Head of Product - Media Agency in London

Head of Product, Media AgencyAbout the Media Agency domainSainsbury’s is stepping up its ambition to lead the way in the retail industry, supercharged by unparalleled investment in technology and a bold vision for the future. At the heart of this transformation is our market-leading proprietary built tools Pollen, our unified retail media platform and SIP, our customer insight tool. Both deliver first-to-market solutions that power our Nectar360 retail media and insight strategy.As Head of Product for Media Agency, you’ll play a pivotal role in shaping the future of how brands connect with millions of customers across our ecosystem. You’ll lead the development of a cutting-edge suite of advertising and data products. Collectively these allow our clients to plan, activate, optimise and measure omnichannel campaigns in one place. Underpinning this is our rich first-party data; instore, online and off-site media activation; realtime optimisation and closed loop measurement; all powered by gen-AI based tools to build audiences, optimise creative and plan media campaigns.This is more than a product leadership role - it’s a chance to build and scale a Media Agency network that redefines what’s possible in retail. You’ll work at the intersection of commerce, data, and media, collaborating with engineering, commercial, and marketing teams to deliver scalable, privacy-first solutions that drive measurable value for brands and agencies, enhancing the customer and client experience.We’re looking for a product leader who brings real experience of retail media and insights - someone who understands the practicalities and nuances of ad tech, the power of data monetisation, and the commercial levers that drive growth. If you’re excited by the opportunity to influence the future of Nectar360 as it continues with it’s ambition to be market-leading, look no further.About the Head of Product roleIn Sainsbury’s Tech, we power the UK’s number 1 multi-channel, multi-brand retailer. Our Product teams are made up of inspired and multi-discipline individuals who are empowered to solve hard problems in ways our customers and colleagues love and which serve the needs of our business.Heads of Product play a critical leadership role at Sainsbury’s and are expected to create, drive and deliver their vision for their relevant product domain to support our overall business strategy.To land that, this role needs to be able to partner closely with senior stakeholders and be comfortable defining and interpreting relevant metrics to prioritise roadmaps - supporting and challenging your team and your business partners. Commercially astute, you can balance ROI against desirability, viability, feasibility and longevity of a Product. You’ll be very comfortable working at the pace a retail business requires, whilst balancing the challenges a scaling tech platform needs to face in to – simplification, scalability, stability, capacity, legacy.As a leader we want you to love coaching and developing your team, setting stretching goals and giving open, honest and supportive feedback to colleagues to help them realise their full potential. You’ll thrive on delivering through your wider team.What I need to doOngoing development of the Product vision for your domainLead and coach your wider team to deliver their vision of their Products, to achieve our strategic business goals.Ensure teams are leveraging common thinking and technologiesSet and define outcomes and metrics for your principal area, aligned to business outcomesSpot opportunities in the market within your domainRefine and optimise within defined capital and lead through priority or capacity contention in your domainEstablish and deliver a credible 1 year roadmap aligned to revenue goals, and set out a future 3 year vision in partnership with senior leadersWork across divisions to shape dependent roadmaps and features, escalating where prioritisation trade-offs are neededContribute and coach better product across the division using product competency and internal frameworkTake the lead to trial and embed new practices, principles and toolsCultivate, develop and maintain 3rd party supplier relationships where relevantHow I will succeedChampion your product area, clearly communicating the experience, benefits and long-term vision to different audiencesLead prioritisation and clearly articulate trade-off decisions to senior stakeholders in order to maximise value and return on investmentUnderstand current and future technology choices, and help teams use them effectivelyMaintain clear near-term roadmaps and full-year backlogs, managing progress, risks and blockersSupport clear communication and resolution of live product issuesBuild strong partnerships with engineering and experience design to solve customer and business problemsWork in partnership with business stakeholders to deliver strategic capabilities and manage constraintsCollaborate with product leaders to drive shared outcomes and improve product management across the divisionDevelop a strong Product Management team and build the craft across the communitySet high standards, challenge constructively and help the team deliver at paceContribute to and lead within the Product Community of PracticeWhat I need to showSenior experience in retail media, adtech and/or martechStrong commercial acumen, using ROI, market context and product value to inform prioritisationCustomer focus, with the ability to understand customer needs, client needs and business needs. Demonstrating how you can balance these priorities and work effectively when managing competing prioritiesExperience selecting, managing and partnering with third parties to deliver strategyData-driven decision making, using product metrics, business metrics and insight to prioritise effectivelyStrong product management discipline, with experience across the product lifecycle and a focus on outcomes over outputsStrategic vision, with the ability to create, champion and deliver a clear product direction aligned to business goalsTechnical curiosity, with the ability to translate customer and business needs into clear technology outcomesCreative problem solving and enthusiasm for delivering change and driving efficiency through people and technology within a growing industryPositive impact with internal and external audiences, building strong stakeholder advocacyExperience leading and developing teams, directly and cross-functionallyStrong communication and influencing skills at all levelsSuccess delivering across multiple product teams and stages of the customer journeyWe are committed to making Tech a place where people love to work where diverse and engaged team make a purposeful contribution. Sainsbury’s is committed to being the most inclusive retailer, and flexible working including job sharing is welcomed wherever possible. In Tech we welcome such conversations and are proud to champion a diverse and inclusive culture.#LI-KF1We’d all like amazing work to do, and real work-life balance. That’s waiting for you at Sainsbury’s. Think about the scale it takes to feed the nation. The level of data, transactions and variety involved. Then you’ll realise this is a modern software engineering environment, because it has to be. We’ve made significant investment in the standards and principles that shape how we work. We iterate, learn, experiment and champion ways of working such as Agile, Scrum and XP. So you can look forward to exciting opportunities across everything from AI to reusable tech. Full timePosting Date: 2026-09-02