Engineering Manager (Mobile & Web) at Primark, Reading, 6 Months, £Day Rate

Engineering Manager – Digital (Web & Mobile)

Location: Reading (hybrid, 1 – 2 days per week)

Travel: Dublin on occasion

Duration: Initial 6 months with strong chance of extension

Contract Type: Inside IR35 Day Rate

Primark is scaling fast, and our Digital Engineering organisation is about to grow significantly in the coming months. We’re looking for an Engineering Manager to lead a large, complex engineering domain, overseeing both in‑house and 3rd‑party development teams while driving high‑quality delivery across our web and mobile products.

This role is ideal for someone who blends deep technical leadership with the ability to translate complex engineering concepts for non‑technical stakeholders. Experience in retail, fashion, e‑commerce, logistics or fulfilment environments is a strong advantage.

What You’ll Do

• Lead engineering delivery across web and mobile platforms, ensuring high‑quality, secure, scalable solutions
• Manage and govern 3rd‑party engineering partners - contracts, performance, commercials, SLAs
• Drive modern engineering practices: CI/CD, automation, DevOps, cloud‑native delivery
• Oversee design, development, testing, release and production readiness
• Define and uphold engineering standards, quality metrics, and operational KPIs (MTTR, CFR, deployment lead time)
• Ensure Agile ways of working are embedded across teams
• Own engineering demand & capacity planning, acting as the senior escalation point
• Ensure operational work (defects, tech debt, risk, audit) is prioritised appropriately
• Build a culture of stability, security, data protection and continuous improvement
• Partner closely with Product, Delivery, Architecture and Security to deliver the roadmap
• Support mobile app inception and guide teams through the unique challenges of mobile delivery
• Scan emerging technologies and identify opportunities to improve performance and value

What You’ll Bring

• 10+ years’ experience in software engineering or large‑scale IT delivery
• Strong background in digital engineering across web and mobile
• Experience managing 3rd‑party engineering teams and systems integrators
• Hands‑on experience with Azure, CI/CD pipelines, cloud‑native and Agile environments
• Understanding of mobile app development lifecycle and constraints
• Ability to translate technical detail into clear, business‑friendly language
• Strong stakeholder management and communication skills
• Experience in retail, fashion, e‑commerce, logistics or fulfilment (highly beneficial)
• Knowledge of modern architectures (MACH, SaaS, PaaS, microservices)

What Success Looks Like

• High‑performing engineering teams delivering at pace
• Strong partner/vendor performance and optimised engineering costs
• Improved software quality, reduced change failure rate, faster recovery times
• Clear engineering standards, governance and operational excellence
• Strong collaboration across Product, Delivery and Technology

Why Join Primark Digital

You’ll be joining at a pivotal moment with major digital growth ahead, new products launching, and the opportunity to shape engineering culture at scale. Expect autonomy, visibility, and the chance to build something meaningful.