Staff Software Engineer- Hospitality

Marks and Spencer; Greater London; On-site; GBP 90,000 - 140,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

20% colleague discount

Holiday allowance

Discretionary bonus schemes

Pension and life assurance

Induction and training

M&S Choices perks

Parental, adoption and neonatal leave

Wellbeing support

Volunteer day

Job summary

Marks & Spencer is hiring a Staff Engineer to lead hospitality technology platforms such as in-store Scan & Shop, Digital Café and other in-store services. You will shape technical strategy, set architectural direction and build scalable, resilient systems for millions of customers and thousands of colleagues.

The role requires experience with large-scale distributed systems, cloud platforms, and a track record of mentoring engineers and driving engineering excellence across multiple teams.

Qualifications

• Experience designing and delivering large-scale distributed systems using Java, Spring Boot or similar modern frameworks.
• Expertise in cloud-based technologies, infrastructure platforms and modern engineering practices including DevOps, automation and observability.
• Experience influencing technical strategy, architecture decisions and engineering standards across multiple teams or domains.
• Strong knowledge of APIs, microservices architecture and operational excellence in high-availability environments.
• Proven ability to mentor engineers and build cross-functional collaborative relationships.

Responsibilities

• Define and deliver the technical strategy and architecture roadmap for hospitality technology platforms, ensuring scalable, secure solutions.
• Lead design and implementation of complex engineering capabilities, creating reusable platforms and tooling.
• Drive operational excellence by improving resilience, observability, incident management and platform performance.
• Partner with architects, engineers, vendors and stakeholders to evaluate technology decisions and influence investment priorities.
• Coach and mentor engineers and contribute to recruitment and talent development across M&S.

Skills

Distributed systems design

Java

Spring Boot

Cloud technologies

DevOps

Observability

Tools

APIs

Microservices

Platform engineering

Job description

All the details

Summary

As part of the M&S Software Engineering team, you'll be joining a much-loved iconic brand at a pivotal stage of its digital transformation. We're looking for a Staff Engineer to provide technical leadership across our Food Service Technology team, shaping the future of Scan & Shop, Digital Café and in-store hospitality technology used by millions of customers and thousands of colleagues.

This role is ideal for an experienced engineering leader who thrives on solving complex technical challenges at scale, defining technical strategy, and creating leverage across multiple teams. You'll set architectural direction, drive engineering excellence, and build resilient, scalable platforms that support critical retail and hospitality experiences while mentoring engineers and raising the technical bar across the wider engineering community.

Due to high interest, this role may close earlier than advertised. We recommend applying as soon as possible.

What you'll do

Your key accountabilities will include:

• Define and deliver the technical strategy and architecture roadmap for hospitality technology platforms, ensuring solutions are scalable, secure and aligned to business objectives.
• Lead the design and implementation of complex engineering capabilities, creating reusable platforms, tooling and services that improve productivity across multiple teams.
• Drive operational excellence by improving resilience, observability, incident management processes and overall platform performance.
• Partner with architects, engineers, vendors and stakeholders to evaluate technology decisions, manage technical risk and influence long-term investment priorities.
• Coach and mentor engineers, champion engineering best practices and contribute to recruitment, talent development and technical communities across M&S.

Who you are

Your skills and experience will include:

• Strong experience designing and delivering large-scale distributed systems using Java, Spring Boot or similar modern engineering frameworks.
• Expertise in cloud-based technologies, infrastructure platforms and modern engineering practices, including DevOps, automation and observability.
• Experience influencing technical strategy, architecture decisions and engineering standards across multiple teams or business domains.
• Strong knowledge of APIs, microservices architecture, platform engineering principles and operational excellence in high-availability environments.
• Proven ability to mentor engineers, drive technical excellence and build collaborative relationships with technical and non-technical stakeholders.

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.