Lead Software Engineer - Hawthorn East
We’ve been proudly serving Australian communities since 1914 and have grown to become a top 30-listed company on the ASX with a portfolio of iconic homegrown brands. At the heart of our continued success is over 115,000 team members working across the country, all contributing to bringing our customers smiles. You’ll not only get to see your work make a difference, you’ll be part of a team working together to help Australians eat and live better every day.
About the team
Our Technology team is the backbone of the business, building and maintaining the information technology infrastructure that support Coles Group. As a part of the Technology team, you get the opportunity to work through complex, challenging, meaningful problems using large data sets and new technologies to expand your skills and experience.
About the role
As a Lead Engineer in the BFF squad, you will provide technical leadership across the design, build, and operation of backend-for-frontend services and customer-facing APIs that support key digital customer journeys across web and mobile.
This role would be best suited to a hands-on technical leader with strong API design depth, proven backend engineering capability, and practical GraphQL experience in TypeScript. You will help shape how the squad designs and exposes APIs, manages contracts, improves reliability, and evolves service boundaries over time, while remaining grounded in day-to-day product delivery and production support. This is a hands-on engineering leadership role with accountability for solution design, engineering quality, API direction, and operational health across the BFF domain.
Key Responsibilities
- Lead the technical design and implementation of BFF services and APIs that support digital customer journeys across web and mobile
- Provide technical leadership across backend orchestration, channel-facing logic, and service integration patterns spanning domains such as search, recommendations, trolley, checkout, profile, orders, lists, loyalty, content, and payments
- Contribute to and guide GraphQL implementation and evolution within the existing TypeScript monolithic repository, including schema design, resolver patterns, service integration, and maintainability of the GraphQL layer
- Lead the delivery of complex initiatives that span multiple upstream systems, consumer channels, and cross-team dependencies
- Set and uplift engineering standards for code quality, testing, observability, resilience, security, and production readiness
- Mentor and support engineers within the squad, lifting technical capability, implementation quality, and engineering decision-making
- Act as a key technical voice for the squad in cross-team discussions relating to APIs, GraphQL, integration patterns, service boundaries, and platform direction.
Required Skills and Experience
- Strong experience working with REST APIs and hands-on experience with GraphQL delivery, integration, or platform evolution
- Strong software engineering experience in backend, API, or service-oriented roles, including significant experience in customer-facing digital environments
- Strong experience designing, building, and operating production APIs and backend services that support critical user journeys
- Deep understanding of API design principles, service contracts, orchestration patterns, backward compatibility, and consumer-centric interface design
- Strong hands-on engineering capability in TypeScript, with experience working in shared codebases or monorepo environments
- Experience working with CI/CD, automated testing, modern engineering workflows, and release practices
- Strong debugging and troubleshooting capability across integrated and dependency-heavy systems
- Strong collaboration and communication skills across engineering, product, QA, architecture, and platform stakeholders
What’s in it for you?
- Flexible working options: We know that work is only one part of your life, so we actively encourage a positive work-life balance and provide hybrid working options to help you achieve it.
- Office perks: Take advantage of our gym facility and fitness classes, free parking, BBQ area, mini-Coles supermarket, fooderie hub where you can sample new products before they hit the shelves, school holiday program and so much more when you come in.
- Discounts: Eligible team members receive 5% discount all year round on your Supermarket and Liquor online and in-store purchases. We also offer additional periods of double discount (10%) at various times throughout the year. As well as hotdeals exclusive to team members that translate into additional savings.
- Reward through recognition: Give and receive recognition, linked to our Coles values, through our digital recognition platform ‘mythanks’. You can accumulate points to redeem in the online shop for exciting gifts and electronic gift cards from an extensive range of retailers.
- Opportunities for learning and development: No matter where you start within our diverse business, you’ll have experiences, exposure, and education to satisfy you. Discover and explore a variety of career development programs and job-specific training.
- Paid parental leave: We understand how important your life outside work is and offer permanent team members paid parental leave to support you in balancing work and family.
- Investment in your future: Our annual team member share plan offer allows eligible team members to make regular pre-tax salary sacrifice deductions to purchase Coles Group shares.
About the recruitment process
We’re continuing to build a gender equitable team, and a culture that is just as diverse, inclusive and welcoming as the communities we serve. We are committed to creating a workplace that is safe and respectful for our team. We encourage applications from people of all ages, cultures (including Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples), abilities, sexual orientation and gender identities.
We’re happy to adjust our recruitment process to support candidates with disability. For further information and additional contact details visit the ‘Our Recruitment Process’ section of our careers site or email inclusionrecruitment@coles.com.au
Job ID: 180277
Employment Type: Full time
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