Principal Software Engineer SC&L

As part of the M&S Software Engineering team, you’ll be joining a well-loved historic brand, working on solutions that serve millions of loyal customers and thousands of colleagues! With ethical values that run right through the company’s core and technology leaders that truly understand software engineers and engineering, it’s an exciting time as we’re redefining ourselves into a digital first and engineering-led organisation, with the quality of our engineering team being a key differentiator.

We are seeking a passionate Principal Software Engineer to join us working across Supply Chain & Logistics at M&S, where you will be a driving force behind the modernisation of mission-critical systems for M&S, as we scale. As a technical leader, you will be collaborating with multiple cross-functional teams to design, build, and maintain the software that powers our warehouse operations. Your expertise will help us create a best-in-class engineering environment while ensuring our systems are robust, scalable, and reusable across our multiple warehouses.

Your key accountabilities will include:

• Lead technical excellence across the full software development lifecycle, from solution design through to launch, operations and continuous improvement of strategic products and platforms.
• Define and influence technical direction, engineering strategy and technology investment decisions, partnering with Engineering, Technology and Product leaders to align priorities and outcomes.
• Champion engineering excellence by promoting best practices, including clean code, clean architecture, DevOps, automation and operational excellence, while driving productivity and delivery quality.
• Mentor and develop engineers across the organisation, supporting Communities of Practice, enabling team growth and fostering a culture of innovation, autonomy and continuous learning.
• Strengthen the engineering organisation through recruitment, onboarding, internal and external advocacy, and by contributing to the broader engineering ecosystem through thought leadership and knowledge sharing.

Your skills and experience will include:

• Significant experience defining and delivering technology strategy, driving innovation, influencing technical direction and implementing solutions that create measurable business value.
• Deep expertise in software engineering best practices, including clean code, design patterns, quality assurance, testing strategies, continuous integration, continuous delivery and DevOps principles.
• Strong technical leadership in solution architecture, cloud computing, information security, observability, reliability and performance engineering, with experience delivering complex, high-impact systems at scale.
• Proven ability to optimise processes, lead senior engineers and technical specialists, and influence stakeholders at all levels to achieve successful business and technology outcomes.
• Excellent communication, mentoring and senior leadership skills, with a collaborative approach, strong sense of ownership and the ability to engage both technical and non-technical audiences.

Desirable experience:

• Experience of the Retail domain and/or Supply Chain & Logistics, particularly around Warehouse Management Systems and Warehouse Control Systems.
• Previous software engineering community leadership experience.
• Professional presentation delivery at internal and external events.
• Demonstrable entrepreneurship in previous organisation(s).

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.