Software Development Engineer II - Java (FTC) in Welwyn Garden City

This is a 10‑month Fixed Term Contract (FTC) covering maternity leave. As an SDE2 at Tesco, you are a mid-level individual contributor whose impact reaches across your team. You provide technical leadership for medium to large features, participate in their design, and take accountability for delivery. You are expected to implement and ship end-to-end stories, support other engineers, and start to build and prioritize your own work by understanding team problems and proposing solutions. This role is a steppingstone towards SDE3, with a strong focus on technical growth and career development.

Developing high‑quality software solutions with proficiency in Java (Spring Boot or other frameworks). Working with Microsoft Azure and Terraform (Infrastructure as Code), or demonstrating a willingness to learn. Implementing and advocating CI/CD best practices for seamless and reliable software delivery. Maintaining high‑quality documentation to support development processes and system design. Taking a data‑driven approach to decision‑making and understanding trade‑offs. Applying Tesco architectural standards and security‑first thinking, including the use of tools like Snyk and Apiiro. Ensuring solutions are robust, scalable, and efficient. Taking ownership of systems, improving reliability, maintainability, and performance. Mentoring and supporting fellow engineers, fostering a culture of learning and collaboration. Automating workflows and building tools/scripts to improve team efficiency.

Languages: Java (or other JVM languages). Bonus: JavaScript, TypeScript. Frameworks: Spring Boot or Micronaut. Cloud: Azure. Infrastructure Automation: Terraform. Architecture: Microservices. Databases: SQL (PostgreSQL), NoSQL (Cosmos DB, CouchDB). Monitoring & Alerting: Splunk, xMatters, New Relic. Version Control: GitHub. Tools: Zendesk, JIRA.

What We’re Looking For

• Solid experience delivering Java or other JVM‑based applications
• Experience with cloud platforms (Azure or AWS) and infrastructure automation (Terraform)
• Good understanding of SQL (PostgreSQL) and NoSQL databases (Cosmos DB, CouchDB)
• Familiarity with monitoring and observability tools
• Experience working within Agile environments (Scrum/Kanban)
• Strong English communication skills
• Experience in system design
• Demonstrated ownership of technical projects and ability to lead from a technical or project perspective
• A proactive, collaborative approach

Our vision at Tesco is to become every customer's favourite way to shop, whether they are at home or out on the move. Our core purpose is ‘Serving our customers, communities and planet a little better every day’. Serving means more than a transactional relationship with our customers. It means acting as a responsible and sustainable business for all stakeholders, for the communities we are part of and for the planet. We are proud to have an inclusive culture at Tesco where everyone truly feels able to be themselves. At Tesco, we not only celebrate diversity, but recognise the value and opportunity it brings. We’re committed to creating a workplace where differences are valued, and make sure that all colleagues are given the same opportunities. We’re proud to have been accredited Disability Confident Leader and we’re committed to providing a fully inclusive and accessible recruitment process. For further information on the accessibility support we can offer, please click here. We’re a big business and we can offer a range of diverse full‑time & part‑time working patterns across our many business areas, which means that we can find something that works for you. We work in a more blended pattern - combining office and remote working. Our offices will continue to be where we connect, collaborate and innovate. If you are applying internally, please speak to the Hiring Manager about how this can work for you - Everyone is welcome at Tesco.