Software Development Manager - Backend - Node

What’s in it for you

We offer excellent benefits that help make Tesco a great place to work! These include but are not limited to:

• Annual bonus scheme
• Holiday starting at 25 days plus a personal day (plus Bank holidays)
• Retirement savings plan - save between 4% and 7.5% and Tesco will match your contribution
• Life Assurance - 5 x contractual pay
• 24/7 virtual GP service, Employee Assistance Programme (EAP) for you and your family, free access to a range of experts to support your mental wellbeing
• Great colleague deals and discounts, saving you money on everyday purchases, eating out and utility bills for the home
• Access to our colleague networks providing a space for colleagues to come together from a range of backgrounds. For more information about our colleague networks please click here
• Opportunities to get on - take advantage of our ongoing learning opportunities and award winning training, to help you achieve the job and career you want

Click Here to read more about the benefits we have available for our colleagues

About the role

Tesco’s xAPI (Experience API) powers Tesco’s online shopping, enabling customers to discover and shop online from diverse client applications & devices i.e. web, mobile-apps, tills in-store, scan-as-you-shop, tablets, voice assistants etc. We, the xAPI team, build products that provide the experience APIs (GraphQL) for building client applications and handle all the device traffic to support the user experience for the end-user’s shopping lifecycle from product discovery to purchase to returns and refunds, shopping history. We build, develop and maintain massive scale, highly performant REST/GraphQL API services, backend-for-frontend services that enable ease of client application development and our success is the difference between millions of happy customers or millions of missed opportunities.

You will be responsible for

Software Development Managers (SDMs) establish and sustain the environment for development to exist and succeed. Their primary focus is to hire, retain and develop our Software Development Engineers (SDEs) through creating and aligning individual’s short- and long-term objectives and development plan alongside the goals of the wider team and business. They evolve the right tailored approaches to manage and develop their SDEs including regular 1-2-1 meetings, identifying mentors or mentees and providing impromptu coaching inputs. SDMs help split the scope of work across one or more SDEs depending on their strengths and areas of improvement. They actively work to set the SDEs up for success, providing course corrections as necessary. SDMs also help SDEs get the right mentorship to ensure they grow more expertise and to address any weaknesses hindering their effectiveness.  

Team structure and technology processes  

• SDMs build effective, performing teams that consistently deliver quality software whilst balancing the demands of timeframes and needs. 
• Put in place the ingredients for teams to succeed, including the right level of process, practices and data gathering to help the team constantly improve. SDMs default to granting teams autonomy but recognise when stronger guidance and help from them is needed.  
• When the team is performing, an SDM offers a light-touch to assist in unblocking progress. When a team is struggling the SDM identifies and actions a plan to help. 
• Build an effective customer engagement process to ensure their teams have awareness of the importance of good customer experience and show responsiveness to customer experience during development as well as in operational issues. 
• Drive continuous improvement of engineering practices and efficiency of development within team and foster innovation.  
• Empower engineers to own technical decisions whilst providing guidance and enforcing best practices. They are hands-on when required but are always aware of their primary focus when doing so.

Delivery and stakeholder management 

SDMs deliver the right outcomes and collaborate with the appropriate stakeholders and customers, whether directly responsible for the functional delivery of a team or working across multiple teams. They build healthy empathetic relationships to arrive at consensus and overcome any conflicts. Within their operating domain, they demonstrate ownership over the relevant areas of work and can also reach out to, and execute effectively with, peers and other stakeholders when needed to ensure the success of broader, more complex outcomes. SDMs are accountable for the slices they own in a program and proactively identify risks, propose mitigations and get them reviewed with their manager, stakeholders and customers. They also know when to ask for help or escalate.

You will need

SDM interacts continuously with his end users and product managers to keep them current with new possibilities of technology applications and value it brings for our customers. SDM drives architecture, design, implementation, adoption and re-usability of such new technology by sharing their work with peer SDMs and create culture of innovation and technical excellence within his team and at Tesco at broader level.

Skills relevant for the job, 

• Experience in backend development with micro-services.
• Hands-on experience with Node.JS, Javascript/Typescript and GraphQL, GraphQL Federation technologies.
• Knowledge of REST API methodologies and API Gateways.
• Knowledge of Cloud Technologies (Preferably Azure).
• Knowledge of TDD, CI/CD, Automation on cloud and on premise. 
• Large Scale Applications Development, Operations and migration in enterprise environments.
• People management, Emotional Intelligence, Problem Solving and Analytical Skills.
• Good written and verbal communication skills.

About us

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. Please talk to us about how this can work for you - Everyone is welcome at Tesco.