Find a job 
Featured Companies 
Featured Universities 
For Companies At a Glance
- Tasks: Lead and build a high-performing engineering team for M&S's integration transformation.
- Company: Join M&S, a leading retailer with a commitment to innovation and teamwork.
- Benefits: Enjoy discounts, bonuses, generous holidays, and well-being support.
- Other info: Flexible working options and a focus on inclusion and diversity.
- Why this job: Shape the future of integration technology while making a real impact.
- Qualifications: Experience in enterprise messaging technologies and strong leadership skills.
The predicted salary is between 80000 - 100000 ÂŁ per year.
What’s in it for you:
- 20% colleague discount on most things from furniture, fashion and food.
- A first‑class welcome to M&S with a tailored induction and a wide range of training schemes to help with your learning and development.
- Attractive annual bonus, based on company performance and personal objectives.
- Competitive holiday entitlement with the potential to buy extra holiday days!
- Amazing perks and discounts via our M&S Choices website, including GymSave – that offers up to 25% off gym memberships and the option to become an M&S shareholder using our ShareSave & ShareBuy schemes.
- Charity volunteer day – a paid day away from work to support your chosen charity.
- A very generous defined contribution pension scheme and life assurance.
- Access to well‑being support, including 24/7 virtual GP, PAM Assist for you and your family, and many other schemes.
- Family friendly policies to support life’s most important landmarks, including parental leave and neo‑natal leave.
What makes this role different:
This is a leadership role at the heart of M&S's integration transformation. You'll be building and leading an engineering team responsible for the messaging backbone and integration platforms that connect every major system at M&S from warehouse management and food distribution to SAP financials and partner connectivity. This is a transformative role. We’re at the beginning of a multi‑year journey to modernise our integration estate and build a cloud‑native platform for the future. You won’t just be keeping the lights on – you’ll be leading the engineering team that builds what comes next, while maintaining the mission‑critical flows that process millions of messages daily.
Technology landscape:
Our current integration estate spans IBM technologies (MQ, App Connect Enterprise, DataStage, DB2), MuleSoft, Apigee, MongoDB Atlas, and Azure cloud services. Observability is provided through Dynatrace.
Impact we’re looking for:
- Define the future state: Shape the target integration platform architecture and the roadmap to get there, working alongside Principal Engineers and Architects.
- Build platform capabilities: Create self‑service patterns and golden paths so product teams can integrate without central team bottlenecks.
- Maintain operational excellence: Keep the messaging backbone reliable and predictable, where incidents are rare and quickly resolved.
- Improve reliability: Drive measurable reductions in incident rates, mean time to resolution, and on‑call burden.
- Develop your team: Build a high‑performing engineering team, driving recruitment, retention, and professional growth.
Your key accountabilities will include:
- Lead multiple integration engineering teams, owning the technical vision and delivery roadmap.
- Be accountable for reliability targets and operational health across messaging and integration platforms.
- Drive operational excellence: on‑call health, incident response, change management, and peak readiness.
- Cultivate single‑threaded ownership – your team builds it, they run it.
- Partner with other engineering managers across the integration domain to ensure coherent patterns and shared standards.
- Act as the key technical partner for any vendor delivery, owning outcomes, not just outputs.
- Line‑manage staff and senior engineers, driving recruitment, retention, and professional growth.
- Balance capacity across operational stability, platform modernisation, and technical debt reduction.
Your skills and experience will include:
- Previous hands‑on experience with enterprise messaging technologies (IBM MQ, Azure Service Bus, or similar).
- Depth in integration middleware: ACE, MuleSoft, Azure Functions, Logic Apps, or equivalent.
- Track record of leading engineering teams through platform modernisation or legacy‑to‑cloud migrations.
- Strong understanding of reliability engineering: SLOs, error budgets, observability, incident management.
- Ability to balance operational stability with transformation – you know when to protect production and when to push for change.
- Excellent people‑management and communication skills – you can adjust for technical and non‑technical audiences.
- A servant‑leadership mentality: you unblock your team, set direction, and take ownership of outcomes.
- Comfortable operating at both strategic and tactical levels – you can discuss architecture with architects and debug a production incident with your engineers.
Desirable experience:
- Experience with IBM technologies (MQ, ACE, DataStage, DB2) and cloud‑native alternatives.
- Azure integration services (Service Bus, Functions, Logic Apps, Event Hub).
- Background in retail, logistics, or other high‑volume transaction environments.
- Experience with DR/HA patterns, peak planning, and peak‑period operations.
- Experience building and leading blended teams across permanent, contract, and vendor resources.
Our Tech Stack:
Our current integration estate spans IBM technologies (MQ, App Connect Enterprise, DataStage, DB2), MuleSoft, Apigee, MongoDB Atlas, and Azure cloud services. Observability is provided through Dynatrace. CI/CD is delivered through GitHub Actions and Terraform.
We are committed to an active Inclusion, Diversity and Equal Opportunities Policy, which starts with our recruitment and selection process, and we are happy to talk flexible working. If you consider yourself to require reasonable adjustments to any part of our recruitment process, we invite you to share those requirements with us when completing your application. We will make every effort to ensure your needs are met to provide a fair and transparent process of assessment.
Software Engineering Manager - Core Integration employer: Marks & Spencer Plc
Contact Detail:
Marks & Spencer Plc Recruiting Team
StudySmarter Expert Advice 🤫
We think this is how you could land Software Engineering Manager - Core Integration
✨Tip Number 1
Network like a pro! Reach out to your connections in the industry, attend meetups, and engage on platforms like LinkedIn. You never know who might have the inside scoop on job openings or can refer you directly.
✨Tip Number 2
Prepare for interviews by researching the company and its tech stack. Familiarise yourself with their integration platforms and be ready to discuss how your experience aligns with their needs. Show them you’re not just another candidate!
✨Tip Number 3
Practice your soft skills! As a Software Engineering Manager, you'll need to demonstrate leadership and communication abilities. Role-play common interview scenarios with a friend to boost your confidence.
✨Tip Number 4
Don’t forget to apply through our website! It’s the best way to ensure your application gets seen. Plus, we love seeing candidates who take the initiative to connect directly with us.
We think you need these skills to ace Software Engineering Manager - Core Integration
Some tips for your application 🫡
Tailor Your Application: Make sure to customise your CV and cover letter to highlight your experience with enterprise messaging technologies and integration middleware. We want to see how your skills align with the role, so don’t hold back on showcasing your relevant achievements!
Show Your Leadership Skills: As a Software Engineering Manager, we’re looking for someone who can lead and inspire a team. Share examples of how you've successfully managed teams in the past, especially during platform modernisation or cloud migrations. Let us know how you’ve driven recruitment and professional growth!
Be Clear and Concise: When writing your application, keep it straightforward and to the point. Use clear language to describe your experiences and avoid jargon unless it’s relevant. We appreciate clarity, and it helps us understand your background better!
Apply Through Our Website: We encourage you to submit your application through our website. It’s the best way for us to receive your details and ensures you’re considered for the role. Plus, it’s super easy to do – just follow the prompts and you’ll be set!
How to prepare for a job interview at Marks & Spencer Plc
✨Know Your Tech Stack
Familiarise yourself with the technologies mentioned in the job description, like IBM MQ, MuleSoft, and Azure services. Be ready to discuss your hands-on experience with these tools and how you've used them in past projects.
✨Showcase Leadership Skills
Prepare examples that highlight your leadership style and how you've successfully managed engineering teams. Discuss specific instances where you drove operational excellence or led a team through platform modernisation.
✨Understand the Business Impact
Be prepared to talk about how integration impacts business operations. Think about how you can contribute to M&S's goals, especially in terms of reliability and efficiency in messaging and integration platforms.
✨Ask Insightful Questions
Prepare thoughtful questions that show your interest in the role and the company. Inquire about their current integration challenges or future technology plans, which will demonstrate your strategic thinking and engagement.