engine to grow your business and technical acumen that will make you a desirable candidate for any future role.

The Run Organization is responsible for making the software GO, monitoring jobs, applications, business processes and addressing trader/PM concerns. Because the organization follows-the-sun, expected work is in-person during normal Malvern work hours with handoff (for continuity) to different regions in the evening. We resolve over 50% of issues without ever referring to core product teams for help and have unique insights into how trading happens at volume within the industry.

You will be on the US Equity Trade floor working closely with and providing production/operational support for our portfolio management and trading crew, capital markets, security lending, data (benchmark and security reference) and Investment book of records teams. Supported applications are a mix of built and COTS software, SaaS solutions, modern AWS microservice architectures and monoliths.  

You should have a reasonable blend of business and technical acumen and be willing to learn. An understanding of the portfolio management / trading life cycle is desired as is an understanding of and ability to troubleshoot technical and business issues.

• CFA / CMSA certification is ideal but not required.
• Knowledge of one or more systems used in equities trading is ideal but not required.

Responsibilities:

• High accountability & technical leadership with proven ability to build strong technical teams across the US, UK and AUS.
• Initiate and lead ideas to fruition. Synthesizing concepts and findings into a narrative for communication to different audiences.
• Ability to deal with ambiguity & complexity with high energy and grit. Be fast.
• Establish and maintain strong working relationships with business partners.
• Provide senior support of applications and databases; Coordinate and implement technical and procedures to resolve production or operational issues after evaluation.
• Proactively monitor production systems for alerts, outages, and system issues. Research issues, initiate and lead root cause analysis to minimize risk. Implement solutions for issues and appropriate development initiatives.
• Ensure that support requests get resolved within service level agreements. Communicate status and resolutions. Writes and updates production support documentation, policies, and procedures. Build dashboards to convey trends.
• Adept programmer (cradle to grave) with deep troubleshooting skills and ability to repair software in various technologies - AWS, Python, Java.
• Participate in special projects and perform other duties as assigned.
• May have to travel internationally for immersive orientation

Qualifications

• Minimum of eight years related work experience, with at least two years of development experience.
• Undergraduate degree or equivalent combination of training and experience. Graduate degree preferred.

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.

Our commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion

Vanguard’s commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) is central to our ability to deliver on our mission. We aspire to create a work environment that is inclusive, equitable, and diverse—one that enables our employees, whom we call crew, to thrive and bring their best selves to work every day on behalf of our clients.

Cultivating DEI lifts our entire organization, and everyone shares accountability for our progress—from our senior leaders who lay the foundation and set the example for inclusive behaviors to crew who are growing in their personal DEI learning experiences.

Together, we’re on a mission. We are fueled by the value of diverse voices and connected through friendships and a culture of care—for our clients, our communities, and each other.    

Vanguard’s DEI journey has no finish line. Our commitment is enduring, and we remain focused on the path ahead. To learn more about Vanguard goals and progress toward DEI, download our Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Report.

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.