How data drives decision making at Tesco

 

Discover how Sofia and her team use data to help ensure Tesco is getting the best value from its suppliers. And learn about the wealth of opportunities and support available to anyone interested in technology.

 

“I’ve been at Tesco Technology for 14 years and my learning journey still continues. I started my career here as an Engineer in Enterprise Application Integration (EAI) and have moved through a few different roles since. In April this year, with the help of my managers and mentors, I took on the role of Product Manager on the Tesco Analytical Platform and this has been a completely new experience and challenge to what I’ve done so far.

The Tesco Analytical Platform is where we get data related to our domains. We have multiple domains, such as finance and commercial, but I’m responsible for building and driving the supplier domain. A key element of my role is to collate any information that deals with our suppliers to make sure we’re getting the right value for our customers and the business.

 

A recent project I’ve been working on is focused on sustainability where I’m working to understand and capture metrics relating to sustainable practices from suppliers. This could include the carbon emissions they release or the number of women they employ. So, I take this information, derive the business value and provide analytics and reports to see to it that we’re engaging with the right suppliers.

As a product manager I have to ensure we’re on the right track and make the journey as simple as possible. I guess you could say I’m the person who’s rowing the boat and carrying us all along. I’m responsible for getting the right business requirements, communicating the expectations to my engineers, highlighting issues in a timely manner, and making sure we deliver our product within the parameters we’ve agreed to.

 

It’s exciting and interesting to see how data can be so critical, and what value it can add to our customers and the business. But what I enjoy most in my current role is that I get to understand the value of what I’m delivering, and bring that back to my team, making that connection for them too.

If you want to derive logic from data, and have an impact on the decisions of an entire organisation, this is the place for you. You could be a Data Scientist or Programmer, an Engineer or Developer. You could even work with machine learning. We use all sorts of technology here too, like Hadoop, Python, Scala, Spark, so anybody that loves coding is sure to have great fun. 

 

Tesco Technology has adapted and evolved so much over the years. From swapping monolithic systems to microservices, to changing from waterfall to agile methodologies. And just as the business is ever growing, you can do that with your career too – there’s so many opportunities to explore. The self-learning and training mechanisms that we’re exposed to helps us upskill ourselves while at work, and if you want to grow your career – laterally or vertically – there are so many ways you can do this. We’ve also got great mentoring programmes where you can recognise your strengths and improve on your weaker areas as well as buddies you can link up with to share your experiences.

You can experiment with various flavours in your career at a big organisation like Tesco. If you aspire to work in a new area, there’s a framework in place for you to evaluate yourself so you can polish your skills and experience to help you get there.

 

Tesco values its employees, and its work. I can see more challenges, excitement and empowerment in the future and thanks to the inclusive culture and support, I feel more confident every day. It's so important to be in the right environment to grow and progress. So if that’s what you're looking for, please do join us.

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