Head of Software Engineering

慨正橡扯; Greater London; On-site; GBP 80,000 - 120,000

Job description

Job purpose
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 Head of Software Engineering who will provide technical
expertise, ship thoughtfully and operate with excellence. Being creative, curious, and
confident, you will be an integral part of our empowered, self-managing, multi-
disciplinary engineering teams - designing, building, releasing, and maintaining
products. Working as an equal partner with the Product and Delivery teams you will
deliver sophisticated and robust solutions to solve daring problems for our customers
and colleagues.

You will manage the technical teams that build and support the post-purchase
experience for customers. This includes customer service journeys across multiple
channels (web, chat, voice, and beyond), and the tools and platforms that our
colleagues use to support them. We see customer service as a strategic pillar, it ensures
that we’re always getting closer to our customers’ needs.

Reports to
Senior Head of Software Engineering

M&S peers
Principal Engineers, Head of Product, Senior Technical Programme Managers

Team
3-4 Engineering Managers (Engineering Managers are responsible for 5-9 Engineers
each).

5-6 Squads in a strategic Product Group (50-75 Engineers)

Key Accountabilities & Responsibilities
The Head of Software Engineering role is the embodiment of ‘solving problems through
technology’ with key responsibilities as follows:

1. Lead Software Engineering Managers to build and maintain high quality and
   reliable software.
2. Responsible for the engineering excellence of their Product Group e.g.,
   behaviours, operations, and technical quality.
3. Line manage and develop Software Engineering Managers to ensure they have
   the right skills, development plans and bias to learning.
4. Maintain and cultivate effective relationships with Product and Delivery teams to
   prioritise, problem solve & maximise value to market.
5. Work with the wider Technology function to implement the technical strategy,
   adopting the North Star principles.
6. Lead the development and improvements to M&S standard frameworks and
   policies, ensuring that they are understood and adopted.
7. Write strategy papers and contribute to designing architecture to drive tech
   transformation and implementations.
8. Coach, support and guide Engineering managers and engineers to produce clean,
   quality code through code reviews and pair programming.
9. Drive DevOps practices to automate the Product development life cycle.
10. Foster a culture of experimentation and innovation to drive solutions.
11. Ensure products meet their SLI and SLO targets and are fully supported by teams
    both in and out of hours.
12. Lead development of Product Group OKRs and Product health, and demonstrate
    responsibility for the entire Product Group objectives.
13. Drive the improvement and measurement of Product Group quality and
    reliability via software engineering standard methodologies and metrics.
14. Orchestrate continuous learning and improvement initiatives for the Product(s)
    and Product Group(s).
15. Solve problems collaboratively, communicating decisions to senior stakeholders.
16. Lead product planning and roadmap with an agile mind-set focusing on
    supporting our colleagues.
17. Engage with product colleagues to improve value for the customer and to
    understand ambiguous requirements.
18. Demonstrate and champion pragmatism in terms of commercial delivery and
    software quality.
19. Promote technology, innovation, values, and ways of working within the team
    and wider community.
20. Active contribution and leading of Communities of Practice.
21. Lead recruitment and new starter on-boarding activities.
22. Own and deliver initiatives to take M&S Technology to the next level by
    challenging the status quo.
23. Enhance and implement M&S Engineering talent strategy.
24. Foster self-management and accountability at the team level through servant
    leadership.
25. Support recruitment and brand outreach activities.

Tech stack
M&S uses a variety of technologies including
React, Next.js, Typescript
GraphQL Federation
Java
Google CCAI Platform
Dialogflow CX
Zendesk Custom Applications
DatabricksCloud: Azure
Observability

Essential Experience

1. Excellent understanding of system design, software architecture, cloud, and software engineering standard methodologies.
2. Proven track record implementing and managing platform and system integrations.
3. Experience establishing a strong operational culture with a focus on data-driven improvements.
4. Previous experience as either a hands-on senior software engineer or solution architect.
5. Excellent knowledge in all stack areas, from front-end through to back-end.
6. Consistent track record in delivering, operating, leading, hiring and shifting at Product Group level and above.
7. Strong understanding of testing strategies and reliability engineering.
8. Highly organised and able to handle multiple workstreams, lead senior internal customers and their expectations.
9. Excellent people management, interpersonal, analytical, and problem-solving skills.
10. Ability to lead and line manage senior engineers, engineering managers and technical partners to a desired outcome, without prescribing it.
11. Excellent communication skills, both written and spoken and able to adjust for different, including non-technical audiences.
12. A servant-leadership mentality that is willing to take ownership of problems.
13. Able to influence people at senior levels and from the highly technical to non-technical.

Desirable experience

1. Experience with customer support platforms like Genesys, Google CCAI, Zendesk, Twilio.
2. Leading product areas with 5+ teams.
3. Previous software engineering community leadership experience.
4. Presentation delivery at internal and external events.
5. An ambition to be an open-source contributor, technology writer or speaker.
6. Advanced experience with cloud engineering.
7. Cares about the business and the bigger picture with significant prior examples.
8. A senior leadership mentality that is willing to take responsibility.
9. Demonstrable entrepreneurship in previous organisation(s).

Works closely with
You’ll be working closely with Senior Heads of Software Engineering, Head of Product,
Commercial and Finance, CTOs, Software Engineering Managers, Principal Engineers,
Software Engineers, other Heads of Software Engineering, UI/UX Engineers, Architects
and Product Managers to collaboratively tackle problems! There will be day-to-day
interactions with Technical Program Managers, who you’ll work with to constantly
evolve your team’s ways of working.

As a member of M&S Software Engineering, you’ll also work with and learn from other
engineers and specialists in the organisation through Business Platforms, Product
Portfolios, Product Groups, other teams and Communities of Practice.

M&S is ready to push boundaries to lead the industry into a greener, speedier, more
inspiring digital era. That’s why we’re revolutionising how we work and offering our
most exciting opportunities yet. There’s never been a better time to be part of our
team. Marks & Spencer aims to be an inclusive organisation, trusted and admired by our
colleagues, customers and suppliers. Join us and make an immediate impact. 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.
We will ensure that individuals with disabilities are provided reasonable
accommodation to participate in the job application or interview process. If you
consider yourself to have a disability or learning difficulty which means you are unable
to complete the application process online, please get in touch either by phone on 0345
300 3725 or by email [e-mail] so we can make
alternative arrangements for you.