Data Science Manager - Platforms and Core Capabilities (Metaheuristics)

What’s in it for you

We’re all about the little helps. That’s why we give our wonderful colleagues bags of benefits. Including wellbeing services, an award-winning pension scheme and much, much more, our colleague reward package keeps on giving. And helps make every day a little better for you and your family. These include but are not limited to:

• Annual bonus scheme of up to 20% of base salary
• Holiday starting at 25 days plus a personal day (plus Bank holidays)
• Buy holiday salary sacrifice scheme (for salaried roles)
• Private medical insurance
• Retirement savings plan - save between 4% and 7.5% and Tesco will match your contribution
• Life Assurance - 5 x contractual pay
• 26 weeks maternity and adoption leave (after 1 years’ service) at full pay, followed by 13 weeks of Statutory Maternity Pay or Statutory Adoption Pay, we also offer 4 weeks fully paid paternity leave
• The right to request flexible working from your first day with us
• Free 24/7 virtual GP service, Employee Assistance Programme (EAP) for you and your family, free access to a range of experts to support your mental wellbeing
• A Colleague Clubcard for you & a family member (after 3 months of service), giving you access to lots of discounts in-store & online
• Great colleague deals and discounts, saving you money on everyday purchases, eating out and utility bills for the home
• Access to our colleague networks providing a space for colleagues to come together from a range of backgrounds. For more information about our colleague networks please click here
• Opportunities to get on - take advantage of our ongoing learning opportunities and award-winning training, to help you achieve the job and career you want

Click Here to read more about the full range of benefits we have available for our colleagues

About the role

We know life looks a little different for each of us. That’s why at Tesco, we always welcome chats about flexible working. Some people are at the start of their careers, some want the freedom to do the things they love. Others are going through life-changing moments like becoming a carer, nearing retirement, adapting to parenthood, or something else. So, talk to us throughout your application about how we can support.

We have an exciting opportunity for an experienced Operational Research Data Science Manager with strong Metaheuristics experience to join our team!

About the Team

Here at Tesco we focus on solving complex business problems and developing data products that can be deployed at scale to our customers. Our work spans across multiple areas including Stores, Online, Fulfilment, Marketing and Clubcard and we encourage rotation amongst our Data Scientists so they can apply their skills to different business challenges and gain deeper levels of subject matter expertise.

Our core work involves developing data products that can be deployed at scale both internally and externally. On any day you could be supporting the automation of decision-making across the business; optimising processes for key business objectives; or conducting deep-dive exploratory analysis to inform strategic decision-making.

You will be responsible for

• Own the technical domain and lead technical engagements with multiple business units
• Line manage Data Scientists and mentor/coach the wider operational research team in best approaches to optimisation problems and the development of Metaheuristics
• Help to define the strategic direction the team should take, trading off between contradicting priorities
• Translate ambiguous business challenges into data science problems and applications
• Manage, guide and mentor the team in their daily work. Help unblock the team in their day-to-day technical challenges and ensure that the daily work is aligned with the technical vision created by the team
• Communicate complex solutions in a clear, understandable way to non-experts
• Work end-to-end on Data Science developments, contributing to all aspects of the project lifecycle which result in productionised data products
• Scientifically analyse and evaluate the effectiveness of different approaches to guide future development and track the value created by the team
• Promote data science across Tesco, and promote Tesco across the external Data Science community

You will need

Skills relevant for the job

• Specialist knowledge of Metaheuristics
• Experience working as a Senior Data Scientist or Data Science Manager within a commercial environment, retail industry knowledge is a plus
• Knowledge of additional domains such as: Simulation, Machine Learning, Deep Learning, Forecasting, NLP, Statistics is a plus
• You will ideally have experience leading or working on highly technical Data Science developments involving multiple stakeholders in the areas of scheduling, vehicle routing, and bin-packing
• Experience with different programming languages and a high level of capability of at least one language preferably Python
• Ability to influence senior technical and non technical stakeholders on technical topics
• Experience of coaching / mentoring others in technical approaches
• Experience of partnering with technology teams to productionize developments and roll out at scale
• Experience of designing and implementing re-usable components for metaheuristic algorithmic development

About us

Our vision at Tesco is to become every customer's favourite way to shop, whether they are at home or out on the move. Our core purpose is ‘Serving our customers, communities and planet a little better every day’. Serving means more than a transactional relationship with our customers. It means acting as a responsible and sustainable business for all stakeholders, for the communities we are part of and for the planet.

We are proud to have an inclusive culture at Tesco where everyone truly feels able to be themselves. At Tesco, we not only celebrate diversity, but recognise the value and opportunity it brings. We're committed to creating a workplace where differences are valued, and make sure that all colleagues are given the same opportunities. We’re proud to have been accredited Disability Confident Leader and we’re committed to providing a fully inclusive and accessible recruitment process. For further information on the accessibility support we can offer, please click here.

We’re a big business and we can offer a range of diverse full-time & part-time working patterns across our many business areas, which means that we can find something that works for you.  We work in a more blended pattern - combining office and remote working.  Our offices will continue to be where we connect, collaborate and innovate.  If you are applying internally, please speak to the Hiring Manager about how this can work for you - Everyone is welcome at Tesco.