At a Glance
- Tasks: Join M&S to develop innovative software solutions for millions of customers.
- Company: Be part of a historic brand transforming into a digital-first organisation.
- Benefits: Enjoy a 20% discount, competitive holidays, and 24/7 wellbeing support.
- Other info: Join a diverse team committed to innovation and inclusivity.
- Why this job: Make a real impact in a fast-evolving tech environment with ethical values.
- Qualifications: Experience in backend systems, cloud applications, and mentoring engineers.
The predicted salary is between 63000 - 77000 £ per year.
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 running through the company’s core, and technology leaders who truly understand software engineering, it’s an exciting time to join us as we redefine ourselves as a digital-first, engineering-led organisation. The quality of our engineering team is a key differentiator. This role sits within the Commercial Planning area, supporting M&S’s Fashion, Home & Beauty transformation efforts, which are central to M&S’s ambitious growth and modernisation plans. Your expertise will help us on this journey, creating solutions for the business that are robust, scalable and secure, with strong observability, meaningful metrics and best-in-class engineering practices. Working closely with M&S teams and strategic partners, you’ll play a key role in shaping the next generation of commercial planning platforms and services.
What You'll Do
- Develop, test and debug software solutions, taking a lead on what good coding practices look like and championing engineering excellence across the team.
- Provide expert technical guidance on complex projects, ensuring solutions align with engineering strategy, architectural standards and technology roadmaps.
- Lead the design and delivery of scalable software solutions and third-party integrations, partnering closely with Architecture teams and key stakeholders.
- Conduct thorough code reviews to ensure adherence to technical standards, maintainability, automated testing practices and high-quality software delivery.
- Build strong partnerships with business stakeholders, product managers, engineers and external partners to design effective technical solutions that meet business needs.
- Mentor and coach engineers at all levels, sharing knowledge and helping develop technical capability across the wider engineering community.
- Drive operational excellence through monitoring, observability, alerting and incident management practices, ensuring learnings from production environments are fed back into development.
- Stay informed of emerging technologies, AI capabilities and engineering trends, proposing innovative solutions that enhance business outcomes and engineering productivity.
Who You Are
- Proven track record developing high-performing, robust backend systems and integrations, with a focus on scalability, optimisation and resilience.
- Deep understanding of software engineering principles, design patterns and modern development practices, applied to building maintainable and adaptable systems.
- Strong understanding of automated testing approaches and tooling across unit, integration and end-to-end testing layers.
- Proven hands-on experience implementing DevSecOps practices at scale across enterprise-grade applications and platforms.
- Technical proficiency across a variety of technologies including Java, PL/SQL, JavaScript, Git and CI/CD tooling.
- Experience designing and implementing scalable cloud-based applications with a strong focus on performance, security and operational excellence.
- Strong communication and stakeholder management skills, with the ability to explain complex technical concepts to both technical and non-technical audiences.
- A mentoring mindset with a genuine passion for developing engineers and empowering teams to succeed.
- Proficiency using AI tools such as GitHub Copilot and leveraging agentic workflows to improve software delivery, engineering productivity and development practices.
Desirable Experience
- Knowledge of the retail domain, particularly Fashion, Home & Beauty, Commercial Planning or broader retail technology landscapes, would be advantageous but is not essential.
- Experience working within large-scale transformation programmes involving multiple vendor and partner organisations.
- Familiarity with domain-driven design, event-driven architectures and modern cloud-native application development.
Tech Stack
- Languages & Frameworks: PL/SQL, Java/Spring Boot, Kotlin/Micronaut (desirable), Python (desirable).
- Cloud & Infrastructure: Azure IaaS and PaaS services, Docker, Kubernetes, Helm and Terraform.
- Data & Messaging: Kafka/Confluent.
- Databases: MongoDB and Azure SQL Server.
- Observability: Dynatrace, OpenTelemetry and PagerDuty.
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.
Staff Software Engineer - Commercial Planning in London employer: Worky
Goldman Sachs is an exceptional employer, offering a dynamic work environment where innovation and collaboration thrive. As a VP in Site Reliability Engineering, you will benefit from a culture that prioritises professional growth, with ample opportunities to lead critical projects and enhance your skills in a fast-paced financial services setting. Located in a vibrant city, the company provides competitive benefits and a commitment to employee well-being, making it an ideal place for those seeking meaningful and rewarding careers.
StudySmarter Expert Advice🤫
We think this is how you could land Staff Software Engineer - Commercial Planning in London
✨Join Local Tech Meetups
Get out there and mingle with fellow developers by joining local tech meetups. It’s a fantastic way to meet people who might be working at Worky or know someone who does. Plus, you can pick up some trendy tech skills and trends while you're at it!
✨Contribute to Open Source Projects
Show off your coding chops by jumping into open-source projects. Not only does this give you practical experience, but it also gets you noticed in the dev community. You'll create a killer portfolio that speaks volumes about your skills to Worky.
✨Tap into Online Developer Communities
Don’t underestimate the power of online developer communities like GitHub, Stack Overflow, and even Reddit. Participate in discussions, share your projects, and build your visibility. We can often find opportunities through these channels that can lead to a full-time gig at companies like Worky.
✨Explore Job Boards Specifically for Tech Roles
Keep your eyes peeled on job boards that focus on tech roles. Sites like TechCareers or Stack Overflow Jobs can often have listings for companies like Worky that might not show up on broader job sites. Make it a habit to check these regularly, and don’t hesitate to apply directly through our website!
We think you need these skills to ace Staff Software Engineer - Commercial Planning in London
Some tips for your application 🫡
Show off your coding skills:When applying for a software engineering role, it's super important to showcase your coding skills. Make sure your CV includes your tech stack, any relevant programming languages you’re comfortable with, and examples of projects you've worked on. If you have a GitHub profile, link it up! We love to see code in action.
Tailor your portfolio:For a full-time role, we’d expect to see some solid examples of your work in your portfolio. Make sure to include at least two or three projects that highlight your problem-solving skills and your ability to work with different technologies. Focus on the projects that are most relevant to the position at Worky.
Craft a killer cover letter:Your cover letter is your chance to stand out—make it personal! Explain why you want to work at Worky and how your skills align with the role. Show us your passion for software development. We dig enthusiastic candidates who understand the value of collaboration and continuous learning!
Be clear and concise:When it comes to writing your CV and cover letter, clarity is key. Avoid jargon that could confuse us and stick to simple, direct language. Highlight your achievements with quantifiable results where possible, and keep everything easy to read. A well-organised application goes a long way!
How to prepare for a job interview at Worky
✨Brush Up on Your Coding Skills
For a full-time software engineering role, it's crucial that we stay sharp with our coding abilities. Expect technical questions that might involve solving problems on the spot or discussing algorithms. Practise on platforms like LeetCode or HackerRank to get comfortable with the types of questions that often come up.
✨Know Your Tools and Frameworks
Make sure we’re well-acquainted with the tools and technologies listed in the job description. Familiarise ourselves with any specific frameworks or programming languages mentioned. If Worky uses React or Node.js, for instance, be ready to discuss how we’ve used them in previous projects or coursework.
✨Showcase Your Projects
Bring along a portfolio that highlights our best work. This could be code samples, GitHub repositories, or any side projects we’ve built. Make sure we can talk through our thought process for each project, especially the challenges we faced and how we solved them—this shows our problem-solving skills in action.
✨Prepare for Behavioural Questions
While technical skills are key, full-time positions also require cultural fit. Be ready to discuss our previous experiences and how we handle teamwork, conflict, and deadlines. Brush up on the STAR method—Situation, Task, Action, Result—to clearly articulate our past experiences when discussing how we've contributed to a team.
