So, What's the Story?

Global Supply Chain Technology at Dr. Martens is in the middle of some of our most consequential delivery work: Program LACE, which is driving real business adoption of demand planning, a new assortment planning capability, allocation and replenishment model spanning both our DTC and wholesale businesses. These are not single-tool projects. Each one touches planning, product, sourcing, logistics, and finance data, and each one succeeds or fails on whether the underlying technology choices genuinely solve the business problem in front of them.

We are looking for a Principal Engineer who thinks like a builder of business outcomes first and a technologist second, someone who has spent the first decade of their career deep in hands-on engineering and has since grown into the kind of person who can walk into any part of the supply chain, understand the problem the business is actually trying to solve, and know whether the right answer is a configuration change, a custom build, an integration, or increasingly, an agentic or AI-driven solution. Equally, this person respects what already works: not every problem needs a new platform, and part of the craft is knowing when the traditional, proven solution already in the enterprise is the right call.

This is deliberately not a role for someone who has spent a career mastering a single tool. We already have deep specialists in Blue Yonder, FlexPLM, and D365, and this role is not a replacement for that depth. What we need instead is someone with the range to pick up any SaaS platform or custom application quickly, because their real expertise is in retail and supply chain domain problems, and the technology is the means, not the end.

Above all, we hire for how people work together. Care, respect, and genuine collaboration sit at the centre of everything this team does, and we expect this Principal Engineer to bring that same spirit to every partnership, especially the close working relationship with our Technical Architect, translating architectural direction into solutions that actually land across the supply chain estate.

The Gig

Role Purpose

As Principal Engineer, you will be the senior hands-on technologist bridging business problems in Global Supply Chain to the right technology solution, whatever platform that solution lives on. You will work in close partnership with our Technical Architect to turn architectural direction into working, adopted solutions, and you will bring the judgement to know when a modern data or agentic approach beats a traditional one, and when it does not.

Key Responsibilities

• Partner directly with business stakeholders across planning, product, sourcing, logistics, and finance to understand the real problem behind a request, not just the ask as first framed, and translate it into a scoped, deliverable technology solution.

• Work hand-in-hand with the Technical Architect to convert architectural direction and design principles into concrete, implemented solutions across the supply chain technology estate.

• Lead hands-on delivery on our current priority initiatives, including Program LACE (driving business adoption of demand planning on Blue Yonder), the new assortment planning capability, and the allocation and replenishment build for DTC and wholesale.

• Evaluate solution options on their merits: assess when a SaaS configuration, custom build, integration, data pipeline, or an agentic/AI-driven approach is the right answer, and when an existing, proven capability in the enterprise should simply be extended rather than replaced.

• Bring a working understanding of data engineering and integration patterns across the supply chain landscape, so that whatever platform you are building on, the data flows into and out of it cleanly and reliably.

• Rapidly build fluency in new SaaS or custom applications as our platform footprint evolves, using deep retail and supply chain domain knowledge as the anchor rather than relying on prior tool-specific experience alone.

• Act as a technical mentor and trusted second opinion for engineers and consultants working across individual platforms such as Blue Yonder, FlexPLM, and D365, helping connect their platform-specific work to the broader solution architecture.

• Champion a high-care, highly collaborative way of working: show up for the team, communicate honestly about risk and progress, and treat every partner, whether business, architecture, or vendor, with genuine respect.

How You'll Think About Technology

You should be comfortable holding two ideas at once: that data, AI, and agentic solutions are changing what is possible in supply chain technology, and that the traditional systems and integrations already running in the enterprise often remain the right, most cost-effective answer. The value you bring is not enthusiasm for the newest approach for its own sake, but the judgement to pick the right tool, new or old, for the business problem in front of you.

The Stuff That Sets You Apart

Experience & Skills

Must-Haves:

• 12–16 years of overall technology experience, including roughly the first decade spent in hands-on, on-the-ground engineering or technical development before progressing into a broader, more senior solutioning role.

• Deep, demonstrated experience in retail or supply chain technology, with real understanding of the business processes behind planning, product, sourcing, logistics, or fulfilment, not just the systems that support them.

• A track record of learning and applying new SaaS or custom platforms quickly, using domain expertise to bridge the gap rather than requiring long tool-specific ramp-up time.

• Strong working knowledge of data engineering fundamentals: how data pipelines, integrations, and master data flow across an enterprise supply chain landscape.

• A practical understanding of where data, AI, and agentic solutions add genuine business value, balanced with the judgement to recognise when a traditional, already-proven enterprise solution is the better choice.

• Comfort operating across both structured, transactional systems (ERP, planning, PLM) and newer data- and AI-driven approaches, without over-indexing on either.

• Experience partnering closely with technical architects or solution architects to move from design intent to working, adopted solutions.

• Exceptional collaboration and communication skills, able to work across business, technical, and vendor teams with equal ease.

• Deep Expertise in:

◦ REST APIs, event driven integrations, microservices patterns

◦ Cloud platforms (Azure preferred)

◦ Data processing, transformation, and workflow orchestration

◦ Secure and scalable integration practices

Nice-to-Have:

• Direct exposure to Blue Yonder, FlexPLM, D365 Supply Chain Management, or similar retail/supply chain platforms.

• Experience with demand planning, assortment planning, or allocation and replenishment processes for DTC and wholesale businesses.

• Familiarity with agentic frameworks, AI-assisted workflows, or applied machine learning in a supply chain or retail context.

Soft Skills & Culture

• Leads with genuine care for people, for the business problem, and for getting the outcome right, not just for the elegance of the technology.

• A natural collaborator, especially with the Technical Architect and platform-specific engineers and consultants, building shared ownership rather than working in isolation.

• Curious and pragmatic: excited by what agentic and AI-driven solutions can unlock, but never dismissive of the traditional technology already doing the job well.

• Comfortable operating with a broad remit across many platforms rather than owning one tool deeply, and confident enough to say when a proven existing solution beats a new one.

• Strong communicator, able to translate technical trade-offs into terms business stakeholders can act on.

• Resilient and adaptable in a fast-moving, multi-initiative environment, holding Program LACE, assortment planning, and allocation and replenishment work in view at once.

At DM, your technical ability will go hand in hand with our leadership characteristics:

• Inspire people: share a vision and plan linked to our strategy; make people feel they are part of something bigger; grow your people's confidence and capacity through coaching and development.

• Think like a custodian: think and act strategically about the long-term health of DM; make courageous decisions to grow and protect the brand; leave DMs in a better place for consumers and the next generation of leaders.

• Build connections: form authentic collaborative relationships; build self, talent, diverse & inclusive teams and partnerships; create space to have open and honest discussions with your team and peers.

• Deliver results: empower and hold yourself and your people accountable; create a safe environment to drive performance and progress, not perfection; be agile, find solutions and deliver with integrity.