APAC Data Platforms Tech Lead

More than 45 years ago John C. Bogle had a vision to start an investment company that did things differently. A company with no external shareholders. Where all the profits were invested back into the business and used to lower costs. Evidently it was as bold as it was brilliant. To this day Vanguard Group still has no external shareholders. That means no share prices to protect and no profits to generate for outside owners.

Today Vanguard is one of the worlds largest investment management companies serving more than 50 million investors worldwide. For more than 25 years Vanguard Australia has been supporting individual investors financial advisers and superannuation members to achieve their long-term financial goals.

**This hybrid role (in office Tues-Wed-Thurs) is based in Melbourne VIC**

Join Vanguards growing Technology division in Australia. Our Chief Data & Analytics Offices Data Platforms team is transforming how Australians invest by delivering timely modelled and AI-ready datasets that customers trust and understand.

What Youll Do

• Own BAU operations for APAC data platforms ensuring stability and driving continuous improvement.
• Support the design build and rollout of a metadata-driven incrementally loading data lakehouse solution on AWS using Databricksand eventually own it.
• Champion Databricks adoption guiding architecture decisions best practices and migration pathways.
• Collaborate globally with teams in Australia Europe and the US to deliver accessible high-quality data.
• Drive governance and quality through maintainable well-documented resilient code aligned with DataOps principles.
• Mentor and uplift engineering capability across the team.
• Partner with leadership to prioritise initiatives and deliver measurable business value.

What Were Looking For

• Proven leadership in cloud-based data engineering teams ideally in large-scale AWS environments.
• Expertise in Databricks and Spark (PySpark SparkSQL) plus strong Python and SQL skills.
• Deep understanding of data modelling (dimensional modelling; Data Vault a plus).
• Strong communicator who can translate technical concepts into business language.
• Experience managing priorities across multiple time zones and collaborating globally.
• Solid grasp of Git CI/CD and modern engineering practices (DevOps DataOps CloudOps).
• Familiarity with ETL frameworks data lakehouses warehouses and governance processes.
• Comfortable with ambiguity proactive and adaptable with strong learning agility.

Nice to haves:

• Financial services or investment management experience.
• Experience designing metadata-driven incremental-load architectures on AWS.
• Knowledge of SaaS platforms CRM/ERP systems and diverse data formats (APIs JSON RDBMS).
• Exposure to data visualisation tools (Tableau preferred).

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.