Senior Technical Programme Manager (Data Platform) in Welwyn Garden City

Overview

The Tesco Data and Analytics offering is based on a huge pool of business data collated by our Data Engineering colleagues and hosted on TAP – our Hadoop and Teradata platforms, with Azure‑based group data sharing and associated Middleware platforms. Thousands of colleagues across our stores and head offices can access this data to derive meaning, make decisions and model new ideas to deliver more value for our customers. As part of the D&A Platform team, the STPM position is pivotal in shaping the direction and driving delivery of changes that move our underlying technology forwards in the coming years. The successful candidate must show they can deliver projects and be part of technical steering and service function in Data Platforms. Our project delivery relies on great working relationships with several internal platform teams, multiple Data Engineering/Analytics and Data Science teams, and product and business teams. We are embarking on a transformation that takes TAP from a packaged Hadoop solution to a system that relies far more on open‑source, loosely‑coupled software linked to new hardware and object storage, focusing on projects that deliver change and provide stable service on multiple instances linked to different business requirements.

Today’s Responsibilities

• Shape programmes with ambiguous scope and uncertain delivery approach in an environment of continuous change as we adopt ever more open‑source solutions.
• Drive delivery of complex programmes with multiple technical and business risks, ensuring colleagues and stakeholders across Tesco are kept up‑to‑date and deliver their contribution.
• Use excellent communication and facilitation skills to get the most from people and complex situations.
• Understand priorities, trade‑offs and resulting impacts; make these visible to engineering and programme stakeholders for quick, decision‑driven progress.
• Manage dependencies, track delivery timelines and lead virtual technology teams across multiple projects and geographies to deliver programme goals.
• Actively seek out varied and opposing opinions to ensure a balanced understanding of complex issues and find the best way forward.
• Build positive relationships with suppliers and external stakeholders to maximise their delivery for Tesco and the value they bring to the programme outcome.
• Challenge and influence engineering, programme and product teams to strive for improvements that speed up delivery and improve quality without compromising service.
• Facilitate and support the development of individuals working with them directly and via their management structures.
• Deliver through a team of TPMs and help develop their skills and careers.
• Optimise and improve standard programme delivery methodology used for delivering programme goals (hybrid of agile and waterfall iteratives).
• Be aware and evaluate trends and new concepts in programme delivery and tooling to support this.
• Understand technical concepts and grasp new ones quickly to appreciate interlinks and implications on delivery.
• Understand a collection of technical architectures to foresee the impact on dependencies, timelines and eventual service delivery.
• Collaborate with engineering teams to define annual budgetary requirements.
• Manage contracts for delivery and maintenance, including renewals and search for new vendors through RFP/RFI processes, working with procurement and legal.
• Manage finances at £m per year, following robust finance discipline at Tesco for both annual budgeting and in‑year forecast/tracking.

Required Qualifications

• 15+ years proven record of accomplished delivery in large‑scale technology, across multiple teams and geographies.
• Demonstrable experience working in large‑scale infrastructure and platform environments.
• Demonstrable experience building credible relationships and influencing senior management and leadership teams.
• Project management certification showing hybrid delivery is a must.

Benefits

• Annual bonus scheme of up to 45% of base salary.
• Car allowance of £7,320 per annum.
• Holiday starting at 25 days plus a personal day (plus bank holidays).
• Private medical insurance.
• Retirement savings plan – save between 6% and 10% and Tesco will contribute 1.5 times this amount.
• 26 weeks maternity and adoption leave (after 1 year’s service) at full pay, followed by 13 weeks of statutory maternity pay or statutory adoption pay, plus 6 weeks fully paid paternity leave.

About Tesco

Our vision at Tesco is to become every customer’s favourite way to shop, whether at home or on the move. Our core purpose is ‘Serving our customers, communities and planet a little better every day’. We celebrate diversity, recognise the value it brings, and are committed to an inclusive culture where everyone can be themselves. Tesco is accredited Disability Confident Leader and offers a fully inclusive and accessible recruitment process. We provide a range of full‑time and part‑time working patterns across many business areas, combining office and remote working. Everyone is welcome at Tesco.