The Company
My client are a leading UK supermarket and retail brand with a strong presence in both department stores and grocery sectors, generating annual revenues exceeding £12 billion. Our engineering division supports a range of projects, from cloud platforms and mobile applications to e-commerce and machine learning. Collaboration and continuous learning are fundamental to our culture.
The Supply Chain team ensures optimal stock availability across our grocery operations. Given the fast-paced nature of the retail sector, our technology ecosystem is a mix of third-party platforms, in-house systems, and legacy applications, all requiring resilience and adaptability.
Location:Bracknell - Remote with rare travel.
Overview
Principal Engineer opportunity that is far more expansive than the title suggests. This role does not involve writing code but is focused on engineering leadership, strategy, and driving technical decision-making across a complex and high-impact technology environment. This position requires someone who can influence multi-million-pound engineering decisions, improve system resilience, and lead change across mission-critical systems, ensuring they remain scalable, adaptable, and future-proof.
Primary Responsibilities
Asa Principal Engineer, you will shape the engineering strategy for supply chain systems, ensuring alignment with business objectives. You will influence key operational decisions, engineering methodologies, and team structures to drive impactful change.
You will enhance system resilience and maintainability by working closely with Product Leads, Delivery and Operations Managers, Infrastructure Leads, and Enterprise Architects. Collaboration with other Principal Engineers across cloud, data, and other domains will be crucial.
Successful candidates will have a passion for using technology to develop high-performing, innovative solutions and a track record of delivering complex, scalable, and high-quality software.
Must haves:
- Strong engineering background with real-world experience of modern software engineering techniques such as Continuous Delivery and ideally experience of using strategic patterns of Domain Driven Design.
- Experience in senior leadership role, leading across multiple teams, working with senior stakeholders, and influencing multi-million pound investments in engineering
- Knowledge/experience of working with different architectural styles (e.g. monolith, service based, microservices) and integration patterns when working with different platforms (broker models, RESTful, streams, event-based).
- Knowledge/experience of techniques used to increase resilience and/or scalability of systems.
- Experience of applying techniques from Lean and Systems Thinking.
Ideally:
- Experience of the technical implementation of package solutions into complex environments.
Nice to have:
- Supply Chain or Retail experience
- Working with legacy systems Likely background:
- Will have been a hands-on software engineer for part of their career.
- May have moved into an engineering management role, working across multiple teams or architecture role working across a large part of an enterprise.
- May work for a large consultancy.
Benefits
- Hybrid Working- Flexible mix of office and remote work.
- Annual Leave- 25 days holiday plus public and bank holidays (pro-rated for part-time roles).
- Work-Life Balance- Focus on well-being and flexible working arrangements.
- Pension Scheme- Employer-matched contributions up to 8%, plus an additional 4% after three years.
- Employee Discounts- Up to 25% at department stores and 20% at grocery stores (some exclusions apply).
- Cycle to Work Scheme- Accessible cycle purchase program.
- Exclusive Hotels- Access to partner-owned hotels after three months of service.
- Healthcare Coverage- Comprehensive health benefits.
- Career Development- Extensive learning and development opportunities.
