Technical Lead, Customer Data & Personalization Platforms

Core Responsibilities

• Provide technical leadership for Vanguard's MarTech Data Platform ecosystem , including Customer Data Platforms (CDP), Identity Resolution, Data Clean Rooms, customer data assets, and activation platforms that power modern marketing and personalization at scale.
• Lead the architecture, design, and delivery of scalable, secure, and governed data solutions , ensuring reliability, performance, and operational excellence across the platform landscape.
• Drive engineering best practices across data architecture, DataOps, observability, CI/CD, testing, security, and platform operations.
• Partner closely with Product, Marketing, Analytics, AdTech, and Engineering teams to translate business objectives into durable, scalable technical solutions.
• Provide technical oversight for the full solution lifecycle , including architecture reviews, design decisions, implementation, testing, deployment, and ongoing optimization.
• Establish and enforce data governance, privacy, security, and compliance standards for customer and identity data, ensuring alignment with enterprise and regulatory requirements.
• Evaluate emerging technologies and platform capabilities , developing roadmaps and recommendations that advance Vanguard's marketing, customer intelligence, and activation strategies.
• Coach and mentor engineers and technical contributors , providing guidance on architecture, design patterns, engineering practices, and technology adoption.
• Communicate platform strategy, technical direction, risks, and recommendations to stakeholders at varying levels across Product, Engineering, and business organizations.
• Drive continuous improvement through modern engineering practices, automation, operational metrics, and platform optimization initiatives.

Qualifications

• Minimum of 8+ years of experience in software engineering, data engineering, or data platform development, including 3+ years in a technical leadership role .
• Strong experience designing, building, and operating large-scale data platforms, data products, and distributed data processing solutions.
• Familiarity with modern MarTech and AdTech platforms , including audience activation, measurement, campaign orchestration, and digital marketing ecosystems.
• Knowledge of performance marketing, customer journey analytics, personalization, audience targeting, and marketing measurement.
• Experience with Identity Resolution , customer profile management, audience segmentation, consent management, and customer intelligence platforms.
• Experience working with Data Clean Rooms and privacy-safe data collaboration technologies preferred.
• Hands-on experience with cloud-native data platforms and architectures, preferably AWS.
• Deep expertise in data engineering technologies , including Python, SQL, Spark, Kafka, and modern data processing frameworks.
• Hands-on experience with Databricks , Delta Lake, Customer Lake CDP, Unity Catalog, and modern Lakehouse architectures preferred.
• Experience with GenAI, agentic AI, and MCP, enabling AI-powered personalization, customer intelligence, and marketing experiences through modern data platforms.
• Experience building scalable batch and streaming data pipelines with a strong focus on performance, reliability, observability, and data quality.
• Strong understanding of DataOps, CI/CD, Infrastructure as Code, automated testing, monitoring, and operational excellence practices.
• Experience designing APIs and data services to support consumer, analytics, and activation use cases.
• Strong understanding of data governance, metadata management, privacy, security, and regulatory considerations involving customer data.
• Proven ability to influence architecture decisions and collaborate effectively across Product, Engineering, Marketing, Analytics, and business stakeholders.
• Demonstrated ability to mentor engineers and provide technical leadership across cross-functional teams.
• Experience supporting AI/ML, customer intelligence, or next-generation marketing platforms preferred.
• Passion for evaluating emerging technologies and shaping enterprise-wide standards and best practices.

Special Factors

Sponsorship

Vanguard is not 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.