We are modernising the platforms that power how M&S Foods designs products, collaborates with suppliers and manages commercial decisions.
These systems sit at the centre of the M&S Foods ecosystem and support thousands of internal users and suppliers across product development, supply chain and commercial operations.
Our focus is evolving a complex landscape of legacy systems and point-to-point integrations into modern API-led and event-driven distributed systems that are easier to scale, operate and extend.
We are looking for a Software Engineering Manager – Distributed Systems( Foods) to help shape the architecture and technical direction of these platforms. This role works across multiple product teams to solve complex engineering problems, improve system reliability and establish shared technical patterns that enable teams to build safely and efficiently.
What You’ll Work On
You will help solve technical challenges such as:
- Simplifying complex legacy integrations across enterprise systems
- Defining clear domain boundaries and service ownership across platforms
- Moving from batch and point-to-point integrations to API-led and event-driven architectures
- Designing reliable APIs and event contracts used across multiple teams
- Improving platform observability, resilience and operational visibility
- Enabling teams to build on shared platform capabilities instead of duplicating solutions
What You’ll Do
- Own and shape platform architecture
- Lead and enable engineering teams
- Define and evolve architecture for critical systems across the Foods domain, including service boundaries, integration patterns and data models.
- Solve complex engineering problems
- Lead the design of solutions that span multiple teams and distributed systems.
- Modernise legacy platforms
- Help transition existing workflows and integrations towards scalable distributed services and event-driven platforms.
- Provide technical guidance through architecture discussions, design reviews and collaborative problem solving.
- Raise engineering standards
- Champion strong practices in testing, observability, reliability and system design.
We have a few openings available for the role, depending on team alignment; the role may focus on one of the following domains:
Product Data & New Product Development
Supplier & Commercial Platforms
What We’re Looking For
This role is suited to Managers who enjoy solving complex technical problems and influencing engineering direction across multiple teams.
Experience in the following areas is helpful:
- Designing scalable distributed systems and APIs
- Leading technical design across multiple services or teams
- Simplifying complex legacy systems and integrations
- Working with event-driven architectures and messaging systems
- Improving reliability, testing and observability of production systems
- Leading and mentoring engineers and supporting strong engineering practices
- Collaborating closely with product teams and domain experts
If your experience aligns with most of these areas, we encourage you to apply.
We are modernising the platforms that power how M&S Foods designs products, collaborates with suppliers and manages commercial decisions.
These systems sit at the centre of the M&S Foods ecosystem and support thousands of internal users and suppliers across product development, supply chain and commercial operations.
Our focus is evolving a complex landscape of legacy systems and point-to-point integrations into modern API-led and event-driven distributed systems that are easier to scale, operate and extend.
Tech Stack
M&S uses a variety of technologies including;
- Java, Spring, SpringBOOT, Micronaut
- React, Next.js, Typescript, Angular
- Azure Cloud, Kubernetes, Dynatrace (observability)
- Event Streaming Platform with Kafka
- Supply chain SaaS tools – Blue Yonder, PIM systems
- Ignite, Redis
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 through this process.
#LI-Hybrid #LI-PJ1
Skills Required
- Lead and develop engineering teams, including coaching, feedback and development plans
- Own delivery and outcomes, working with Product and Delivery leads to define realistic plans
- Create and maintain effective team ways of working; remove blockers and clarify priorities
- Partner closely with Staff/Principal Engineers on technical and architectural direction
- Support and drive engineering excellence across testing, CI/CD, observability and system reliability
- Experience working with distributed systems and modern architectures
- Experience delivering software in a product-led environment and managing cross-stakeholder delivery
- Familiarity with event-driven architectures and messaging platforms (e.g., Kafka)
- Experience with cloud platforms and container orchestration (Microsoft Azure, Docker, Kubernetes)
- Knowledge of backend/frontend technologies (Java, Angular, React) and REST APIs
- Experience with relational and NoSQL databases (MySQL, Postgres, MongoDB)
- Familiarity with CI/CD tooling (GitHub Actions), observability (Dynatrace) and AI-assisted developer tools (Microsoft Copilot)
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.
