Senior Java Engineer - Customer Fulfilment

Tesco UK; Welwyn Garden City; Hybrid; GBP 60,000 - 75,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading retail company based in Welwyn Garden City is seeking a Software Development Engineer to join their innovative Fulfilment team. In this role, you will architect and develop high-performance Java applications aimed at optimizing warehouse operations. Ideal candidates will have experience with Java, Spring Boot, and agile methodologies. Embracing a DevOps culture, you will also contribute to a collaborative work environment that values diversity and inclusion. Competitive salaries and flexible working patterns are available.

Benefits

Flexible working patterns

Inclusive workplace culture

Career development opportunities

Qualifications

• Previous experience in product development using agile methodologies.
• Hands-on experience of building operationally robust Java applications.
• Experience in globally distributed software engineering teams is a plus.

Responsibilities

• Architect and build high-performance Java applications.
• Collaborate with teams to enhance system efficiency and reliability.
• Develop APIs and microservices for integration with third-party platforms.
• Write clean, maintainable code adhering to best practices.

Skills

Agile methodologies

Java

Spring Boot

Kafka

Postgres

Couchbase

CI/CD

Azure

Job description

We are in the process of building and rolling out our next generation, dynamic, scalable, and resilient Fulfilment platform for Tesco, to address both manual and robotic powered automated fulfilment operations across all the customer order fulfilment locations. This highly optimized and continuously improving fulfilment platform is designed to be used to fulfil all product categories – Grocery /GM and Fashion, of Customer Orders.

This platform, Fulfilment Point System (FPS), enables all the customer order fulfilment centres across different geographies to pick, marshal and dispatch customer orders on one hand and manage the site workflow through a real‑time visualisation and intervention tool, on the other hand.

Ours is a globally distributed, full stack Java tech team and our building blocks consist of a set of Microservice components, backend APIs, Rich UI, robust Eventing Platform and Data layer components utilising a wide range of modern technologies including:

• Java, RxJava, SpringBoot
• Kafka, PostgreSQL and Couchbase
• Docker, Kubernetes, Jenkins, Azure DevOps, Splunk, AppDynamics, New Relic
• Azure Cloud

We are responsible for the software throughout the lifecycle. We maintain a DevOps culture employing continuous integration and delivery, supporting our code through to production and beyond.

We are seeking highly skilled Software Development Engineers (SDEs) for a green field project to drive the design, development and implementation of software solution for next generation customer fulfilment system. As a key member of our engineering team, you will develop robust, scalable and efficient Java‑based applications to optimise warehouse operations and drive operational success. You will directly contribute to evolving product, reducing cost and increasing profitability.

Design and Develop

Architect and build high‑performance applications.

System Optimisation

Collaborate with cross‑functional teams to enhance system efficiency, scalability and reliability for mission critical applications.

Integration

Develop APIs and microservices to integrate with enterprise API and third‑party platforms.

Code Quality

Write clean, maintainable and well documented code, adhere to best practices and coding standards.

Troubleshooting

Diagnose and resolve complex technical issues in real‑time to ensure uninterrupted operations.

Mentorship

Guide junior engineers and foster culture of continuous improvement.

Innovation & Collaboration

Stay ahead of industry, work closely with hardware, data scientists and operation team.

Experience relevant for this job

• Previous experience of having done product development using agile methodologies
• Hands‑on experience of building and supporting reliable and operationally robust full stack and distributed Java applications / products
• Any previous experience of having contributed in a globally distributed software engineering teams would be a big plus.

Tech Skills

• Programming
  • Demonstrate in depth knowledge of IDE, language, and toolset in language of choice.
  • Implement critical path components in a large or complex or project.
  • Demonstrate excellent understanding of language & framework and a good working knowledge of the abstraction layer underneath.
  • Comfortably test drive any feature/comfortable with TDD cycle.
  • Comfortably debug/find complex problems.
• Design
  • Identify and apply appropriate design patterns to problems.
  • Understand Idempotence.
  • Actively practice the boy scout principle, leaves design, code in a better state than when arrived.
  • Understand importance of domain model and can coherently model a problem domain within a given context.
  • Understand design patterns such as CQRS and eventual consistency.
  • Understand how to design for performance at all levels.
• Development Practice
  • Automate everything by default.
  • Build a CI/CD pipeline.
• Tech Stack Specialized
  • Java, Spring boot
  • Kafka
  • Postgres
  • Couchbase
  • CI/CD: Azure pipelines / Git Actions.
  • Cloud: Azure

Our vision at Tesco is to become every customer's favourite way to shop, whether they are at home or out on the move. Our core purpose is ‘Serving our customers, communities and planet a little better every day’. Serving means more than a transactional relationship with our customers. It means acting as a responsible and sustainable business for all stakeholders, for the communities we are part of and for the planet.

We are proud to have an inclusive culture at Tesco where everyone truly feels able to be themselves. At Tesco, we not only celebrate diversity, but recognise the value and opportunity it brings. We're committed to creating a workplace where differences are valued, and make sure that all colleagues are given the same opportunities. We’re proud to have been accredited Disability Confident Leader and we’re committed to providing a fully inclusive and accessible recruitment process. For further information on the accessibility support we can offer, please click here.

We’re a big business and we can offer a range of diverse full‑time & part‑time working patterns across our many business areas, which means that we can find something that works for you. We work in a more blended pattern – combining office and remote working. Our offices will continue to be where we connect, collaborate and innovate. If you are applying internally, please speak to the Hiring Manager about how this can work for you – Everyone is welcome at Tesco.