At a Glance
- Tasks: Lead mobile initiatives and collaborate with third-party teams to enhance customer experiences.
- Company: Join Dunelm, the UK's top homewares choice, in a supportive hybrid work culture.
- Benefits: Enjoy competitive salary, flexible working, and opportunities for professional growth.
- Other info: Dynamic environment with a focus on innovation and collaboration.
- Why this job: Shape the future of mobile engineering while making a real impact on user experiences.
- Qualifications: Strong backend experience, mobile architecture knowledge, and mentoring skills required.
The predicted salary is between 36000 - 60000 £ per year.
Mobile Staff Engineer at Dunelm. Hybrid role (home and offices in London or Leicester). We’re the UK's number one choice for homewares, with a caring and supportive culture. This role is part of the Software Engineering function and focuses on leading mobile initiatives and aligning with internal APIs and third-party delivery teams.
The Mobile Staff Engineer will lead the technical direction and execution of mobile initiatives, working with a third-party development team. You’ll contribute to the engineering strategy, with a focus on mobile integration, API design, and service alignment. You will act as a hands-on contributor, internal consultant, and technical leader, mentoring others and shaping mobile engineering practices. The role collaborates with Principal Engineers and external partners to ensure mobile experiences are connected to internal systems and aligned with broader engineering goals.
What this role requires of you:
- Champion the integration of mobile applications with internal APIs and services for a seamless, performant customer experience across channels.
- Act as the internal technical lead for mobile, guiding architecture, integration, and platform alignment with third-party app developers.
- Drive consistency in mobile-facing APIs in design, documentation, and evolution, ensuring they are discoverable, testable, and resilient.
- Collaborate with Product Managers, Delivery Leads, Architects, Tech Leads, and Engineers to shape mobile-aware service contracts and integration patterns.
- Influence API interfaces, payloads, and backing services to meet mobile performance, offline support, and data efficiency needs.
- Advocate for mobile-aware engineering practices across teams and embed mobile considerations into platform and service design.
- Identify and address mobile-specific performance bottlenecks and integration challenges to improve reliability and scalability.
- Write clean, maintainable, and well-tested integration code and uphold high engineering standards and operational readiness.
- Contribute to incident resolution affecting mobile users with deep knowledge of mobile architecture and service dependencies.
- Mentor engineers across disciplines and foster cross-platform collaboration.
- Contribute to the Engineering Guild’s roadmap, ensuring mobile integration needs are represented in platform and API strategies.
- Participate in architectural reviews, technical discovery, and cross-functional planning to influence team outcomes.
- Lead Proof of Concepts/Proof of Value initiatives to validate new mobile integration approaches and service capabilities.
- Partner with Technical Leads and Principal Engineers to shape the mobile integration strategy and long-term technical vision.
- Stay updated with mobile development trends, platform capabilities, and integration tooling to guide best practices.
Essential skills:
- Strong backend and integration engineering experience, with hands-on delivery of mobile-facing services in Agile environments.
- Solid understanding of mobile architecture across iOS (Swift) and Android (Kotlin), guiding integration decisions accordingly.
- Experience with internal APIs and services to support mobile apps, focusing on performance, reliability, and multichannel compatibility.
- Proven ability to mentor autonomous engineers and foster technical growth across disciplines.
- Effective communication and influence within a matrix organization, ensuring collaboration across product, engineering, and third-party teams.
- Experience working with business stakeholders and external partners to translate strategic goals into mobile integration solutions.
- Deep expertise in mobile-aware service design, API lifecycle management, and integration patterns.
- Hands-on experience with cloud-native technologies (e.g., AWS), mobile backend services, and API gateways.
- Proficiency in CI/CD, automated testing, and observability for mobile-integrated systems.
- Experience in multichannel retail or manufacturing environments and understanding of mobile interactions with backend systems.
- Familiarity with offline-first design, background syncing, and efficient data handling on constrained devices.
- Understanding of API design considerations for mobile, including payload optimization, caching, and network efficiency.
- Experience with GraphQL in mobile contexts, including schema design and client-side integration.
- Knowledge of mobile performance monitoring and optimization (crash analytics, cold start profiling, instrumentation).
- Awareness of how backend service design impacts mobile UX, including latency and data consistency.
- Strong mobile security practices (secure storage, OAuth2, biometrics, secure communication) and data protection compliance (e.g., GDPR).
Behaviours:
- Customer First: Prioritize the customer experience and continuous improvement.
- Strategic thinking: Align technical decisions with business objectives and future technology trends.
- Team Working: Collaborate effectively, lead and inspire engineers, and foster a culture of collaboration and innovation.
- Innovating: Seek out new technologies to drive growth and enhance products and processes.
- Make It Happen: Take accountability, identify challenges, and deliver timely, high-quality solutions.
- Knowledge Advocate: Promote knowledge sharing and collaborative learning within the organization.
Seniority level: Mid-Senior level
Employment type: Full-time
Job function: Information Technology and Engineering
Industries: Retail
Mobile Staff Engineer employer: Dunelm
Dunelm in Bridgend offers a vibrant work environment where team members are valued for their contributions to creating welcoming experiences for customers. As a part-time Barista & Coffee Shop Assistant, you'll enjoy flexible weekend hours, opportunities for personal growth in the hospitality sector, and the chance to develop your coffee expertise while being part of a supportive and energetic team dedicated to excellent customer service.
StudySmarter Expert Advice🤫
We think this is how you could land Mobile Staff Engineer
✨Join Local Tech Meetups
Get out there and mingle with fellow developers by joining local tech meetups. It’s a fantastic way to meet people who might be working at Dunelm or know someone who does. Plus, you can pick up some trendy tech skills and trends while you're at it!
✨Contribute to Open Source Projects
Show off your coding chops by jumping into open-source projects. Not only does this give you practical experience, but it also gets you noticed in the dev community. You'll create a killer portfolio that speaks volumes about your skills to Dunelm.
✨Tap into Online Developer Communities
Don’t underestimate the power of online developer communities like GitHub, Stack Overflow, and even Reddit. Participate in discussions, share your projects, and build your visibility. We can often find opportunities through these channels that can lead to a full-time gig at companies like Dunelm.
✨Explore Job Boards Specifically for Tech Roles
Keep your eyes peeled on job boards that focus on tech roles. Sites like TechCareers or Stack Overflow Jobs can often have listings for companies like Dunelm that might not show up on broader job sites. Make it a habit to check these regularly, and don’t hesitate to apply directly through our website!
We think you need these skills to ace Mobile Staff Engineer
Some tips for your application 🫡
Show off your coding skills:When applying for a software engineering role, it's super important to showcase your coding skills. Make sure your CV includes your tech stack, any relevant programming languages you’re comfortable with, and examples of projects you've worked on. If you have a GitHub profile, link it up! We love to see code in action.
Tailor your portfolio:For a full-time role, we’d expect to see some solid examples of your work in your portfolio. Make sure to include at least two or three projects that highlight your problem-solving skills and your ability to work with different technologies. Focus on the projects that are most relevant to the position at Dunelm.
Craft a killer cover letter:Your cover letter is your chance to stand out—make it personal! Explain why you want to work at Dunelm and how your skills align with the role. Show us your passion for software development. We dig enthusiastic candidates who understand the value of collaboration and continuous learning!
Be clear and concise:When it comes to writing your CV and cover letter, clarity is key. Avoid jargon that could confuse us and stick to simple, direct language. Highlight your achievements with quantifiable results where possible, and keep everything easy to read. A well-organised application goes a long way!
How to prepare for a job interview at Dunelm
✨Brush Up on Your Coding Skills
For a full-time software engineering role, it's crucial that we stay sharp with our coding abilities. Expect technical questions that might involve solving problems on the spot or discussing algorithms. Practise on platforms like LeetCode or HackerRank to get comfortable with the types of questions that often come up.
✨Know Your Tools and Frameworks
Make sure we’re well-acquainted with the tools and technologies listed in the job description. Familiarise ourselves with any specific frameworks or programming languages mentioned. If Dunelm uses React or Node.js, for instance, be ready to discuss how we’ve used them in previous projects or coursework.
✨Showcase Your Projects
Bring along a portfolio that highlights our best work. This could be code samples, GitHub repositories, or any side projects we’ve built. Make sure we can talk through our thought process for each project, especially the challenges we faced and how we solved them—this shows our problem-solving skills in action.
✨Prepare for Behavioural Questions
While technical skills are key, full-time positions also require cultural fit. Be ready to discuss our previous experiences and how we handle teamwork, conflict, and deadlines. Brush up on the STAR method—Situation, Task, Action, Result—to clearly articulate our past experiences when discussing how we've contributed to a team.
