Lead Engineer - Backend (38233)

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Full Time

London

Competitive

January 20, 2026

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Job description

<div class="earcuposdescription"><div class="earcuposdescriptiontitle">About H&B</div><div class="earcuposdescriptionnote"><div class="prose dark:prose-invert inline leading-relaxed break-words min-w-0 [word-break:break-word] prose-strong:font-medium [&>*:first-child]:mt-0"><p><strong><span data-contrast="none"> </span></strong> <span data-ccp-props="{"201341983":0,"335559685":0,"335559731":0,"335559739":144,"335559740":259,"335559991":10,"469777462":[7740],"469777927":[0],"469777928":[3]}"> </span></p><div class="prose dark:prose-invert inline leading-relaxed break-words min-w-0 [word-break:break-word] prose-strong:font-medium [&>*:first-child]:mt-0"><p class="my-2 [&+p]:mt-4 [&strong:has(+br)]:inline-block [&strong:has(+br)]:pb-2">Lead Engineer – Product Detail Pages (PDP)<br>Technology at Holland & Barrett</p><p class="my-2 [&+p]:mt-4 [&strong:has(+br)]:inline-block [&strong:has(+br)]:pb-2">Help build the <strong>best health & wellness shopping experience</strong> on the web. As Lead Engineer in our OCX (Online Customer Experience) vertical, you'll own the product detail page journey across web and mobile – the place where customers discover, compare and decide what goes in their basket. This squad sits at the heart of our eCommerce platform, shaping how millions of customers explore products, understand ingredients and find what's right for their goals.</p><p class="my-2 [&+p]:mt-4 [&strong:has(+br)]:inline-block [&strong:has(+br)]:pb-2">We're nearing the end of a multi‑year technical transformation and moving into the next phase: <strong>shipping new propositions at pace</strong>, modern architecture, and deeply personalised experiences across our PDPs and wider journey.</p><h2 id="what-youll-do" class="mb-2 mt-4 font-sans font-semimedium text-base first:mt-0 md:text-lg [hr+&]:mt-4">What you'll do</h2><ul class="marker:text-quiet list-disc"><li class="py-0 my-0 prose-p:pt-0 prose-p:mb-2 prose-p:my-0 [&>p]:pt-0 [&>p]:mb-2 [&>p]:my-0"><p class="my-2 [&+p]:mt-4 [&strong:has(+br)]:inline-block [&strong:has(+br)]:pb-2">Lead the design and delivery of high-quality, cross-functional software across a core set of PDP and OCX domains, operating independently without day‑to‑day technical oversight.</p></li><li class="py-0 my-0 prose-p:pt-0 prose-p:mb-2 prose-p:my-0 [&>p]:pt-0 [&>p]:mb-2 [&>p]:my-0"><p class="my-2 [&+p]:mt-4 [&strong:has(+br)]:inline-block [&strong:has(+br)]:pb-2">Consistently ship resilient, observable services that improve page performance, conversion, and customer experience.</p></li><li class="py-0 my-0 prose-p:pt-0 prose-p:mb-2 prose-p:my-0 [&>p]:pt-0 [&>p]:mb-2 [&>p]:my-0"><p class="my-2 [&+p]:mt-4 [&strong:has(+br)]:inline-block [&strong:has(+br)]:pb-2">Work closely with Product, UX, Data and CX to ensure initiatives land on time and solve real customer problems.</p></li><li class="py-0 my-0 prose-p:pt-0 prose-p:mb-2 prose-p:my-0 [&>p]:pt-0 [&>p]:mb-2 [&>p]:my-0"><p class="my-2 [&+p]:mt-4 [&strong:has(+br)]:inline-block [&strong:has(+br)]:pb-2">Act as a multiplier: mentor and develop engineers in your squad, levelling up technical skills, code quality and delivery practices.</p></li><li class="py-0 my-0 prose-p:pt-0 prose-p:mb-2 prose-p:my-0 [&>p]:pt-0 [&>p]:mb-2 [&>p]:my-0"><p class="my-2 [&+p]:mt-4 [&strong:has(+br)]:inline-block [&strong:has(+br)]:pb-2">Stay curious – bring new ideas, patterns and techniques from engineering, product and UX into the team.</p></li><li class="py-0 my-0 prose-p:pt-0 prose-p:mb-2 prose-p:my-0 [&>p]:pt-0 [&>p]:mb-2 [&>p]:my-0"><p class="my-2 [&+p]:mt-4 [&strong:has(+br)]:inline-block [&strong:has(+br)]:pb-2">Communicate complex technical concepts clearly to both technical and non‑technical stakeholders, including senior leadership.</p></li><li class="py-0 my-0 prose-p:pt-0 prose-p:mb-2 prose-p:my-0 [&>p]:pt-0 [&>p]:mb-2 [&>p]:my-0"><p class="my-2 [&+p]:mt-4 [&strong:has(+br)]:inline-block [&strong:has(+br)]:pb-2">Understand how H&B's strategy and commercial priorities connect to the work your squad delivers.</p></li><li class="py-0 my-0 prose-p:pt-0 prose-p:mb-2 prose-p:my-0 [&>p]:pt-0 [&>p]:mb-2 [&>p]:my-0"><p class="my-2 [&+p]:mt-4 [&strong:has(+br)]:inline-block [&strong:has(+br)]:pb-2">Keep the customer front and centre – build empathy for their needs and behaviour into technical decisions.</p></li><li class="py-0 my-0 prose-p:pt-0 prose-p:mb-2 prose-p:my-0 [&>p]:pt-0 [&>p]:mb-2 [&>p]:my-0"><p class="my-2 [&+p]:mt-4 [&strong:has(+br)]:inline-block [&strong:has(+br)]:pb-2">Own security, reliability and compliance in your area, and plan how upcoming work will impact them.</p></li></ul><h2 id="skills-and-experience" class="mb-2 mt-4 font-sans font-semimedium text-base first:mt-0 md:text-lg [hr+&]:mt-4">Skills and experience</h2><ul class="marker:text-quiet list-disc"><li class="py-0 my-0 prose-p:pt-0 prose-p:mb-2 prose-p:my-0 [&>p]:pt-0 [&>p]:mb-2 [&>p]:my-0"><p class="my-2 [&+p]:mt-4 [&strong:has(+br)]:inline-block [&strong:has(+br)]:pb-2">Fluent in <strong>Java (17+)</strong> and the <strong>Spring ecosystem</strong> (Spring Boot or similar: Quarkus, Micronaut).</p></li><li class="py-0 my-0 prose-p:pt-0 prose-p:mb-2 prose-p:my-0 [&>p]:pt-0 [&>p]:mb-2 [&>p]:my-0"><p class="my-2 [&+p]:mt-4 [&strong:has(+br)]:inline-block [&strong:has(+br)]:pb-2">Equal fluency in idiomatic <strong>Go (Golang)</strong>, including effective use of concurrency, robust error handling, and building/operating production-grade services.</p></li><li class="py-0 my-0 prose-p:pt-0 prose-p:mb-2 prose-p:my-0 [&>p]:pt-0 [&>p]:mb-2 [&>p]:my-0"><p class="my-2 [&+p]:mt-4 [&strong:has(+br)]:inline-block [&strong:has(+br)]:pb-2">Strong understanding of <strong>HTTP</strong> and <strong>REST</strong> as an architectural style for building APIs.</p></li><li class="py-0 my-0 prose-p:pt-0 prose-p:mb-2 prose-p:my-0 [&>p]:pt-0 [&>p]:mb-2 [&>p]:my-0"><p class="my-2 [&+p]:mt-4 [&strong:has(+br)]:inline-block [&strong:has(+br)]:pb-2">Confident with <strong>asynchronous programming</strong> in Java and event‑driven patterns.</p></li><li class="py-0 my-0 prose-p:pt-0 prose-p:mb-2 prose-p:my-0 [&>p]:pt-0 [&>p]:mb-2 [&>p]:my-0"><p class="my-2 [&+p]:mt-4 [&strong:has(+br)]:inline-block [&strong:has(+br)]:pb-2">Fluent in <strong>SQL</strong> with experience of RDBMS such as <strong>Postgres</strong> and <strong>Oracle</strong>.</p></li><li class="py-0 my-0 prose-p:pt-0 prose-p:mb-2 prose-p:my-0 [&>p]:pt-0 [&>p]:mb-2 [&>p]:my-0"><p class="my-2 [&+p]:mt-4 [&strong:has(+br)]:inline-block [&strong:has(+br)]:pb-2">Hands-on with <strong>Docker</strong> and docker‑compose.</p></li><li class="py-0 my-0 prose-p:pt-0 prose-p:mb-2 prose-p:my-0 [&>p]:pt-0 [&>p]:mb-2 [&>p]:my-0"><p class="my-2 [&+p]:mt-4 [&strong:has(+br)]:inline-block [&strong:has(+br)]:pb-2">Exposure to <strong>AWS</strong> services such as S3, Aurora and ElastiCache.</p></li><li class="py-0 my-0 prose-p:pt-0 prose-p:mb-2 prose-p:my-0 [&>p]:pt-0 [&>p]:mb-2 [&>p]:my-0"><p class="my-2 [&+p]:mt-4 [&strong:has(+br)]:inline-block [&strong:has(+br)]:pb-2">Experience with modern <strong>CI/CD</strong> platforms such as GitLab, GitHub Actions or CircleCI.</p></li><li class="py-0 my-0 prose-p:pt-0 prose-p:mb-2 prose-p:my-0 [&>p]:pt-0 [&>p]:mb-2 [&>p]:my-0"><p class="my-2 [&+p]:mt-4 [&strong:has(+br)]:inline-block [&strong:has(+br)]:pb-2">Strong focus on <strong>monitoring and observability</strong>, proactive in detecting and resolving issues before they impact customers.</p></li><li class="py-0 my-0 prose-p:pt-0 prose-p:mb-2 prose-p:my-0 [&>p]:pt-0 [&>p]:mb-2 [&>p]:my-0"><p class="my-2 [&+p]:mt-4 [&strong:has(+br)]:inline-block [&strong:has(+br)]:pb-2">Fluent with testing frameworks such as <strong>JUnit</strong> and <strong>RestAssured</strong>.</p></li></ul><p class="my-2 [&+p]:mt-4 [&strong:has(+br)]:inline-block [&strong:has(+br)]:pb-2"> </p><p class="my-2 [&+p]:mt-4 [&strong:has(+br)]:inline-block [&strong:has(+br)]:pb-2"><strong>Nice to have</strong></p><p class="my-2 [&+p]:mt-4 [&strong:has(+br)]:inline-block [&strong:has(+br)]:pb-2"> </p><ul class="marker:text-quiet list-disc"><li class="py-0 my-0 prose-p:pt-0 prose-p:mb-2 prose-p:my-0 [&>p]:pt-0 [&>p]:mb-2 [&>p]:my-0"><p class="my-2 [&+p]:mt-4 [&strong:has(+br)]:inline-block [&strong:has(+br)]:pb-2">Experience with monitoring/alerting platforms such as <strong>Datadog, PagerDuty, Grafana, Prometheus</strong>.</p></li><li class="py-0 my-0 prose-p:pt-0 prose-p:mb-2 prose-p:my-0 [&>p]:pt-0 [&>p]:mb-2 [&>p]:my-0"><p class="my-2 [&+p]:mt-4 [&strong:has(+br)]:inline-block [&strong:has(+br)]:pb-2">Exposure to <strong>Python</strong> scripting.</p></li><li class="py-0 my-0 prose-p:pt-0 prose-p:mb-2 prose-p:my-0 [&>p]:pt-0 [&>p]:mb-2 [&>p]:my-0"><p class="my-2 [&+p]:mt-4 [&strong:has(+br)]:inline-block [&strong:has(+br)]:pb-2">Experience with deployment platforms like <strong>Kubernetes</strong> and tooling such as <strong>Helm</strong>.</p></li></ul><p class="my-2 [&+p]:mt-4 [&strong:has(+br)]:inline-block [&strong:has(+br)]:pb-2">This description is intended to outline the scope and level of the role rather than list every possible responsibility. The right person will help shape it as we grow.</p><h2 class="mb-2 mt-4 font-sans font-semimedium text-base first:mt-0 md:text-lg [hr+&]:mt-4"> </h2><h2 id="interview-process" class="mb-2 mt-4 font-sans font-semimedium text-base first:mt-0 md:text-lg [hr+&]:mt-4">Interview process</h2><ul class="marker:text-quiet list-disc"><li class="py-0 my-0 prose-p:pt-0 prose-p:mb-2 prose-p:my-0 [&>p]:pt-0 [&>p]:mb-2 [&>p]:my-0"><p class="my-2 [&+p]:mt-4 [&strong:has(+br)]:inline-block [&strong:has(+br)]:pb-2">Recruiter screen – 15–30 minutes</p></li><li class="py-0 my-0 prose-p:pt-0 prose-p:mb-2 prose-p:my-0 [&>p]:pt-0 [&>p]:mb-2 [&>p]:my-0"><p class="my-2 [&+p]:mt-4 [&strong:has(+br)]:inline-block [&strong:has(+br)]:pb-2">Hiring Manager interview – 30–45 minutes</p></li><li class="py-0 my-0 prose-p:pt-0 prose-p:mb-2 prose-p:my-0 [&>p]:pt-0 [&>p]:mb-2 [&>p]:my-0"><p class="my-2 [&+p]:mt-4 [&strong:has(+br)]:inline-block [&strong:has(+br)]:pb-2">Technical session (pair programming & system design) – 90 minutes</p></li></ul></div><p><span data-ccp-props="{"201341983":0,"335559685":0,"335559731":0,"335559739":182,"335559740":259,"335559991":10}"> </span></p><p> </p><p class="my-2 [&+p]:mt-4 [&strong:has(+br)]:inline-block [&strong:has(+br)]:pb-2"> </p></div></div></div><div class="earcuposdescription"><div class="earcuposdescriptiontitle">About the Role</div></div><div class="earcuposdescription"><div class="earcuposdescriptiontitle">Key Requirement</div></div><div class="earcuposdescription"><div class="earcuposdescriptiontitle">What we offer:</div><div class="earcuposdescriptionnote"><p><strong>What we offer:</strong></p><p><strong>Wellbeing & Lifestyle Benefits</strong> </p><ul><li>Health Cash Plan  </li><li>Life Assurance</li><li>Bonus Scheme - Based on company & personal performance</li><li>Virtual GP </li><li>Private Medical care</li><li>FREE at-home blood test kit </li><li>Holiday Purchase option </li><li>Pension Contribution scheme</li><li>Access to ‘Wellhub' with gyms, studios and wellbeing apps </li></ul><p><strong>Discounts & Savings</strong> </p><ul><li>25% Colleague Discount with FREE Standard Delivery </li><li>Exclusive Discounts from a wide range of partners </li><li>£/€50 Annual Product Allowance to spend in store </li></ul><p><strong>Learning & Development</strong> </p><ul><li>Access to a variety of learning opportunities, including Level 2-5 Apprenticeships, Workshops and our Digital Learning Library </li><li>AND MORE! </li></ul></div></div><div class="earcuposdescription"><div class="earcuposdescriptionnote"><p><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: 'open sans', sans-serif;"><em><span class="ui-provider a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z ab ac ae af ag ah ai aj ak" dir="ltr"><span data-teams="true">Holland and Barrett is an equal opportunity employer. We welcome diverse perspectives and are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all colleagues. We understand that when our colleagues are listened to, respected and valued for who they are, we build an organisation with belonging at its heart – making health and wellness a way of life for everyone.</span></span></em></span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'open sans', sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;"><span class="ui-provider a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z ab ac ae af ag ah ai aj ak" dir="ltr"><em>Holland & Barrett </em><em>does not accept unsolicited resumes from search firms/recruiters. Please do not forward resumes to our job alias, employees, or any other company location. Holland & Barrett is not and will not be responsible for any fees if a candidate submitted by a search firm/recruiter unless otherwise agreed with respect to specific open position(s). </em></span></span></p></div></div>