Senior Software Engineer (SDE3) — Data & Intelligence Platform

You'll be a core engineer on
the data and intelligence layer that connects Tesco's supply chain forecasting
outputs to the people and systems that act on them. The platform sits at the
intersection of data engineering, applied ML, and developer infrastructure
- you'll work across all three, owning problems end to end.

This isn't a role where you'll
spend your days in a narrow lane. The work is genuinely varied: one week you're
designing a data API, the next you're improving retrieval quality in a RAG
pipeline, the next you're working with infrastructure to get a service into
production. We're looking for someone who finds that energising rather than
uncomfortable.

You'll be a core engineer on
the data and intelligence layer that connects Tesco's supply chain forecasting
outputs to the people and systems that act on them. The platform sits at the
intersection of data engineering, applied ML, and developer infrastructure
- you'll work across all three, owning problems end to end.

This isn't a role where you'll
spend your days in a narrow lane. The work is genuinely varied: one week you're
designing a data API, the next you're improving retrieval quality in a RAG
pipeline, the next you're working with infrastructure to get a service into
production. We're looking for someone who finds that energising rather than
uncomfortable.

Data platform - a high-performance service that brings
together multiple data sources - analytical, caching, vector, and object stores
- behind a clean typed API. Supply chain data is high-volume and time-sensitive; getting the data layer right underpins everything else the platform does.

Intelligence layer - we work closely with forecasting teams
across the business who produce demand signals, predictions, and
recommendations. Our job is to make that intelligence accessible, actionable,
and explainable - surfacing it through well-designed APIs, keeping it fresh,
and ensuring the right data reaches the right place at the right time.

LLM integration - a conversational and tool-calling layer
that gives supply chain teams natural language access to platform data and forecasts.
You'll work on retrieval quality, tool design, prompt architecture, and
streaming response pipelines. This is a relatively new area for us and there's genuine room to shape how it evolves.

Someone who:

- Takes ownership. When something is broken or missing, you fix it, you don't wait to be asked
- Is comfortable with ambiguity. Not every problem will have a clear spec, you can navigate that without needing hand holding
- Writes code other engineers want to work with readable, tested, and with the complexity in the right places
- Has worked across backend services and data systems in production, and has the scars to show for it
- Can pick up new technology without being precious about what they already know
Technically, you're strong in Type Script and Python (or willingness to learn quickly), you've built or operated data-intensive backend services, and you have some experience with LLM APIs or retrieval systems - enough to be productive quickly, even if you haven't done it at scale before. Kubernetes and cloud-native deployment experience is useful. So is supply chain or forecasting domain knowledge. Neither is required.
The work is meaningful

The platform influences ordering decisions across thousands of stores. When it works well, products are on shelf. When it doesn't, they aren't. That directness of impact is something most engineering roles don't offer.

Nice to have
- Experience contributing to shared frontend/backend or developer platform infrastructure
- Infrastructure as code — Helm, Kubernetes manifests, CI/CD pipeline design
- Supply chain, replenishment, or demand forecasting domain familiarity

We’re all about the little helps. That’s why we make sure our Tesco colleague benefits package takes care of you – both in and out of work.to find out more!

• Annual bonus scheme of up to 20% of base salary.
• Holiday starting at 25 days plus a personal day (plus Bank holidays).
• Private medical insurance.
• 26 weeks maternity and adoption leave (12 months service required at the…