As part of the M&S Software Engineering team, you’ll be joining a well-loved historic brand, working on solutions that serve millions of loyal customers and thousands of colleagues. With ethical values that run right through the company’s core and technology leaders who truly understand software engineering, it’s an exciting time as we continue our transformation into a digital-first, engineering-led organisation, with the quality of our engineering teams being a key differentiator.
We are seeking a passionate Principal Software Engineer to join us within Supply Chain & Logistics, where you will be a driving force behind the modernisation of mission-critical systems that enable M&S to scale and evolve. As a technical leader, you will collaborate with cross-functional teams to design, build and maintain software that powers our warehouse operations, helping to create a best-in-class engineering environment while ensuring solutions are robust, scalable and reusable across our warehouse network.
Due to high interest, this role may close earlier than advertised. We recommend applying as soon as possible.
What You'll Do
Your key accountabilities will include:
- Lead technical excellence across the full software development lifecycle, from solution design through to launch, operations and continuous improvement of strategic products and platforms.
- Define and influence technical direction, engineering strategy and technology investment decisions, partnering with Engineering, Technology and Product leaders to align priorities and outcomes.
- Champion engineering excellence by promoting best practices including clean code, clean architecture, DevOps, automation and operational excellence, while driving productivity and delivery quality.
- Mentor and develop engineers across the organisation, supporting Communities of Practice, enabling team growth and fostering a culture of innovation, autonomy and continuous learning.
- Strengthen the engineering organisation through recruitment, onboarding, internal and external advocacy, and by contributing to the wider engineering community through thought leadership and knowledge sharing.
Who You Are
Your skills and experience will include:
- Significant experience defining and delivering technology strategy, driving innovation, influencing technical direction and implementing solutions that create measurable business value.
- Deep expertise in software engineering best practices, including clean code, design patterns, quality assurance, testing strategies, continuous integration, continuous delivery and DevOps principles.
- Strong technical leadership across solution architecture, cloud computing, information security, observability, reliability and performance engineering, with experience delivering complex, high-impact systems at scale.
- Proven ability to optimise processes, lead senior engineers and technical specialists, and influence stakeholders at all levels to achieve successful business and technology outcomes.
- Excellent communication, mentoring and leadership skills, with a collaborative approach, strong sense of ownership and the ability to engage effectively with both technical and non-technical audiences.
Desirable Experience
- Experience within the Retail domain and/or Supply Chain & Logistics, particularly around Warehouse Management Systems (WMS) and Warehouse Control Systems (WCS).
- Previous software engineering community leadership experience.
- Experience presenting at internal and external technology events.
- Demonstrable entrepreneurial thinking and innovation within previous organisations.
Tech Stack
M&S uses a variety of technologies across Supply Chain & Logistics and, as part of our modernisation journey, will continue to introduce new technologies. Current technologies include:
- Java, Micronaut, PL/SQL
- ReactJS, Next.js
- Azure Cloud, Dynatrace (Observability)
- Mule, Kafka, MQ
- Blue Yonder Dispatcher
What’s in it for you?
Working at M&S means being part of something bigger – helping to deliver quality, value and service to millions of customers every day. We’re inclusive, fast-moving and always evolving, with a strong sense of purpose and a focus on doing the right thing.
Here are just a few of the benefits that make working here even more rewarding:
- 20% colleague discount on all M&S products and many third-party brands for you and someone in your household, available once you’ve completed your probation.
- Competitive holiday allowance with the option to buy more.
- Discretionary bonus schemes linked to your performance and ours.
- Strong pension and life assurance to help plan for the future.
- Tailored induction and training to support your development from day one.
- Exclusive perks and savings through our M&S Choices portal.
- Market-leading family policies, including parental, adoption and neonatal leave.
- 24/7 wellbeing support, including virtual GP access and mental health services.
- One paid volunteer day a year to support a cause that matters to you.
Everyone’s Welcome
We are ambitious about the future of retail. We’re disrupting, innovating and leading the industry into a more conscientious, inspiring digital era. We’re transforming how we work together and offering our most exciting opportunities yet. Marks & Spencer strives to be an inclusive organisation, trusted and admired by our colleagues, customers and suppliers. Join us and make change happen.
We are committed to building diverse and representative teams, where everyone can bring their whole selves to work and be at their best. We support each other and work together to win together.
If you feel you'd benefit from any support or reasonable adjustments during any stage of the recruitment process, please don’t hesitate to let us know when completing your application. This information will be picked up by our team, so we can try and put steps in place to help you be at your best throughout the process.
#LI-Hybrid #LI-NO1
Skills Required
- Significant track record of strategic and innovative technical thinking and execution
- Expertise in clean code and implementation of design patterns
- Depth of knowledge in Information Security; design and quality assure secure solutions
- Experience driving system design for high-risk, high-impact, complex systems
- Ability to analyse and optimise processes and lead teams to deliver service improvements
- Experience using a variety of prototyping methods and mentoring others on methodologies
- Strong understanding of QA, testing quadrants and testing pyramid application
- Ability to lead senior engineers and technical stakeholders to outcomes without prescribing solutions
- Authoritative skills in cloud computing (network, security, serverless, Kubernetes) and automation
- Experience implementing Observability and Reliability using market technologies (e.g., Dynatrace)
- Advocate and practical experience with Continuous Integration and Continuous Delivery
- Advanced DevOps experience with ownership of build and run (you build it, you run it)
- Experience in Performance Engineering (load testing, tuning, core web vitals, page speed)
- Expertise in reliability testing
- Excellent written and verbal communication, able to adjust for different audiences
- Senior leadership mentality and ability to influence at senior levels
- Experience in the Retail domain and/or Supply Chain & Logistics, particularly WMS/WCS
- Previous software engineering community leadership experience
- Professional presentation delivery experience at internal and external events
- Demonstrable entrepreneurship in previous organisations
What We Do
At M&S, we're dedicated to being the most trusted retailer, prioritising quality and delivering value. Every day, we bring the magic of M&S to our customers, whenever, wherever and however they want to shop with us. For over a century, we've set the standard, doing the right thing and embracing innovation. Today, with over 65,000 colleagues serving 32 million customers globally, we're putting quality products at the heart of everything we do. Tomorrow holds boundless opportunities with us. We're pioneering digital innovation and shaping the future of retail where our values drive every action. We stay close to customers and colleagues, always curious and connected. Our decisions are bold, our actions ambitious. Transparency is paramount, with straightforward, honest communication. We're constantly innovating, always striving for the best. Our focus is on aiming higher and winning together, combined with wise financial decisions to secure our future. Join us at M&S to shape the future of retail.
