Java Engineer (12M FTC) - Argos in London

We’d all like amazing work to do, and real work-life balance. That’s waiting for you at Sainsbury’s. Think about the scale it takes to feed the nation. The level of data, transactions and variety involved. Then you’ll realise this is a modern software engineering environment, because it has to be. We’ve made significant investment in the standards and principles that shape how we work. We iterate, learn, experiment and champion ways of working such as Agile, Scrum and XP. So you can look forward to exciting opportunities across everything from AI to reusable tech. We don’t think we’re exaggerating when we say we have one of the most exciting data sets in the country. The insights we gain help us build scalable, high‑performance products using cutting‑edge technology—products that give our customers an amazing shopping experience, including our award‑winning Smartshop app.

In an inclusive, agile environment, you’ll have the space to be curious, to experiment, and to solve real‑world challenges. Best of all, you’ll see your work in the hands of millions of people across the UK. As a Java Engineer, you’ll join one of our Engineering teams to create exceptional products aligned to best‑practice architectural and engineering principles. Working with Java (25) and modern frameworks like Spring Boot and Gradle, you’ll design and develop large‑scale, high‑performance services across websites, apps, microservices, and event‑driven architectures. We want you to bring your whole self to work—be analytical, curious, and ready to challenge the status quo. You’ll be a key contributor to continuous improvement within your team and the wider engineering community.

What You’ll Do

• Design and develop large-scale, high‑performance services using Kotlin, Java (25), Spring Boot, Gradle, and related tools.
• Build and enhance websites, apps, microservices, and event‑driven architectures.
• Contribute to the product technical roadmap.
• Work with cloud and container technologies, including Kubernetes on AWS, Azure, or Google Cloud Platform.
• Lead the design and support of internal frameworks that enhance wider engineering capabilities.
• Engineer across the full product lifecycle, including decommissioning.
• Consider cost, scalability, and support implications in all engineering decisions.
• Strong expertise in Java and Spring Boot, knowledge of Kotlin or desire to learn.
• Solid understanding of engineering and architectural principles, including unit testing and TDD.
• Proven experience in software design and implementation across security, cloud, infrastructure as code, and CI/CD.
• Experience working with microservices and event‑driven systems.
• Knowledge of cloud platforms (AWS, Azure, or GCP) and containerisation (Kubernetes).
• Strong self‑drive and commitment to improving processes, teams, and engineering communities.
• Advocacy for Agile and Lean delivery methodologies.
• Passion for delivering customer‑focused solutions and owning the full SDLC following DevSecOps principles.
• Curiosity and a genuine interest in emerging technologies.
• Empathy, teamwork, and the ability to support others in delivering high‑quality outcomes.

Generous colleague discount across Sainsbury’s, Argos, Tu, and Habitat. Pension plan. Access to special offers on gyms, restaurants, holidays, retail vouchers and more. Work‑life balance matters to us. We offer flexibility in how, when, and where you work—combining remote collaboration with the right balance of freedom to support your life outside work. We are committed to being a truly inclusive retailer, so you’ll be welcomed whoever you are and wherever you work. Around here, there’s always the chance to try something new—whether that’s as part of an evolving team or somewhere else across the business—and we take development seriously and promise to support you. We also recognise and celebrate colleagues when they go the extra mile and, where possible, offer flexible working.

When you join our team, we’ll also offer you an amazing range of benefits. Here are some of them: Starting off with colleague discount, you'll be able to get 10% off at Sainsbury's, Argos, TU and Habitat after 4 weeks. This increases to 15% off at Sainsbury’s every Friday and Saturday and 15% off at Argos every pay day. We've also got you covered for your future with our pensions scheme and life cover. You'll also be able to share in our success as you may be eligible for a performance‑related bonus of up to 10% of salary, depending on how we perform. Your wellbeing is important to us too. You'll receive an annual holiday allowance, and you can buy additional holiday. We also offer other benefits that will help your money go further such as season ticket loans, cycle to work scheme, health cash plans, pay advance (where you can access some of your pay before pay day) as well as access to a great range of discounts from hundreds of other retailers. And if you ever need it there is also an employee assistance programme. Moments that matter are as important to us as they are to you which is why we give up to 26 weeks’ pay for maternity or adoption leave and up to 4 weeks’ pay for paternity leave.