Investment Systems Application Engineer - III

Vanguard•Charlotte, NC

2d•Hybrid

About The Position

Core Responsibilities Test Engineering & Automation Frameworks Design and build automated testing frameworks for backend services, data pipelines, and end‑to‑end investment workflows Develop regression testing, scenario validation, and deterministic validation suites for portfolio calculations, tax logic, and trading workflows Create reusable testing tools, harnesses, and datasets (e.g., golden datasets, synthetic data generation) Integrate automated testing into CI/CD pipelines to enable continuous validation Controls & Validation (Investment Systems Focus) Implement controls‑by‑design to ensure accuracy, consistency, and completeness of investment workflows Build validation layers that detect data anomalies, workflow breaks, and calculation discrepancies Ensure traceability and reproducibility of results to meet audit and regulatory expectations Support development of validation frameworks for portfolio construction, tax‑loss harvesting, and analytics pipelines Auxiliary Development (Backend / Data / Full‑Stack Support) Contribute to backend services or data pipelines to enable testability, observability, and validation hooks Develop supporting APIs, utilities, or UI components that aid in testing, debugging, and workflow validation Improve system instrumentation to enable better monitoring and validation Cloud & Engineering Practices (AWS) Build and run validation frameworks on AWS using scalable, cloud‑native patterns Integrate testing tools into CI/CD pipelines and deployment workflows Contribute to observability (logging, metrics, tracing) to support validation and issue diagnosis SDLC & Production Support Participate in design, code, and test reviews to ensure quality is built in early Support defect identification, triage, and root cause analysis Contribute to production validation, reconciliation checks, and post‑release verification Ensure solutions comply with information security and technology policies What Success Looks Like You build robust automated validation frameworks that significantly reduce production defects You improve confidence in investment workflows by ensuring correctness and reproducibility You embed testing and control mechanisms directly into system design and delivery pipelines You act as a quality multiplier—raising engineering standards across the VPI platform Special Factors Sponsorship Vanguard is 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. This website uses "cookies" to distinguish you from other users. A cookie is a small file of letters and numbers placed on your computer or device. This helps us to provide you with a good experience when you browse our website and also allows us to improve our site and services. The cookies are stored locally on your computer or mobile device. To accept cookies you can continue browsing as normal. Or you can go to our Privacy Policy to read more information and learn how to change your preferences.

Requirements

5+ years of experience in software engineering, test engineering, or platform engineering within investment, wealth management, or financial systems
Strong programming skills in Python (preferred) or Java
Experience building automated testing frameworks (unit, integration, and end‑to‑end)
Solid understanding of investment domain concepts (portfolios, positions, transactions, tax lots, trading lifecycle, or analytics workflows)
Experience working with data‑intensive systems and validating data quality and accuracy
Familiarity with CI/CD pipelines and cloud environments (AWS preferred)

Nice To Haves

Implementing controls, validation frameworks, or reconciliation processes in financial systems
Exposure to model validation, analytics validation, or calculation verification workflows
Experience with distributed systems, microservices, and event‑driven architectures
Familiarity with observability tools and debugging complex production systems

Responsibilities

Design and build automated testing frameworks for backend services, data pipelines, and end‑to‑end investment workflows
Develop regression testing, scenario validation, and deterministic validation suites for portfolio calculations, tax logic, and trading workflows
Create reusable testing tools, harnesses, and datasets (e.g., golden datasets, synthetic data generation)
Integrate automated testing into CI/CD pipelines to enable continuous validation
Implement controls‑by‑design to ensure accuracy, consistency, and completeness of investment workflows
Build validation layers that detect data anomalies, workflow breaks, and calculation discrepancies
Ensure traceability and reproducibility of results to meet audit and regulatory expectations
Support development of validation frameworks for portfolio construction, tax‑loss harvesting, and analytics pipelines
Contribute to backend services or data pipelines to enable testability, observability, and validation hooks
Develop supporting APIs, utilities, or UI components that aid in testing, debugging, and workflow validation
Improve system instrumentation to enable better monitoring and validation
Build and run validation frameworks on AWS using scalable, cloud‑native patterns
Integrate testing tools into CI/CD pipelines and deployment workflows
Contribute to observability (logging, metrics, tracing) to support validation and issue diagnosis
Participate in design, code, and test reviews to ensure quality is built in early
Support defect identification, triage, and root cause analysis
Contribute to production validation, reconciliation checks, and post‑release verification
Ensure solutions comply with information security and technology policies