Application Engineering Technical Lead - II (Java, Python & AWS)

About Vanguard
Founded in 1975, Vanguard is one of the world's leading investment management companies. The firm offers investments, advice, and retirement services to tens of millions of individual investors around the globe—directly, through workplace plans, and through financial intermediaries.

Vanguard’s India Office

Vanguard’s office in India is a significant milestone in our global expansion. We are committed to establishing an enduring technology center in Hyderabad, Telangana and are excited to be adding talent who will focus on Artificial Intelligence (AI), mobile, and cloud-based technologies that drive our business outcomes and deliver a world-class experience for our clients.  

Role Summary

This role provides expert-level IT technical lead services, including the integration and implementation of technologies, while applying deep backend expertise to optimize performance, ensure secure architecture, and enhance system scalability.

Responsibilities
1. Provides expert-level technical leadership for critical software, middleware, or hardware projects across multiple platforms, ensuring successful architecture, development, and implementation. Evaluates and approves development options and technical deliverables. Oversees comprehensive testing for functionality, performance, and security.
2. Approves technical solutions proposed by team members, resolves complex technical problems, and anticipates issues to enable preventive action.
3. Acts as a key technical liaison with stakeholders, effectively communicating technical implications, project risks, and solution strategies.
4. Maintains expertise in IT methodologies, architecture design, and enterprise standards; mentors staff and ensures team adoption of evolving standards.
5. Reviews, authors, and approves technical documentation and architecture diagrams.
6. Drives continuous improvement in technical standards, methodologies, and the adoption of emerging technologies.
7. Participates in product life cycle reviews (design, code, test), and serves as a technical advisor across project meetings.
8. Ensures compliance with IT and Information Security policies, validating that deliverables meet internal and external requirements.
9. Leads or contributes to special projects and cross-functional initiatives as assigned.
10. Applies deep server-side development skills, focusing on performance optimization, secure architecture, and database efficiency.
11. Troubleshoots complex system performance issues and recommends improvements to optimize data flow across services and APIs.
12. Ensures scalable and resilient backend functionality, with proactive measures for increased system demands.

Qualifications and Skills

• Minimum 8+ years of experience in software development, architecture, and system integration.
• Bachelor’s degree (B.E./B.Tech) in Computer Science or IT, or bachelor’s in computer applications (BCA), or master’s in computer applications (MCA).
• Expertise in software architecture, system design, and technical leadership for enterprise applications.
• Serves as a technical owner for product solutions, driving architecture, design, implementation, and operational excellence.
• Solves complex technical problems and mentors junior developers through technical leadership, coaching, and high-quality code reviews.
• Designs, develops, deploys, and supports cloud-native solutions in AWS with a focus on high availability, performance, stability, security, observability, and cost efficiency.
• Builds and maintains full-stack applications using modern technologies including Java, Python, Golang, databases, and cloud platform services.
• Applies DevOps best practices including CI/CD pipeline development, infrastructure automation, automated testing, and deployment tooling.
• Leverages AI appropriately to improve software development productivity, code quality, test coverage, and engineering effectiveness.
• Partners with architects, technical leaders, and business stakeholders to deliver scalable, resilient, and maintainable solutions.
• Champions engineering best practices, including well-bounded solution design, operational readiness, automated testing, and continuous improvement.
• Creates and maintains technical documentation and ensures solutions are production ready.
• Continuously improves existing systems and leaves every application, platform, and solution in better shape than it was found.
• MUST HAVE: - Demonstrated success delivering and leading key components of multiple mid to large scale implementation projects.
• MUST HAVE: - AWS Full Stack, Python, Angular JS/React, Java, has worked with Modern Data Patterns, TDD Development, DevOps, observability, spark/scala, relational and non-relational database technologies.

Location

This role is based in Hyderabad, Telangana at Vanguard’s India office. Only qualified external applicants will be considered.

Our mission

Vanguard adheres to a simple 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 you 

Vanguard takes the same long-term view of your success—at work and in life—with Benefits and Rewards packages that reflect what you care about, throughout all the phases and stages of your life. Our Total Rewards programs provide you and your loved ones with wellness support for key areas in your life: 

Financial wellness 
We're committed to enabling your financial success and provide competitive offers and programs. 

Physical wellness 
We're committed to providing benefits that support your physical health and wellness. 

Personal wellness 
We're committed to providing resources that help support the full scope of your life. 

How we work

Vanguard has implemented a hybrid working model for most of our employees (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.