At a Glance
- Tasks: Lead the design and delivery of innovative software for health & wellness shopping.
- Company: Join Holland & Barrett, a leader in eCommerce and customer experience.
- Benefits: Enjoy hybrid working, competitive salary, and opportunities for professional growth.
- Why this job: Shape the future of online shopping and make a real impact on customer experiences.
- Qualifications: Fluent in Java and Go, with strong software engineering skills.
- Other info: Collaborative environment with excellent career development opportunities.
The predicted salary is between 36000 - 60000 £ per year.
Overview
Help build the best health & wellness shopping experience on the web. As Lead Engineer in our OCX (Online Customer Experience) vertical, you'll own the PDP journey across web and mobile—the place where customers discover, compare and decide what goes in their basket. This squad sits at the heart of our eCommerce platform, shaping how millions of customers explore products, understand ingredients and find what's right for their goals. We're nearing the end of a multi-year technical transformation and moving into the next phase: shipping new propositions at pace, modern architecture, and deeply personalised experiences across our PDPs and wider journey.
Location: We offer hybrid working, with occasional presence at our Holland & Barrett offices in London for team meetings, collaboration sessions and key events.
What you'll do:
- Lead the design and delivery of high-quality, cross-functional software across a core set of PDP and OCX domains, operating independently without day-to-day technical oversight.
- Consistently ship resilient, observable services that improve page performance, conversion, and customer experience.
- Work closely with Product, UX, Data and CX to ensure initiatives land on time and solve real customer problems.
- Act as a multiplier: mentor and develop engineers in your squad, levelling up technical skills, code quality and delivery practices.
- Stay curious — bring new ideas, patterns and techniques from engineering, product and UX into the team.
- Communicate complex technical concepts clearly to both technical and non-technical stakeholders, including senior leadership.
- Understand how H&B's strategy and commercial priorities connect to the work your squad delivers.
- Keep the customer front and centre — build empathy for their needs and behaviour into technical decisions.
- Own security, reliability and compliance in your area, and plan how upcoming work will impact them.
Skills and experience:
- Fluent in Java (17+) and the Spring ecosystem (Spring Boot or similar: Quarkus, Micronaut).
- Equal fluency in idiomatic Go (Golang), including effective use of concurrency, robust error handling, and building/operating production-grade services.
- Strong understanding of HTTP and REST as an architectural style for building APIs.
- Confident with asynchronous programming in Java and event-driven patterns.
- Fluent in SQL with experience of RDBMS such as Postgres and Oracle.
- Hands-on with Docker and docker-compose.
- Exposure to AWS services such as S3, Aurora and ElastiCache.
- Experience with modern CI/CD platforms such as GitLab, GitHub Actions or CircleCI.
- Strong focus on monitoring and observability, proactive in detecting and resolving issues before they impact customers.
- Fluent with testing frameworks such as JUnit and RestAssured.
Nice to have:
- Experience with monitoring/alerting platforms such as Datadog, PagerDuty, Grafana, Prometheus.
- Exposure to Python scripting.
- Experience with deployment platforms like Kubernetes and tooling such as Helm.
This description is intended to outline the scope and level of the role rather than list every possible responsibility. The right person will help shape it as we grow.
Interview process:
- Recruiter screen - 15-30 minutes
- Hiring Manager interview - 30-45 minutes
- Technical session (pair programming & system design) - 90 minutes
Senior Engineer employer: Holland and Barrett
Contact Detail:
Holland and Barrett Recruiting Team
StudySmarter Expert Advice 🤫
We think this is how you could land Senior Engineer
✨Tip Number 1
Network like a pro! Reach out to current employees at Holland & Barrett on LinkedIn. Ask them about their experiences and any tips they might have for the interview process. It’s all about making connections and showing your genuine interest in the company.
✨Tip Number 2
Prepare for those technical interviews! Brush up on your Java and Go skills, and be ready to showcase your problem-solving abilities. Practice coding challenges and system design questions to feel confident when it’s your turn to shine.
✨Tip Number 3
Showcase your passion for health and wellness! During interviews, share how your personal interests align with Holland & Barrett's mission. This will help you stand out as someone who truly cares about the customer experience.
✨Tip Number 4
Don’t forget to apply through our website! It’s the best way to ensure your application gets noticed. Plus, it shows you’re serious about joining the team and ready to contribute to the exciting projects ahead.
We think you need these skills to ace Senior Engineer
Some tips for your application 🫡
Show Your Passion for Health & Wellness: When writing your application, let your enthusiasm for health and wellness shine through. We want to see how your personal interests align with our mission at Holland & Barrett, so don’t hold back on sharing what motivates you!
Tailor Your Experience: Make sure to highlight your relevant experience in software engineering, especially with Java and Go. We’re looking for specific examples of how you've led projects or improved customer experiences, so be detailed and direct!
Keep It Clear and Concise: While we love a good story, keep your application clear and to the point. Use straightforward language to explain your technical skills and experiences, making it easy for us to see why you’d be a great fit for the role.
Apply Through Our Website: We encourage you to apply directly through our website. This helps us streamline the process and ensures your application gets the attention it deserves. Plus, it’s super easy to do!
How to prepare for a job interview at Holland and Barrett
✨Know Your Tech Inside Out
Make sure you’re fluent in Java and Go, as well as familiar with the Spring ecosystem. Brush up on your knowledge of HTTP, REST, and SQL, especially with Postgres and Oracle. Being able to discuss these technologies confidently will show that you’re ready to lead the design and delivery of high-quality software.
✨Showcase Your Problem-Solving Skills
Prepare to discuss real-world scenarios where you've solved complex problems. Think about how you’ve improved page performance or customer experience in previous roles. This will demonstrate your ability to connect technical decisions to customer needs, which is crucial for the role.
✨Communicate Clearly
Practice explaining complex technical concepts in simple terms. You’ll need to communicate effectively with both technical and non-technical stakeholders, including senior leadership. Being able to break down your ideas will make a big difference in how your insights are received.
✨Be Ready for Technical Challenges
Expect a technical session that includes pair programming and system design. Brush up on your coding skills and be prepared to think on your feet. Familiarise yourself with modern CI/CD platforms and testing frameworks, as these will likely come up during the interview.