Lead Developer - Real Time Investment Data Systems (London)
Job Description
hackajob is collaborating with Vanguard to connect them with exceptional professionals for this role.
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The Role
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We are seeking a Lead Developer to work on the design and delivery of real‐time and time‐series data platforms within our investment management technology team. This role combines hands‐on engineering with domain expertise, setting direction for systems that underpin market data, trading, portfolio, and analytics workflows used by Portfolio Managers, Traders, and Quant teams.
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In this role you will
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You will act as the lead developer for real‐time and historical data platforms, including integration with vendor platforms like OneTick and real time data providers like Bloomberg, Refinitiv etc., and will be responsible for design, implementation, engineering standards, and production stability. You will work closely with our business and IT leaders to understand the requirements, propose scalable solutions and set engineering standards around performance, resilience, data quality and observability while remaining deeply hands-on during the implementation phase.
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Key responsibilities to also include:
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- \nUnderstand the evolving business requirements and use the domain knowledge to lead the design and implementation of real-time and time-series data services\n
- \nWork closely with architects and developers to make pragmatic architectural decisions balancing business urgency, scalability and long-term maintainability\n
- \nRemain deeply hands-on in design and implementation of critical components\n
- \nSet engineering standards around performance, resilience, data quality, and observability. Review code and designs, focusing on correctness, performance, and operational readiness\n
- \nDesign schemas, partitioning, and data lifecycle strategies for large‐scale intraday and historical datasets \n
- \nLead integrations with vendor platforms and ensure consistent, reliable data across internal consumers \n
- \nOptimize query performance and data access patterns for PM, Trader, and Quant use cases\n
- \nOwn production stability for business‐critical data systems, particularly during trading hours \n
- \nDefine and enforce best practices for monitoring, alerting, incident response, and root‐cause analysis \n
- \nProactively identify performance bottlenecks, scalability risks, and operational weaknesses\n
- \nMentor engineers, providing technical guidance and raising overall team capability \n
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What it takes
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- \nProven significant professional software engineering experience combined with significant domain expertise gained from building real-time data platforms in investment management domain\n
- \nStrong experience in integration with real-time vendor platforms like OneTick, and strong experience in time-series databases and analytical platforms\n
- \nStrong hands-on experience in Java, Python and other programming languages, and building scalable services on AWS\n
- \nProven experience acting as a Lead Engineer on mission critical systems involving real-time streaming and messaging technologies on Cloud infrastructure (AWS)\n
- \nDeep understanding of financial time‐series characteristics (high volume, bursty data, corrections, late data) and proven ability to design scalable schemas and query models for both intraday and historical analytics \n
- \nStrong understanding of market data, orders, executions, positions, portfolios, and pricing \n
- \nExperience balancing latency, storage efficiency, and analytical flexibility\n
- \nFamiliarity with vendor data ecosystems (e.g. Bloomberg, Refinitiv, MarketAxess) \n
- \nExperience delivering platforms used directly by PMs, Traders, and Quant teams\n
- \nStrong ability to influence technical direction and mentor senior and junior engineers\n
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Special Factors
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- \nVanguard is not offering visa sponsorship for this position\n
- \nThis is a hybrid position and would require you to work in the office 3 days per week (Tuesday, Wednesday & Thursday)\n
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Why Vanguard?
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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.
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This is a philosophy that has helped millions of people around the world to achieve their goals with low-cost, uncomplicated investments.
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It's what we stand for: value to investors.
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Inclusion Statement
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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.”
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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.
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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
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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.