Located: Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lewis-matthews-uk
Online CV: https://lewis.matthews.cloud
Executive Summary
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 partner closely with Product Managers to align priorities and ensure teams are solving the right problems. I advocate for exploring AI to empower engineers and drive innovation. I have a proven record of scaling engineering teams, owning business impact through strategic delivery, transforming legacy platforms, and architecting resilient cloud-based services.
Career History
Engineering Manager, Global Front of Stores, TJX — December 2023 to Present
- Lead US, UK, and India engineering delivery for ePOS systems, store platform services, and Global Payment integrations across a global retail environment supporting $58.6B in annual store sales.
- Manage a cross-functional leadership team including 1 Senior Staff Engineer, 1 Senior Engineer, 2 Engineers, 2 QA Analysts, and 26 QA Contractors — supporting growth through clear development goals, coaching, and feedback.
- Partner with product and operations stakeholders to stabilise mission-critical capabilities and prepare the platform for future growth.
- Drive operational excellence, release governance, and modernisation across mixed legacy and modern service stacks.
- Led ePOS platform improvements that reduced transaction times by up to 15 seconds per transaction, improving store checkout performance at scale.
- Monitor delivery flow, remove blockers, and proactively manage risks while fostering a sustainable team culture.
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 clear development goals, mentoring, and a strong delivery cadence.
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.
- Led Magento 1 to Magento 2 migration, key integrations for home delivery, courier fulfilment and eBay order management & after-sales services.
- Owned Argos Gift Card platform including services, integrations and reporting — £200m per annum in processed transactions.
- Led hiring, onboarding, and development of engineering talent, shaping team capabilities to support 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
- People leadership: Coaching, mentoring, and clear development goals for engineers at all levels. Creating psychologically safe and inclusive team environments where people are stretched and supported.
- Delivery enablement: Partnering with Product Managers to align priorities, capacity, and scope. Monitoring delivery flow, removing blockers, and driving process improvements.
- Technical stewardship: Ensuring long-term system health and maintainability. Collaborating with tech leads and architects on system design, testing, observability, and resilience.
- Hiring and talent: Leading hiring, onboarding, and growing diverse engineering talent. Shaping team structure and capabilities based on work needs and individual growth.
- Operational management: Budget ownership, vendor management, DevOps practices, CI/CD pipelines, statement of works, and contract reviews.
- Ecommerce platforms: Pricing engines, order management, marketplace integration, and customer-facing commerce experiences.
- Data and integration: Data services, API design, Kafka streaming, data modelling, and analytics-ready pipelines.
- Cloud and modern delivery: AWS, Kubernetes, Terraform, CI/CD, resilience, and platform modernisation.
- Technology ecosystem: Java, Spring Boot, Python, JavaScript, React, Magento, MySQL, NoSQL, Elasticsearch.
Education & Qualifications
Professional Development
- AWS Cloud Practitioner, Technical Essentials, Developing on AWS, Security Essentials, Architecting on AWS
- Leading SAFe (SAFe Agilist); foundational course for agile leaders on driving enterprise transformations
Parmiter's School, Watford
- A-Levels: Mathematics (B), Further Mathematics (B), Physics (C)
Leadership & Community
- Building community: Founder and original Chairman of a local wargaming group, growing engagement to 500+ members — creating an inclusive, welcoming environment for diverse participants.
- Engineering tools: Created a Scrum Stand-Up Companion tool used by multiple teams to improve daily team rhythm and transparency — solving real problems for engineering teams.
- AI curiosity: Proactively exploring AI tools to support workflow and productivity, with an open mind and genuine interest in how AI can create space for the human side of work.