Job Introduction
About the Tesco Data Science Team
The Data Science Team sits centrally within Tesco and focuses on solving complex business problems and developing data products that can be deployed at scale to our customers. Our work spans across multiple areas including physical stores, online, fulfilment, marketing, finance and Clubcard and we encourage rotation amongst our Data Scientists so they can apply their skills to different business challenges and gain deeper levels of subject matter expertise. The Data Science Team is made up of multi-disciplined researchers and practitioners with varied backgrounds from both academia and the business world. We strive to foster a culture of innovation by encouraging our Data Scientists to focus a portion of their time on self-driven projects that utilise their expertise to solve real-world challenges that Tesco faces.
Our core work involves:

• Developing data products that can be deployed at scale both internally and externally
• Supporting the automation of decision making across the business
• Optimising processes for key business objectives
• Conducting deep dive exploratory analysis to inform strategic decision making

Examples of our previous work include:

• Building search and recommender systems for our web portfolio
• Optimising space and range within our stores
• Optimising delivery routes for our vans
• Developing enhanced picking algorithms for our fulfilment centres
• Optimising prices
• Developing measures of long term customer value
• Forecasting sales and profit across stores and products

 

Main Responsibilities
As a Principle Data Scientist (Deep Learning) you will have the following responsibilities:

• Own the Deep Learning technical domain and lead the strategic development of Tesco's Deep Learning capabilities
• Seek out and deal with ambiguous, unstructured challenges and find opportunities to shape strategies and resources to solve them
• Influence stakeholders on best approaches for Deep Learning, including hardware and software provisioning
• Support the development of a Deep Learning infrastructure to enable future scaleability and simultaneous usage by multiple Data Scientists
• Evaluate and make recommendations for new tools, techniques and technologies to develop and support evolving business needs
• Help to define the strategic direction the team should take, trading off between contradicting priorities
• Translate ambiguous business challenges into data science problems and applications
• Line manage Data Scientists and mentor and coach the wider team in the best approaches to Deep Learning problems
• Communicate complex solutions in a clear, understandable way to non-experts
• Work end-to-end on Data Science developments, contributing to all aspects of the project lifecycle which result in productionised data products
• Scientifically analyse and evaluate the effectiveness of different approaches to guide future development and track the value created by the team
• Manage, guide and mentor the team in their daily work
• Promote data science across Tesco, and promote Tesco across the external Data Science community

 

The Ideal Candidate
You are an experienced Data Scientist with an advanced level of capability across the Data Science Toolkit (Maths & Stats, Programming, Machine Learning, Communication & Visualisation etc) and an extensive knowledge of the Deep Learning technical domain. You therefore tick the majority of the following points:
Specialist Deep Learning Knowledge:

• An expert in machine and deep learning approaches including MLP, RNN, CNN, LSTM, RL etc
• Expernt knowledge of one or more deep learning libraries (e.g. Tensforflow, PyTorch, Keras, etc.)
• Hold a doctoral degree in an area related to Deep Learning or similar equivalent industrial experience
• A deep knowledge of state-of-the-art Deep Learning approaches, tools and technologies (GANs, Memory Networks, Attenional models, etc.)
• Proven experience in designing and deploying Deep Learning tech stacks within a large organisation
• Industrial experience in applying Deep Learning techniques across problem domains (Online, Fulfilment, Logistics, Personalisation, Forecasting etc)

Mathematical & Statistical Understanding:

• A strong numerical higher degree in a mathematical, scientific, engineering or computer science discipline with application to Data Science
• The ability to use your academic knowledge and commercial experience to tackle specific business problems
• An analytical mind set and the ability to use your academic knowledge to tackle specific business problems

Programming Experience:

• Experience with different programing languages and an advanced level in at least one - Python, Java, Scala (or similar)
• Experience configuring open source Data Science environments and Deep Learning frameworks
• Experience using open source big-data technology such as Apache Hadoop, Spark, Impala, Hive, Pig, MapReduce

Management & Leadership Experience:

• Line management experience desirable
• Experience of coaching / mentoring others in Deep Learning approaches
• You have experience in setting a strategic direction and running complex data science projects with multiple stakeholders
• Experience in hiring and building out high performing Data Science teams within large and complex organisations
• You can influence senior stakeholders
• You have a passion for implementing change

Commercial Experience:
A proven track record of:

• Leading Data Science project developments involving multiple stakeholders
• Delivering high impact Data Science developments within complex organisations
• Generating insights from large data sets containing event records for millions of customers
• Partnering with product and technology teams to productionize your developments and roll out at scale

A background or strong understanding of the retail sector, logistics and/or ecommerce would be advantageous but is not required

About The Company
About Tesco
Our vision here at Tesco is to serve Britain's shoppers a little better every day.
We want to become every customer's favourite way to shop, whether they are online or in our stores.
As one of the world's largest retailers, Tesco has over 6,000 stores globally, successful online and digital businesses and a truly innovative culture. We operate in complex environments and with a volume of data few other companies have access to. We have embraced Data Science solutions full on, exploiting expert techniques to drive the business ambition of becoming a multi-channel leader and we are looking for curious individuals who want to make a mark and contribute to this ground breaking work.
 

Package Description
We offer excellent benefits that help make Tesco a great place to work.  These include but aren't limited to:

• An annual bonus scheme of up to 45% of base salary
• Car Allowance of £7,320 per annum
• Colleague Clubcard (including a 2nd card for a family member) after 6 months service with 10% off most purchases at Tesco.
• A retirement savings plan:  6%-10% contribution rate
• Life Assurance - 5 x contractual pay
• Buy As You Earn Scheme
• Save As You Earn Scheme
• Health Screening every 2 years
• Deals & Discounts through Tesco including Tesco Mobile & Tesco Bank
• Deals and Discounts through many other external businesses