Data Science Manager

Salary:
Competitive Plus Benefits

Location:

London Store Support Centre and Home, London, EC1M 6HA

Contract type:
Permanent
Business area:
Data & Analytics
Closing date: 22 June 2026
Requisition :

At Sainsbury’s, data sits at the heart of how we operate, innovate and serve our customers. Our Data & Analytics team is building a technically advanced, commercially focused and impactful capability, powering our Next Level Strategy and helping to create a Sainsbury’s powered by industry leading AI algorithms. We use data, technology and advanced analytics to drive better decisions across the business, from forecasting and optimisation to experimentation, personalisation and machine learning.

With one of the richest retail datasets I n the UK and a portfolio spanning Sainsbury’s, Argos, Habitat and Nectar, the opportunity to innovate is huge. Here, you’ll tackle complex challenges at scale, create measurable impact and grow quickly alongside brilliant colleagues. People who thrive with us combine business understanding, technical expertise and curiosity, with a natural instinct for problem-solving.

Join us and help shape the future of retail through data and AI.

As a Data Science Manager and a lead of one of our central Data Science teams, you will play a pivotal role in developing in-house data science solutions that automate decision-making and provide valuable insights across our business. You will lead complex data science development projects, as well as help set the direction for large scale ML transformation programmes. You will line manage and support several data scientists to elevate a high performing team.

• Wide impact. Deploying models here means improving the experience of millions of customers each day.
• Range of projects. Our projects vary from supply chain optimisation for one of the largest logistics networks in the country, predicting which substitution products online shoppers prefer, to helping our instore colleagues keep shelves full.
• Focus on data science work
  . Access to extensive, clean, and well-documented data in our industry-leading platform: spend your time building data science solutions, not cleaning datasets.
• Time for growth. 10% of time set aside for learning & personal development
• Learning and mentoring. With a team of 50 data scientists, engineers and product managers, there are lots of opportunities to learn from colleagues through knowledge shares, pair programming, and communities of practice.
• Flexible working. Our team prioritizes hybrid working, both at home and in our central London Farringdon office.
• Save on groceries
  . 10% discount on products across Sainsburys (Up to 15% for two days each week!)

• Lead DS development projects as part of cross-functional deliveries with colleagues from our allied teams:
  Product, Analytics, Science, and Engineering.
• Own the design and delivery of large scale data science solutions.
• Drive wider ML transformation programmes to support large business areas to become more data-driven, through coordinating requirements gathering, resource allocation and managing dependencies.
• Prioritise work across complex delivery programmes and help team members prioritise the right things are the right time.
• Articulate value statements for Data Science work and produce meaningful measurement methodologies to measure business impact of your solutions.

• Line manage and develop our data science talent.
• Conduct code reviews and model our team’s technical standards.
• Identify opportunities for team upskilling.
• Take ownership of or lead one of our strategic initiatives: i.e. ML Ops, coding standards, training etc.
• Pair program with other data scientists.
• Educated to degree level, preferably within a mathematical, statistical or STEM discipline.
• A solid track record of individually contributing to value-driving data science projects in a commercial setting.
• Strong proficiency with Python, SQL, and the data science stack (pandas, Num Py, scikit-learn, etc.)
• Experience with writing production grade code using Python and SQL,…