Applied AI Engineer, Senior/Staff Fullstack Software Engineer

Marks and Spencer plc (UK); Greater London; Hybrid; GBP 100,000 - 120,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading retail company in the UK is looking for a Staff Software Engineer to lead the design and development of backend systems using Java 11+ and Spring Boot. This hybrid role involves architecting event-driven systems, providing engineering leadership, and mentoring senior engineers. Ideal candidates should have extensive experience in backend engineering and a deep understanding of distributed systems. A positive, supportive work environment that values continuous improvement awaits the right individual.

Qualifications

• Extensive backend engineering experience with Java (11/17+) and Spring Boot.
• Strong understanding of distributed systems, microservices, and event-driven architecture.
• Proven ability to reason about complex systems: idempotency, locking, consistency models.

Responsibilities

• Lead the design and development of backend systems.
• Set technical standards around scalability, resilience, and testing.
• Provide engineering leadership and mentor senior engineers.

Skills

Java 11+

Spring Boot

Kafka

Typescript

Golang

Event-driven systems

Distributed systems

Tools

Postgres

AWS

Job description

• Lead the design and development of backend systems built with Java 11+ & Spring Boot
• Architect distributed, event‑driven systems that support high‑volume transactional workloads
• Develop robust, well‑typed service contracts and define API boundaries across domains
• Set technical standards around scalability, resilience, observability, testing, and automation
• Provide engineering leadership across squads, mentoring senior engineers and influencing roadmaps
• Guide system design discussions around concurrency, fault tolerance, transactional consistency, and recovery strategies
• Drive initiatives that improve performance, reliability, and platform scalability
• Work closely with product and technical leadership to align long‑term architectural direction, Job Description Staff Software Engineer (Typescript/ Go) £100‑120k + package incl. equity London hub - hybrid working (1/ 2 days pw) Typescript, Golang, Postgres, Kafka, Vercel, AWS etc. Does joining a near profitable B2B SaaS business, already working with…
• This is a high‑impact role for an experienced engineer who enjoys solving complex architectural problems, driving technical maturity, and guiding engineering direction across multiple services and teams. Extensive backend engineering experience with Java (11/17+) and Spring Boot
• Deep understanding of distributed systems, microservices, and event‑driven architecture
• Strong experience with Kafka or equivalent message brokers
• Proven ability to reason about complex systems: idempotency, locking, consistency models, failure modes, and scaling patterns
• Experience designing system‑wide architecture or leading migrations/refactors
• Strong influence skills – able to challenge ideas, improve standards, and support engineering teams
• Background working in high‑scale environments (fintech, payments, ecommerce, cloud‑native platforms)
• Passion for engineering excellence and driving technical direction
• Modern engineering culture (automation, TDD, pairing where useful)
• Real ownership and the opportunity to influence technical direction
• Work on a platform with high scale, strong technical challenges, and significant user impact
• Supportive environment that values engineering excellence and continuous improvement
• If you’re interested in learning more about the role, team structure, or engineering culture, feel free to reach out for an initial conversation.
• Everyone is welcome at M&S. No exceptions. It’s your background, abilities and differences that make you, uniquely you.