SeniorFull TimeEN
Role Summary
Vanguard is investing in an enterprise Workplace AI capability that puts agentic, generative, and assistive AI into the daily flow of every crew member. We are building this capability primarily on the Microsoft 365 ecosystem — Microsoft 365 Copilot, Copilot Studio, Azure AI Foundry, and Power Platform — and integrating with the broader Vanguard data, identity, and security stack.
We are hiring a hands-on AI Engineer to drive the implementation of this capability. This is a builder's role, not an architect-only role. The market for “AI Architects” is still immature — true architects today sit at the hyperscalers and ISVs who are building the underlying tools. Vanguard, as a sophisticated consumer of those tools, needs an engineer who can pick up Copilot Studio, Foundry, Power Automate, and the Microsoft Graph and ship working agents and integrations against them, while staying current on how AWS Bedrock, Amazon Q, Google Vertex AI, and Agentspace are evolving so we can bring the best ideas back into our M365 implementation.
You will partner closely with our Workplace AI Engineer on agent governance, environment strategy, and Copilot Studio operations; with our Technical Project Manager on program delivery, champions enablement, and change management; and with our Cloud Domain Architect on platform alignment. You will be a core member of the emerging Workplace AI Fusion Team.
Responsibilities
Design, build, test, and deploy custom agents, plugins, and connectors in Microsoft Copilot Studio and Azure AI Foundry, integrated with M365 Copilot, Teams, Outlook, and SharePoint.
Build automation and orchestration in Power Automate and Power Platform, including custom connectors to Vanguard data sources (Confluence, Jira, ServiceNow, internal APIs).
Implement retrieval, grounding, and indexing patterns against SharePoint, Microsoft Graph, and approved third-party data sources.
Prototype and productionize agents that automate high-value crew workflows; iterate based on telemetry and user feedback.
Cross-Platform Industry Fluency
Stay current on AWS Bedrock / Amazon Q / Strands / Agents for Bedrock and Google Vertex AI / Agentspace / ADK agent-building patterns, and translate applicable ideas into our Microsoft implementation.
Evaluate emerging frameworks (LangChain, LangGraph, Semantic Kernel, AutoGen, MCP) and recommend where they fit — or don't fit — within Vanguard's M365-first strategy.
Bring an opinion. We expect this engineer to challenge the Microsoft default when a better pattern exists elsewhere, and to defend the Microsoft choice when it is the right one.
Governance, Security & Compliance
Partner with the Workplace AI Engineer and Information Security to implement AI governance controls: data protection (Purview, MIP, Digital Guardian/DLP), model access controls, prompt and output logging, and agent lifecycle approvals.
Implement and operate Power Platform environment strategy (default, managed, dev/test/prod separation, DLP policies, capacity management).
Design IAM and least-privilege patterns for agent identities (Entra app registrations, managed identities, service principals, OKTA federation).
Observability & Operations
Build dashboards and telemetry for agent usage, latency, accuracy, cost, and policy violations using Log Analytics, Sentinel, Defender for Cloud Apps, and Power BI.
Define and operate the on-call model for production agents in partnership with Tier 3 Engineering.
Drive root-cause analysis for agent incidents and feed lessons back into platform standards.
Integration & Interoperability
Integrate Copilot and custom agents with Vanguard knowledge sources — Confluence, Jira, ServiceNow, SharePoint, Exchange, Teams, OneDrive — using approved connectors and Graph APIs.
Work with Identity engineering to align agent authentication with Entra ID and OKTA.
Coordinate with Data, Cloud, and Security domain teams on third-party data integration patterns.
Tier 3 Escalation & Expert Support
Serve as Tier 3 escalation for complex Copilot Studio, Foundry, and Power Platform issues.
Provide deep technical consultation to Workplace Engineering and partner teams adopting agents.
Build reusable patterns, reference implementations, and internal playbooks that scale beyond a single engineer.
Innovation & Strategic Oversight
Lead proof-of-concept work for new Microsoft AI capabilities (Foundry agents, Copilot Tuning, MCP servers, declarative agents, agentic memory).
Contribute to the Workplace AI roadmap and operating model.
Partner with the Copilot Champions program and fireside-chat / train-the-trainer initiatives to translate engineering work into adoption outcomes.
Required Qualifications and Skills
8+ years of professional software / platform engineering experience, with 5+ years building production solutions on the Microsoft 365 and/or Azure stack.
Hands-on production experience with at least three of: Microsoft Copilot Studio, Azure AI Foundry / Azure OpenAI, Power Automate, Power Apps, Microsoft Graph, SharePoint Framework.
Demonstrable experience designing and shipping agentic or generative AI solutions — not just consuming a chat UI, but building, grounding, evaluating, and operating agents.
Working knowledge of at least one non-Microsoft AI platform (AWS Bedrock / Amazon Q, Google Vertex AI / Agentspace, OpenAI API direct, Anthropic API) sufficient to evaluate trade-offs.
Strong scripting and development skills in Python, PowerShell, and TypeScript/JavaScript; comfort with REST APIs, OAuth 2.0 / OIDC, and JSON schemas.
Experience implementing security and compliance controls in a regulated environment: Purview, Sentinel, Defender, Conditional Access, MIP, DLP.
Identity fluency with Entra ID (Azure AD) and federated IdPs (OKTA preferred).
Experience working in a financial services, healthcare, or other heavily regulated environment, or a credible plan to come up to speed quickly.
Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or equivalent practical experience.
Preferred Attributes
Familiarity with Model Context Protocol (MCP), declarative agents, and the broader emerging agent-interop standards.
Experience with Confluence and Jira indexing / connector development for AI grounding.
Experience operating Power Platform Center of Excellence tooling and ALM patterns.
Comfort with infrastructure-as-code (Bicep, Terraform) and CI/CD for Power Platform / Foundry artifacts.
Background contributing to internal communities of practice, champions networks, or developer enablement programs.
Prior experience as a hands-on engineer in a Fusion Team (engineers + product + data + analysts) or AI Center of Excellence model.
Vendor certifications welcomed but not required: MS-102, AI-102, PL-400, PL-600, AZ-204, SC-100.
Special Factors
Sponsorship
Vanguard is 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.
