Software Development Engineer FTC 12 months in Manchester

At Booker, along with being a great place to work and giving you an opportunity to get on in your career, we also offer the following fantastic package of benefits:

• A Booker colleague card with 10% off purchases at Booker and double discount events up to three times a year.
• After 3 months service, a Tesco colleague discount card with 10% increasing to 15% off most purchases at Tesco for a 4 day period after every four-weekly pay day, ie. thirteen times a year. In addition to 10% off at Tesco Cafe and 20% off all F&F purchases.
• 10% off pay monthly & SIM only deals with Tesco Mobile for yourself, along with further great deals throughout the year.
• Up to 30% off car, pet and home insurance at Tesco bank. Terms and conditions apply.
• Free eye test when you spend £50 or more. You can also save 30% when you spend £50 or more on glasses, prescription sunglasses and contact lenses.
• 50% off health checks at Tesco Pharmacy.
• Exclusive access to discounted RAC breakdown cover rates.
• An exclusive deals and discounts website saving you money on everyday purchases including a cycle to work scheme.
• After 3 months service, you can join our annual Save As You Earn share scheme which allows you to buy Tesco shares in the future at a discount.
• Retirement savings plan (pension) - save up to 5% and Booker will match your contribution.
• Life Assurance - You are covered for death in service life cover of up to three times annual pay.
• Health and Wellbeing support and resources including our 24/7, confidential Employee Assistance Programme and Virtual GP for you and your family.
• A great holiday package.

As a Software Development Engineer, you’ll help design, build and support resilient back-office systems that power sales, stock control and financial accuracy across our Booker estate. You’ll work across a mixed technology landscape—combining legacy systems with modern platforms—to deliver reliable, scalable solutions for high-volume wholesale operations. This is a 12-month fixed-term opportunity where you’ll play a key role in maintaining system performance, delivering change safely, and supporting business-critical services. You’ll collaborate closely with colleagues across Technology, Operations, and external partners to ensure everything we release is robust, secure and ready for real-world use.

You will be responsible for:

• Design, develop and maintain store back-office systems using COBOL, Java, REST APIs and scripting within a Linux environment.
• Deliver high-quality, well-tested code aligned with engineering standards and change control processes.
• Support and enhance system functionality to ensure accuracy, resilience and performance—especially around stock integrity and sales processing.
• Diagnose and resolve complex technical issues, providing 3rd line support and identifying long-term fixes.
• Deliver system changes, upgrades and new store rollouts with minimal disruption to trading.
• Collaborate with product, programme teams, operations and third-party suppliers to deliver effective solutions.
• Produce and maintain clear technical documentation covering design, interfaces and support processes.
• Ensure systems meet security, audit and compliance requirements.
• Continuously improve system performance and maintainability, supporting modernisation while maintaining legacy systems.
• Contribute to team learning, peer reviews and continuous improvement of development practices.

You will need:

• Proven experience delivering and supporting business-critical software in a production environment.
• Hands-on experience with COBOL and Java, or a strong willingness to work across both.
• Experience working in a Linux environment, including scripting and batch processing.
• Knowledge of transactional or back-office systems (e.g. stock control, sales processing, financial systems), ideally in retail or wholesale.
• Strong problem-solving skills, with experience diagnosing and resolving complex live issues.
• Experience delivering changes via structured development and release processes.
• Familiarity with source control tools like Git and development lifecycle practices.
• Strong collaboration and communication skills, working with technical and non-technical stakeholders.
• Ability to produce clear technical documentation.
• Awareness of security, governance and compliance requirements.

Booker is the UK's leading food & drink wholesaler. We are privileged to serve independent retailers, caterers and small businesses, from locations across the country. We operate over 190 cash and carry branches, eight distribution centres, five Best Food Logistics sites, as well as six support centre locations across the UK.

Diversity, equity and inclusion (DE&I) at Booker means that whoever you are and whatever your background, we always want you to feel represented and that you can be yourself at work. In short, we’re a place where Everyone’s Welcome.

We know life looks a little different for each of us. That’s why at Booker and Best, we always welcome conversations about flexible working. Some people are at the start of their careers, some want the freedom to do the things they love. Others are going through life-changing moments like becoming a carer, nearing retirement, adapting to parenthood, or something else. So, talk to us throughout your application about how we may be able to support you.

We’re proud that Booker is a Disability Confident Committed employer and we’re committed to providing a fully inclusive and accessible recruitment process.

Please note: We can only accept candidates over the age of 18 if the role requires working before 6:15 am or after 9:45 pm or involves working in areas such as the warehouse, beers, wines & spirits, and driving roles. On the occasions where we have high volumes of applicants, some roles may close earlier than the advertised end date in order for us to manage all of the applicants appropriately. We will only be able to offer individual feedback to those candidates who attend an interview.