software engineer London, England
Job description
Why Digital & Tech at M&S
We're changing the way we do things, and putting industry leading innovation at the heart of how we operate; we need a stellar engineering team to make it happen. You'll be joining one of the most iconic brands in the UK on its most exciting cycle yet. We're more integrated and product led in our tech teams than ever before: learning, changing, and adapting constantly, with millions of people benefiting from your work every single day.
The Role
We're seeking a Head of Software Engineering to bring technical expertise and operational excellence. In partnership with our Product and Delivery teams, you'll work with teams to design, build, and maintain robust solutions, while playing a key role in establishing a best-in-class software engineering culture!
As we evolve, we're looking for individuals to join us in transforming our engineering environment, employing pioneering technologies, and creating exceptional work. Your creativity, curiosity, and confidence will empower our multidisciplinary engineering teams and help tackle real problems for our customers and colleagues!
- Stores - UK stores 1500 stores, 12M transactions per week, 500 franchises, Operate in 99 countries through franchises.
- Website - 10M visits per week, 2M orders per week, £100M revenue per week
- 55K employees in UK - 600 full time UK technology personnel, a further 1500 contractors, with aspirations to grow UK tech personnel.
Scope of the role
Scope: Fulfilment Capabilities
The beating heart of a thriving £5bn omnichannel operation is where you come in, as the engineering leader for our Fulfilment Capabilities Product Group. You will drive the technical strategy for our fulfilment platform, the lifeline that connects our products to customers, and ensuring that every post-purchase experience exceeds expectations.
You will be responsible for fulfilment services that span multiple product groups with a diverse set of fulfilment propositions, from Food, to Clothing & Home, to Build To Order, to Flowers, and integrating with our warehouse and supply chain systems.
We are in the process of migrating from cloud-deployed legacy systems (IBM OMS) to a fully distributed domain-driven architecture that will unlock massive business agility and benefit.
To be successful in this role, you will need a deep understanding of retail order fulfilment processes with expert knowledge of order processing, inventory management, warehousing, distribution, and logistics.
Tech Stack
- Java/Micronaut on the backend.
- Deployed to the Azure cloud platform.
- Github Enterprise for source control.
- New Relic for observability.
- Kafka for events.
Key Accountabilities & Responsibilities
The Head of Software Engineering role is the embodiment of ‘solving problems through technology’ with key responsibilities as follows:
Leadership and Management: Lead Software Engineering Managers to build quality, reliable software. Lead all aspects of their skill development, cultivate a growth mindset, and ensure they adhere to M&S's technology standards and policies. Champion the implementation of the technical strategy and the North Star principles.
Collaboration and Communication: Develop strong relationships with Product and Delivery teams to address problems and prioritise tasks. Communicate decisively with senior business partners and engage with product colleagues to drive customer value.
Strategic Planning: Work with the team to create and drive the tech strategy for M&S’s omni-channel architecture, supporting order fulfilment via domain-driven microservices. Contribute to the design of the tech architecture through strategy papers. Lead product planning and roadmap development with an agile mindset. Lead the development of Product Group OKRs and ensure responsibility for overall objectives.
Quality Assurance and Improvement: Champion engineering excellence, supervising the quality of code and implementing standard methodologies. Drive the use of DevOps practices and measure product quality and reliability through metrics. Encourage continuous learning and improvement for Product Teams and the overall Product Group.
Innovation and Culture: Cultivate a culture of innovation and experimentation. Promote M&S's values and way of working within the team and wider community. Lead the Communities of Practice and challenge the status quo to elevate M&S Software Engineering.
Talent Strategy and Recruitment: Lead recruitment and onboarding activities. Implement the M&S Engineering talent strategy and enhance brand outreach activities.
Working for us means
- Hybrid Working
- Industry leading pension of up to 12% M&S contribution
- Bonus up to 40%
- 20% discount on M&S products
- Up to 2 weeks working abroad
- Learning days once a month, Tech/Ed days once a quarter and Hackathon every other quarter
- A range of wellbeing support (including free counselling and a virtual GP for you and immediate family)
- 20% off gym memberships, access to online fitness classes and discounts for complementary health services, such as nutrition and lifestyle coaching
#LI-HB1
M&S is ready to push boundaries to lead the retail industry into a greener, speedier, more inspiring digital era. That’s why we’re revolutionising how we work and offering our most exciting opportunities yet. There’s never been a better time to be part of our team. Marks & Spencer aims to be an inclusive organisation, trusted and admired by our colleagues, customers and suppliers. Join us and make an immediate impact.
We are committed to an active Inclusion, Diversity and Equal Opportunities Policy, which starts with our recruitment and selection process, and we are happy to talk flexible working.
If you consider yourself to require reasonable adjustments to any part of our recruitment process, we invite you to share those requirements with us when completing your application. We will make every effort to ensure your needs are met to provide a fair and transparent process of assessment.
