Software Engineer

SMG; Greater London; Hybrid; GBP 65,000 - 90,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Discretionary bonus (10%)

Wellbeing fund £1,800 yearly

Headspace subscription

Uni Fund £500 yearly

Wellbeing days

Job summary

SMG is looking for a Software Engineer to build and maintain features for the Plan-Apps platform. You’ll work in an agile squad, taking ownership of end-to-end work from implementation to production, with senior engineers nearby to mentor.

You will contribute to data-centric patterns, new services, and a platform used by major UK retailers. This role offers hybrid working, with 1–2 days in the London office, and potential impact on commercial outcomes through delivered features.

Qualifications

• Hands-on software engineering in a professional setting.
• Experience with databases (NoSQL/SQL) is advantageous.
• Comfort deploying to cloud environments (AWS/Azure) and familiarity with CI/CD.

Responsibilities

• Take ownership of tickets and deliver end-to-end within established patterns.
• Write clean, secure, maintainable code and participate in reviews.
• Contribute to automated tests and CI/CD improvements.
• Support AWS infrastructure reliability with guidance from senior engineers.
• Apply security and performance fundamentals in day-to-day development.
• Collaborate with QA and Product to ensure tickets are understood and production-ready.
• Build depth in codebase and commerce media domain over time.
• Contribute to new services and data-centric patterns across the platform.

Skills

Software engineering

AWS

Git & code reviews

CI/CD

NoSQL/SQL databases

Security & performance

Agile delivery

Tools

MongoDB

PostgreSQL

Terraform

AWS

Kubernetes/ECS

Job description

Location: 1-2 days per week in the London office

Who are we?

We’re the original pioneers in connected commerce marketing. Since 2008, we’ve been partnering with major retailers, powering global brands, and building meaningful connections with shoppers.

We simplify the mind-boggling complexity of today’s retail media landscape. We deliver impactful campaigns that connect with people where it matters. We create seamless and personalised shopping experiences. Above all, we deliver amazing results for our partners, driven by our unshakeable desire for growth. Time after time, we change the game. SMG is home to a world-class suite of commerce advertising capabilities powered by data and cutting-edge technology. We constantly push ourselves, our tech and our industry to discover innovative new ways to connect, sell and grow.

About the role

We are looking for a Software Engineer to build and maintain features that make SMG's Plan-Apps platform work for our clients. Working inside an agile product squad, the role delivers well-scoped engineering work end to end, from implementation through to production, within the patterns and standards the team has established.

This is a role for someone past the early stage of their career and ready to take real ownership of what they ship, but who still wants the structure of a squad with senior engineers around them to learn from. At SMG you will be working on a product used daily by some of the UK's largest retailers and brands, where the work you deliver has a direct and visible commercial effect. Much of the work is new build. The Plan-Apps ecosystem is becoming service oriented and more data centric, with new data warehousing and clearer boundaries between services, so you will be adding to the platform rather than only maintaining what is already there.

What you’ll do

• Take ownership of assigned tickets and deliver them end to end, to agreed quality standards and within the team's established patterns.
• Write clean, secure, maintainable code that others can build on.
• Participate actively in code review, both giving and receiving constructive feedback.
• Contribute to automated test coverage and to improvements in our CI/CD pipelines.
• Support the reliability of our AWS infrastructure with guidance from senior engineers.
• Apply security and performance fundamentals in day to day development decisions.
• Work closely with QA and Product to make sure tickets are well understood, testable and production ready.
• Build depth in the codebase and the commerce media domain over time.
• Contribute to new services as they are built out, and to the data centric patterns being adopted across the platform

What we’re looking for

• Hands on software engineering experience in a professional, commercial environment.
• Practical experience working with databases; exposure to MongoDB or another NoSQL store is an advantage.
• Comfortable deploying to a cloud environment, ideally AWS or Azure.
• Confident with Git, branching, pull requests and code review workflows.
• Exposure to CI/CD pipelines and automated testing practices.
• Understanding of web application security and performance fundamentals.
• Clear communicator who collaborates well inside an agile delivery team.
• Experience with relational databases such as PostgreSQL alongside NoSQL, or genuine interest in working with both.
• Familiarity with Infrastructure as Code concepts such as Terraform.
• Exposure to containerised deployment, for example ECS or Kubernetes.
• Awareness of observability practice: logging, monitoring and tracing.
• Interest in or exposure to retail media, ad tech or media measurement platforms

We're looking for people who enjoy the buzz of change, the satisfaction of building something better, and the joy of working with a close-knit, values-driven team. If you love variety, thrive in a fast-paced environment, and embrace change with energy, this could be your right role.

Don’t meet every single requirement? We still want to hear from you. If you believe you’d thrive in this role, your unique perspective might be just what we’re looking for.

Why SMG?

At SMG, we hire for the future, which is fast-moving and changing shape. Do you have the potential to help shape our business? We’re looking for brilliant, diverse talent who want to grow with us - people who are curious, ambitious, and eager to learn, whether as specialists or across teams.

We value those who take ownership of their growth and bring fresh perspectives. That’s why we’re committed to equity, inclusion, and building a place where everyone feels empowered to grow. At SMG, it’s not just about filling a role but building the future together.

10% discretionary bonus

£1,800 yearly wellbeing fund (on top of your salary!)

Free Headspace subscription

£500 yearly “Uni Fund” for learning

4 extra Wellbeing Days off per year

Annual Summer conference + year-round celebrations

4pm finishes every Friday

Flexible and hybrid working

Our full data retention policy can be found here.

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