Senior Software Engineer - Personalisation (Search & Sort)

M&S; City Of London; On-site; GBP 60,000 - 80,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading retail company in the United Kingdom is seeking an experienced software engineer to build and evolve secure authentication systems for millions of users. The role involves end-to-end feature ownership and collaboration across teams. Candidates should possess over 5 years of experience in distributed systems and proficiency in JVM-based languages, along with a strong foundation in DevOps practices. Competitive perks and a supportive environment await.

Benefits

20% colleague discount on M&S products

Competitive holiday allowance

Discretionary bonus schemes

Strong pension and life assurance

Tailored induction and training

24/7 wellbeing support

One paid volunteer day a year

Qualifications

• 5+ years of experience building and scaling distributed systems.
• Good knowledge in one or more JVM-based languages (Kotlin, Java).
• Proven experience in DevOps practices.

Responsibilities

• Build and evolve secure, scalable, and high-performance authentication experiences.
• Take end-to-end ownership of features from design to deployment.
• Collaborate closely with Product Managers, Designers, and Engineers.

Skills

Building and scaling distributed systems

JVM-based languages (Kotlin, Java)

DevOps practices

Designing CI/CD pipelines

Cloud environments (Azure)

Identity standards (OAuth 2.0, OpenID Connect)

Tools

Java

Spring

Micronaut

React

Azure Cloud

Kubernetes

Job description

Job Description

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What you'll do

Your key accountabilities will include:

• Build and evolve secure, scalable, and high-performance authentication experiences for millions of M&S customers and colleagues
• Take end-to-end ownership of features - from design and development through testing, deployment, and monitoring in production
• Contribute to the technical direction of the Identity Platform and help shape solutions that balance customer experience, security, and developer usability
• Write clean, maintainable, well-tested code, and champion engineering best practices in your team
• Take shared responsibility for the operational excellence of the Identity Platform, including participating in our 24-hour support rota
• Collaborate closely with Product Managers, Designers, and Engineers to solve real user problems in thoughtful and innovative ways
• Actively participate in code reviews, pair programming, technical discussions and creating high quality documentation to share knowledge and continuously improve as a team
• Mentor and support more junior engineers through coaching and feedback

Who you are

Your skills and experience will include:

• 5+ years of experience building and scaling distributed systems, ideally serving millions of users
• Good knowledge in one or more JVM-based languages (Kotlin with Micronaut is desirable, we can also work with Java)
• Proven experience in DevOps practices, including running and operating what you build
• Experience designing CI/CD pipelines and driving improvements in developer productivity
• Comfortable working in cloud environments (preferably Azure)
• Experience with identity standards like OAuth 2.0 and OpenID Connect is a strong plus
• You balance long-term thinking with pragmatic delivery, and thrive in high-autonomy teams

Tech Stack

M&S uses a variety of technologies and as part of our modernization drive, will be introducing new ones. The sorts of technologies include:

• Java, Spring, SpringBOOT, Micronaut
• React, Next.js, Typescript, Angular
• Azure Cloud, Kubernetes, Dynatrace (observability)
• SQL Server, MongoDB
• Ignite, Redis

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 through this process.