Senior Head of Product – Data

At Sainsbury’s Tech, we drive innovation for the UK’s leading multi‑channel, multi‑brand retailer. Our data product teams comprise talented, multidisciplinary professionals empowered to solve complex challenges, delivering data solutions that provide meaningful business value. The Senior Head of Product – Data is a pivotal leadership role, responsible for shaping the vision and strategy for our data as an asset, ensuring data availability for various business outcomes, and supporting Sainsbury’s mission in data‑driven transformation.

As Senior Head of Product for Data you’ll drive our vision and strategy to enable Sainsbury’s to harness the power of data and advanced analytics. You will lead the development of data products and ML/AI solutions that empower teams across the business to make smarter, faster decisions, ensuring that our data platform (Snowflake) and production models deliver trusted, scalable, and innovative outcomes. Your remit spans the full lifecycle of data product creation, from discovery and experimentation to deployment and ongoing optimisation.

Through your team of Heads of Product you will lead, coach, and develop a large group of Product Managers, Senior Product Managers, and Group Product Managers who autonomously deliver on the outcomes you collaboratively set. Your role is to mentor and support them in crafting individual product visions, aligning these with the broader strategic objectives for data at Sainsbury’s.

What you need to do

• Partner with senior analytics, technology and business leaders to align data strategy and technology vision, ensuring that the roadmap supports business priorities.
• Develop and articulate the vision, strategy, roadmap, and backlog for your data product families, focusing on end‑to‑end customer and colleague experiences, multiple strategic priorities, and responsiveness to market and regulatory changes.
• Consolidate multiple product visions into a unified strategy and maintain a holistic view of data products.
• Take part in effective prioritisation choices to maximise return on investment for data product development.
• Identify opportunities across the data and analytics landscape, establishing partnerships.
• Use insight, data, and research to ensure your teams focus on the most impactful opportunities.
• Take accountability for delivery, prioritising work across multiple teams in line with business strategy, and making informed trade‑offs to deliver maximum value at pace.
• Lead collaboration with data engineers, analytics experts, other product teams, and external partners to launch new data capabilities and services, maximising reusability and scalability across the organisation.
• Work with Heads of Product to define outcomes, set and track metrics, and establish the north star for your data product family.
• Track post‑launch evaluation, validating that data products deliver intended value, measured by appropriate metrics and post‑investment reviews.
• Build, lead, coach, and inspire a high‑performing team of Product Managers, supporting them to define long‑term priorities, focus on building actionable roadmaps, and deliver measurable benefits for the business.

How you will succeed

• Be a trusted advisor to business, analytics, and technology stakeholders, influencing the evolution of strategy through a data, customer, and technology lens.
• Champion the data product area, communicating vision, benefits, and long‑term strategy to diverse audiences, including technical teams, senior stakeholders, partners, and external parties.
• Serve as the escalation point for prioritisation and trade‑offs within your remit.
• Maintain strong awareness and understanding of current and future technology stacks, including Snowflake, ML/AI platforms, and data interfaces.
• Clearly communicate and coach others on technical advancements, ensuring seamless integration for customers and colleagues.
• Ensure the team maintains a realistic 90‑day roadmap and a prioritised, estimated annual backlog, regularly communicating progress and proactively managing risks and issues.
• Support effective communication and resolution of live data product incidents, prioritising and coordinating swift resolution of production issues.
• Foster highly collaborative relationships with engineering and analytics teams at all levels, working together to solve complex problems for customers and the business.
• Collaborate with Product across the business to ensure consistency, drive shared objectives, and continuously improve data product management practices.
• Develop a strong community of data product managers, building competency and enhancing craft through a culture of learning, empowerment, experimentation, and collaboration.
• Drive your team and their products towards organisational aspirations, providing thought leadership and constructive challenge, inspiring ambition and high performance.

What you need to know

• Extensive knowledge of data product management, product and technology programme management, and related disciplines.
• Understanding of retail business operations, technology landscape, and how to maximise the value of data and analytics products.
• Deep expertise in the retail and analytical landscape, including ML/AI platforms and production model management.
• Knowledge of Agile and modern engineering and analytics team practices.

What you need to show

• Exceptional influence and impact with internal and external audiences; excellent stakeholder management skills, ensuring senior stakeholder advocacy for your data product families.
• Relentless customer and business focus, understanding and anticipating needs, and collaborating effectively with stakeholders.
• Commercial acumen, understanding the drivers of data product value, determining return on investment, and using insight to inform prioritisation and market context.
• Strategic vision, championing long‑term data product strategy, anticipating implications across teams, and driving collaboration for effective delivery.
• Technical curiosity, translating business requirements into technology delivery, engaging in technical discussions, and developing understanding of data, analytics, and ML/AI landscape.
• Adaptability across the product lifecycle, deep understanding of delivery approaches, prioritising outcomes, motivating teams, and driving continual improvement in ways of working.
• Proven experience leading and developing teams, both directly and cross‑functionally.

Benefits: Flexible working arrangements and a wide range of benefits including colleague discounts, pension scheme, life cover, performance‑related bonus, annual holiday allowance, private healthcare, season ticket loans, cycle to work scheme, health cash plans, salary advance, company car cash allowance, employee assistance programme, maternity and adoption leave of up to 26 weeks’ pay, paternity leave of up to 4 weeks’ pay, and other benefits available at www.sainsburys.jobs.

This position is open for recruitment for the next 12 months. It is a 12‑month fixed‑term contract (FTC) position.