Data Scientist - Operational Research

We’d all like amazing work to do, and real work-life balance. That’s waiting for you at Sainsbury’s. We’re one of the biggest supermarkets in the UK with one of the largest websites. So marketing here really happens at scale. We move a lot faster than you’d think too, across Brand Planning, Brand Comms and Creative, Digital Marketing, CRM and Loyalty, Nectar 360, Insights, and Corporate Responsibility and Sustainability. More people shopping with us each week means more interactions. And thanks to data insight, we understand customers in a way that almost nobody else does. We work alongside incredible brand partners and the best agencies around. So if you have a passion to learn, grow and experience new teams, come and explore it all with us.

This role is posted within the Marketing job family for internal system reasons, but the position itself sits in our central Data Science Hub (Data & Analytics). You’ll work on cross‑functional, high‑impact data science projects across areas including pricing, digital, supply chain and commercial—not marketing delivery.

What you’ll do

• Work on data science projects focused on operations research and large retail datasets, delivering significant business impact as part of a team that builds, deploys, and maintains cutting-edge data-products that drive competitive edge.
• Stakeholder management: tell engaging stories in non-technical language to influence business stakeholders; develop and maintain relationships with key internal customers and product owners; identify, scope and size data science and operations research opportunities across the business.
• Technical delivery: understand and document relevant business processes and driving performance metrics; research, design and build decision models and algorithms; define data requirements, gather and validate data; work closely with engineering (DecisionOps) teams to align on robust production architectures that enable long-term support and iteration; design tests that quantify computational and business performance in both digital and physical domains.
• Coaching and Mentoring: take a leading role in the development and delivery of team upskilling; share Operations Research expertise across the Data Science community; contribute to our vibrant Data and Analytics community of over 800 colleagues.

What we’re looking for

Academic profile

We typically look for candidates with a Master’s or PhD in a relevant quantitative field (e.g., maths or operational research). However, strong applicants with equivalent industry experience or a related scientific/engineering degree are also encouraged to apply.

Essential Criteria

• Passion for driving business impact through the application of Operational Research methods
• Excellent business acumen, commercial awareness, and judgement
• Ability to translate real-life problems into mathematical models - linear, non-linear, stochastic, etc.
• Broad knowledge across a range of mathematical optimisation and simulation techniques, as well as exact and heuristic solution methods
• Previous experience working with mathematical modelling libraries/platforms and solvers

Preferred Experience

• Practical experience applying operational research techniques to deliver measurable business value or a strong publication record, with significant relevance to industry applications
• Experience with Agile team management methodologies (preferably Kanban)
• Familiarity with software engineering best practices including version control, CI/CD, testing
• Basic proficiency with SQL and Python

Benefits and other information

We are committed to being a truly inclusive retailer so you’ll be welcomed whoever you are and wherever you work. There’s always the chance to try something new — whether that’s as part of an evolving team or somewhere else across the business — and we take development seriously and promise to support you. We also recognise and celebrate colleagues when they go the extra mile and, where possible, offer flexible working. When you join our team, we’ll also offer you an amazing range of benefits. Here are some of them:

• Starting off with colleague discount, you’ll be able to save 10% on your shopping online and instore at Sainsbury’s, Argos, TU and Habitat, and we regularly increase the discount to 15% at points during the year.
• We’ve also got you covered for your future with our pensions scheme and life cover.
• You’ll also be able to share in our success as you may be eligible for a performance-related bonus of up to 10% of salary, depending on how we perform.
• Your wellbeing is important to us too. You’ll receive an annual holiday allowance and you can buy up to an additional week of holiday.
• We also offer other benefits that will help your money go further such as season ticket loans, cycle to work scheme, health cash plans, salary advance, and access to a great range of discounts from hundreds of other retailers.
• If you ever need it there is also an employee assistance programme.
• Moments that matter are as important to us as they are to you which is why we give up to 26 weeks’ pay for maternity or adoption leave and up to 4 weeks’ pay for paternity leave.