Senior Software Engineer Identity & Authentication

About the Role
In the European Client Identity team we are building and operating Vanguards authentication
and MFA platform used by hundreds of thousands of clients across the UK and Europe.
This is a hands-on senior full-stack role focused on designing building deploying and
operating cloud-based identity services. You will contribute across backend APIs cloud
infrastructure and frontend experiences with React as the preferred frontend framework
for new UI work. You will work in a highly regulated environment where security reliability and
operational discipline matter.
You dont need to be an identity expert on day one but you do need strong full-stack
fundamentals cloud experience and a responsible methodical engineering mindset.

What Youll Do
Build and evolve backend services that support login MFA and client authentication
Design and implement REST APIs using NestJS / TypeScript
Build frontend experiences using React where new UI development is required
Integrate with identity and MFA platforms (e.g. Transmit Security Auth0)
Deploy and operate services on AWS using Infrastructure as Code
Run and maintain services in production including:
Database migrations and updates
Manage vendor-specific software services running in AWS
Write automated tests and contribute to improving test coverage and quality
Participate in CI/CD pipelines deployments and operational procedures
Work closely with product and security stakeholders to translate requirements into
technical solutions
Continuously improve engineering standards tooling and reliability

What Were Looking For (Must-Have)
Strong backend engineering fundamentals with and NestJS or Express
TypeScript across frontend and backend
Experience designing and building REST APIs
Understanding of authentication protocols: OAuth 2.0 JWT MFA flows
Hands-on experience with AWS (ECS Lambda CloudFront S3 Secrets Manager)
Familiarity with Infrastructure as Code (CloudFormation or Terraform)
Experience with containerised workloads (Docker)
Strong Git practices and CI/CD experience (GitHub Actions or similar)
Experience writing unit and integration tests (Jest)

Nice to Have
React experience for frontend development preferred for any new UI work
Experience with identity authentication or MFA systems
Familiarity with Kong API Gateway or similar
Exposure to Aurora PostgreSQL or DynamoDB
Knowledge of microservices architectures
Exposure to security concepts (IAM encryption networking)
Experience with observability tooling (OpenTelemetry Honeycomb Grafana)
Experience in regulated or enterprise environments

Our Tech Stack
AWS TypeScript React (NestJS) REST APIs Auth0 Transmit Security
Kong Gateway GitHub GitHub Actions CloudFormation

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.