Staff Software Engineer - Commercial Trading

Marks and Spencer; City Of London; On-site; GBP 50,000 - 70,000; Full time

Job summary

A well-known retail company in London seeks a backend software engineer to join its engineering team. This role involves developing high-performing software solutions, providing technical leadership, and collaborating with stakeholders to deliver effective solutions. Ideal candidates will have experience in backend system development, understanding of software engineering principles, and proficiency in programming languages like Java and PL/SQL. The company fosters an inclusive environment and offers a range of benefits including colleague discounts and wellness support.

Benefits

20% colleague discount

Competitive holiday entitlement

Discretionary bonus schemes

Defined Contribution Pension Scheme

Wellbeing support programs

Charity volunteer day

Qualifications

• Proven track record in developing high-performing backend systems and integrations.
• Deep understanding of software engineering principles and best practices.
• Good understanding of automated testing practices across various levels.

Responsibilities

• Develop, test, and debug software solutions with good coding practices.
• Provide guidance on complex projects ensuring alignment with technology standards.
• Lead the design of scalable software solutions.

Skills

Backend system development

Software engineering principles

Automated testing practices

Programming languages (Java, PL/SQL, JavaScript)

Cloud infrastructure design

Tools

Git

CI/CD pipelines

Azure Cloud

Kubernetes

Job description

Summary

As part of the M&S Software Engineering team, you’ll be joining a well-loved historic brand, working on solutions that serve millions of loyal customers and thousands of colleagues. With ethical values that run right through the company’s core and technology leaders that truly understand software engineers, it’s an exciting time as we’re redefining ourselves into a digital‑first and engineering‑led organisation, with the quality of our engineering team being a key differentiator.

What’s In It For You

Being a part of M&S is exactly that - playing your part to bring the magic of M&S to our customers every day. We’re an inclusive, dynamic, exciting, and ever evolving business built on doing the right thing and bringing exceptional quality, value, service to every customer, whenever, wherever and however they want to shop with us.

Here are some of the benefits we offer that make working for M&S just that little bit more special:

• After completing your probationary period, you’ll receive 20% colleague discount across all M&S products and many of our third‑party brands for you and a member of your household.
• Competitive holiday entitlement with the potential to buy extra holiday days!
• Discretionary bonus schemes awarded based on how you achieve your personal objectives and our performance as a business.
• A generous Defined Contribution Pension Scheme and Life Assurance.
• A dedicated welcome to our teams with a tailored induction and a wide range of training programmes to develop your skills.
• Access to a fantastic range of wellbeing support for all colleagues including 24/7 Virtual GP and PAM Assist.
• A charity volunteer day to support a charity or cause you’re passionate about through a dedicated day away from work.

What You’ll Do

Your key accountabilities will include:

• Software Development: Develop, test, and debug software solutions, taking a lead on what good coding practices look like.
• Technical Leadership: Provide expert guidance on complex projects, ensuring that software solutions align both with our strategy, technology standards, and follow engineering best practice.
• Architecture and Design: Lead the design of scalable and adaptable software solutions or 3rd party integrations, whilst partnering with colleagues in Architecture.
• Code Review: Conduct thorough code reviews to ensure adherence to technical standards, maintainability, automated testing and high‑quality code. Foster a culture of continuous improvement.
• Collaboration: Gain a deep understanding of our area, working with key business stakeholders, product managers, and other engineers to be able to craft the most effective technical solutions.

Who You Are

Your skills and experience will include:

• Proven track record in developing high‑performing, robust backend systems and integrations, with a focus on optimisation and scalability.
• Deep understanding of software engineering principles, patterns, and practices, applied to the development of maintainable and adaptable code.
• Good understanding of automated testing practices and toolsets, and how they are best applied at unit, integration, and system levels, across both backend and frontend technologies.
• Technical versatility and proficiency in a range of relevant programming languages (e.g. Java, PL/SQL, JavaScript) and tools (e.g. Git, CI/CD pipelines).
• Expertise in designing and implementing scalable applications on cloud infrastructure, with a focus on performance and security.

Tech Stack

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

• Java, Spring, Spring Boot, Micronaut
• React, Next.js, TypeScript, Angular
• Azure Cloud, Kubernetes, Dynatrace (observability)
• SQL Server, MongoDB
• 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 let us know when completing your application.