Technical Programme Manager – Search & Recommendations

About the role

This is an opportunity to work in the Search and Recommendations team, where the products we own not only deliver significant revenue and insight to the business but also heavily influence how customers engage with Tesco across online and in store. 

The Technical Programme Manager will gain exposure to one of the most forward thinking teams in the Tesco Technology, working closely with engineering, data science and product to deliver a host of feature enhancements as the team seeks to deliver value to customers as early and as often as possible.

One of our core services, Search, which drives £20m a week in online grocery sales, has found success by being extremely data driven and experiment led. You will become well acquainted with multi variant testing and adopt a ‘test and learn’ approach to allow us to run tests early and often and identify success or failure.

You will collaborate with the Tesco business across multiple channels as we seek to make online more profitable, roll out a dynamic product picklist on the new in-house Tesco Till, introduce search across our international estate and deliver personalised recommendations to our customers. You will work with product and data science to evolve high scale, low latency services, including the definition and tuning of algorithmic parameters.

Strong communication skills will be critical as we deliver features for technology teams who consume our service such as Online Web & Apps, Tills & Fulfilment and collaborate with enterprise services such as Customer Order, Range, Identity and Product.

You will also work closely with our own engineering teams to govern and improve team processes across the software delivery cycle and there will be scope to manage relationships with third party vendors and work with our GDPR and security teams to ensure transparency and protect customer data. This is a rewarding role for someone who wants real ownership, as the programmes you deliver will have a tangible impact on Tesco customers.

You will be responsible for

Whilst specific responsibilities will be dependent upon the changing needs of the Tesco business, the following provides an overview of the role’s key responsibilities and measures:

• Deliver complex programmes with multiple business and technical risks that will impact the success of key Tesco business priorities
• Create and track a plan to deliver the programme goals, including the technical implementation plan, ensuring colleagues and stakeholders from across Tesco are kept up-to-date
• Understand trade-offs in software delivery using experience and influencing skills to drive consensus with the Engineering and Product teams to obtain the best value and solution
• Am able to foresee potential risks and issues, establish a process, facilitate discussion and manage escalations
• Am able to understand a technical architecture to be able to foresee the impact on dependencies, delivery timelines and implementation plans
• Have good knowledge of engineering best practices and practical infrastructure implementations to appreciate delivery challenges
• Collaborate with the Product and Engineering teams to define annual budgetary requirements
• Build positive relationships with stakeholders to deliver software or professional services, holding them to account on delivery and improvement plans
• Contribute actively to TPM community

You will need

An ideal candidate must have demonstrated below key skills in their current and past roles:

• Have a proven record of accomplishment in delivering technology and/or infrastructure
• Have experience of building credible relationships and influencing senior management
• Strong Project, Stakeholder & Programme management skills
• Good reporting skills for programs and financial forecasting
• Adept communication & influencing skills and adoptability to changes

About us

Our vision here at Tesco is to become every customer's favourite way to shop, whether they are at home, out shopping, on the move, anywhere in the world.

In order to enable our vision, we strive to simplify operations for our Colleagues, Partners & Vendors to enable efficient trade.

Everything is underpinned by our continuous drive for the best tools and technology to deliver our vision. We’re driving innovation and transforming our Technology to become the world’s leading retailer.

We need people who share our ambition to deliver for our stakeholders. Passionate and confident people willing to take the initiative and drive us forwards. In return we offer excitement, a great team, an excellent benefit package, and significant career development opportunities.

Joining us means playing a part in defining; building and launching an ambitious roadmap of digital products that could affect the lives of millions of people over the years to come.

If that sounds exciting, then we'd love to hear from you.

The position will be based in London with occasional travel to our Welwyn office.