Application Engineer (Angular, Java)

Location: London, United Kingdom

Time Type: Full time

Job Description

Job Title

Application Engineer (Angular, Java)

The Role

You'll be joining the Europe FAS engineering team responsible for building the digital capabilities that power client onboarding across Vanguard Europe. The team creates automated, seamless experiences that make it easy for FAS clients to do business with Vanguard, from prospect journeys and lead generation through to account opening and relationship deepening.

This is a mature, globally distributed team working on high-profile projects that directly support Vanguard's growth in Europe. You'll collaborate with engineers across multiple time zones, working closely with product and design to deliver multi-touchpoint digital experiences that serve clients across channels and third-party integrations.

The tech stack is modern: Angular on the front end, AWS cloud services (Aurora Postgres, S3, EC2) and Node.js on the backend. The team actively uses AI-assisted development tools as part of how they build and ship.

In this role you will

• Design, develop, and deliver Angular applications that power client onboarding journeys, from prospect engagement through to account setup

• Build and maintain cloud-native services on AWS, working with Aurora Postgres, S3, and EC2

• Use AI development tools (Claude, Copilot) as a core part of your workflow to accelerate delivery and improve code quality

• Integrate APIs, third-party services, and internal platforms to create seamless cross-channel experiences

• Write well-tested, maintainable code with strong automated test coverage

• Collaborate with a globally distributed team, contributing to design discussions, code reviews, and architectural decisions

• Work with product owners to translate business requirements into technical solutions that support Vanguard's client growth ambitions

• Contribute to the team's engineering practices, documentation, and continuous improvement

What it takes

Required:

• Strong Angular development skills with experience on recent framework versions

• Java springboot experience

• Solid AWS cloud knowledge, particularly serverless and managed services (Aurora Postgres, EC2, S3)

• Node.js development experience

• An AI-first development mindset: you actively use LLM tools (Claude, GitHub Copilot, or similar) to augment your engineering workflow and are comfortable pushing the boundaries of what's possible with AI-assisted development

• Ability to work independently, owning features end-to-end from technical design through to production

• Experience with CI/CD pipelines, automated testing, and modern version control practices

• Strong communication skills and comfort collaborating across time zones with a distributed team

• A product-oriented mindset: you care about the end user experience, not just the code

Desirable:

• Experience with Adobe Experience Manager (AEM)

• Background in product organisations or customer-facing digital platforms

• Experience with onboarding, KYC, or regulated financial services journeys

• AWS certification (Cloud Practitioner or Associate level)

• Familiarity with observability and monitoring tool

Special Factors 

• Vanguard is not offering visa sponsorship for this position

• This is a hybrid position and would require you to work in the office 3 days per week (Tuesday, Wednesday & Thursday)

• Please note that we review applications on a rolling basis and may close this role early if there is a high level of interest. To avoid missing out, we recommend applying as soon as possible

Why Vanguard? 

Vanguard is a different kind of investment company. It was founded in the United States in 1975 on a simple but revolutionary idea: that an investment company should manage its funds solely in the interests of its clients. 

This is a philosophy that has helped millions of people around the world to achieve their goals with low-cost, uncomplicated investments. 

It's what we stand for: value to investors. 

Inclusion Statement  

Vanguard’s continued commitment to diversity and inclusion is firmly rooted in our culture. Every decision we make to best serve our clients, crew (internally employees are referred to as crew), and communities is guided by one simple statement: “Do the right thing.”

We believe that a critical aspect of doing the right thing requires building diverse, inclusive, and highly effective teams of individuals who are as unique as the clients they serve. We empower our crew to contribute their distinct strengths to achieving Vanguard’s core purpose through our values. 

When all crew members feel valued and included, our ability to collaborate and innovate is amplified, and we are united in delivering on Vanguard's core purpose: to take a stand for all investors, to treat them fairly, and to give them the best chance for investment success.

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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.