Located: Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lewis-matthews-uk
Online CV: https://lewis.matthews.cloud
Executive Summary
Experienced Engineering Manager with 12+ years leading ecommerce, retail and data platform delivery. I build and scale engineering organisations that deliver high-value commerce systems, pricing engines, data services and customer-facing retail applications.
My focus is on defining technical strategy, enabling strong delivery through people, and using data-driven decision-making to improve operational performance. I advocate for exploring AI support to empower engineers and drive innovation. I have a proven record of scaling engineering teams, owning business impact through strategic delivery, transforming legacy platforms, architecting resilient cloud-based services, and aligning engineering priorities with commercial goals.
Selected Leadership Achievements
- Directed multi-site engineering teams across UK and US for retail operations platforms, improving availability and delivery consistency.
- Sponsored the launch of an AI-driven retail pricing service and led a migration away from legacy monolithic systems.
- Architected and delivered core data services, API ecosystems and integration platforms for store locator, mapping and marketplace operations.
- Delivered ecommerce transformations including Magento 1 to Magento 2 migration and marketplace expansion to support multi-channel growth.
Career History
Engineering Manager, Global Front of Stores, TJX — December 2023 to Present
- Led US, UK, and India engineering delivery for ePOS systems, store platform services across a global retail environment and Global Payment integrations.
- Currently manage a cross-functional leadership team including 1 Senior Staff Engineer, 1 Senior Engineer, 2 Engineers, 2 Quality Assurance Analysts, plus 26 Quality Assurance Contractors.
- Drive operational excellence, release governance and modernisation across mixed legacy and modern service stacks.
- Partner with business, product and operations stakeholders to stabilise mission-critical capabilities and prepare the platform for future growth.
Engineering Manager, Retail Pricing, Sainsbury's — March 2023 to December 2023
- Owned product and engineering delivery for the Smart Pricing Tool, Retail Price Service and Price Clustering Service.
- Delivered an AI-driven retail price suggestion capability, enabling faster and more consistent pricing decisions across retail zones.
- Led the strategic migration away from a legacy monolithic pricing application, improving agility and reducing operational risk.
- Managed 2 Senior Engineers, 13 Engineers and 1 test engineer, establishing a strong delivery cadence and technical roadmap.
Engineering Manager, Commercial Place Team, Sainsbury's — October 2021 to March 2023
- Delivered customer-facing Sainsbury's location services, data integration with Google/Yext/Bing, and a company-wide Google Maps API access control platform.
- Led the platform redesign and rewrite from Python 2 to Java, improving performance, maintainability and engineering velocity.
- Owned the subsequent integration of Argos store data, opening hours and location data, ensuring consistent multi-brand commerce operations.
- Managed a team of 7 development engineers, 2 test engineers and 1 cloud engineer, with accountability for delivery, reliability and data quality.
Engineering Manager, Commercial, Argos — March 2014 to October 2021
- Led engineering for ecommerce and commerce support systems including marketplace integration, order management, gift cards and fulfilment services.
- Supported the growth of Argos eBay to a £70m annual business, Argos B2B platform to £35m and launched core Argos ecommerce fulfilment operations in Ireland.
- Delivered Magento 1 to Magento 2 migration and key integrations for home delivery and courier fulfilment.
- Managed an engineering team alongside service and operations colleagues to ensure delivery and business continuity.
Other Roles
- Credit and Warranties Operations Manager, Argos Financial Services — Jul 2013 to Mar 2014
- Business Analyst, Argos IS Stores Systems — Nov 2011 to Jul 2013
- Product Manager, Argos Stores Systems — Jan 2009 to Nov 2011
- User Acceptance Test Manager, Argos Stores Systems — Nov 2006 to Jan 2009
- Store Manager, Bicester & High Wycombe Argos Stores — Jun 2003 to Nov 2006
- Various Management Roles, Argos Stores — Feb 1997 to Jun 2003
Core Capabilities
- Engineering leadership: team development, technical strategy, delivery governance, stakeholder alignment.
- Operational management: budget ownership, vendor management, DevOps practices, CI/CD pipelines, statement of works, contract reviews.
- Ecommerce platforms: pricing engines, order management, marketplace integration, customer-facing commerce experiences.
- Data and integration: data services, API design, Kafka streaming, data modelling, analytics-ready pipelines.
- Cloud and modern delivery: AWS, Kubernetes, Terraform, CI/CD, resilience and platform modernization.
- Technology ecosystem: Java, Spring Boot, Python, JavaScript, React, Magento, MySQL, NoSQL, Elasticsearch.
Education & Qualifications
AWS Cloud Training
- AWS Technical Essentials, AWS Cloud Practitioner, Developing on AWS, AWS Security Essentials, Architecting on AWS — July to October 2021
Parmiter's School, Watford
- A-Levels: Mathematics (B), Further Mathematics (B), Physics (C)
Leadership & Community
- Founder and Chairman of a local wargaming group, growing engagement to more than 450 members.
- As a side project, I created a Scrum Stand-Up Companion tool used by multiple teams to improve daily team rhythm and transparency.