Head of Product - Article

Retail; Greater London; Hybrid; GBP 120,000 - 180,000; Full time

Job summary

Sainsbury's Tech in the UK leads a modern software engineering agenda, placing product leadership at the core of retail transformation. The Head of Product for Article Management & Regulatory Technology will set the long-term vision and drive value across data, compliance and ERP domains.

You will own roadmaps, align stakeholders, oversee large-scale migrations to SAP platforms, and coach a team of Product Managers to deliver measurable outcomes that benefit millions of customers and thousands

Qualifications

• Strong understanding of product management principles and modern operating models.
• Experience leading enterprise-scale technology products and product teams.
• Knowledge of master data management, product information management or enterprise data platforms.
• Understanding of retail, commercial operations and product lifecycle processes.
• Experience working with ERP platforms, preferably SAP.
• Understanding of Agile delivery methodologies and modern engineering practices.
• Experience working within large-scale transformation programmes.

Responsibilities

• Define and communicate a compelling vision, strategy and roadmap for the Article Management & Regulatory Technology domain.
• Bring together multiple product strategies into a coherent long-term vision.
• Own prioritisation across the product family, balancing strategic transformation, regulatory obligations, technical sustainability and business value.
• Define measurable outcomes and product success metrics that demonstrate value delivery.
• Build strong relationships with stakeholders across Commercial, Own Brand, Supply Chain, Finance, Technology, Sustainability and Retail Operations.
• Represent the domain in senior governance forums and influence investment decisions.
• Oversee large-scale migrations and platform modernisation initiatives.

Skills

Product management

Enterprise products

Master data management

Retail operations

SAP ERP

Agile delivery

Transformation programmes

Job description

In a nutshell

At Sainsbury's Tech, we power the UK's leading multi-channel, multi-brand retailer. Our product teams are made up of inspiring and multidisciplinary individuals who are empowered to solve complex problems for colleagues, customers and our business.

The Head of Product is a critical leadership role, responsible for creating, driving and championing the long-term vision for a strategic product domain. Relentlessly focused on delivering business value, this role combines commercial understanding, product leadership and technology expertise to shape the future of retail technology at scale.

As Head of Product for Article (Product Data, Compliance & ERP), you will lead a portfolio of products that sit at the heart of how Sainsbury's creates, manages and governs product information across the enterprise.

Your domain will be responsible for two strategically important areas:

Regulatory & Legislative Technology

Leading our capabilities to respond to evolving legislation and compliance requirements through technology solutions, including initiatives such as:

• Deposit Return Scheme (DRS)
• Digital Product Passports (DPP)
• Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR)
• Emerging UK and international regulatory requirements

This is naturally required cross-functional working across many technology and business teams for end-to-end propositions.

Article Management

Owning the technology products that support the end-to-end lifecycle of product creation and maintenance across our business, including:

• Technology used for article (Food & General Merchandising) sourcing & creation. Master Data Management with a focus on data quality
• Integration of product data across the wider enterprise ecosystem

This area is at the centre of one of Sainsbury's most significant technology transformations- you will play a leading role in modernising product master data capabilities whilst delivering upgrades, migrations and integrations into our green-field SAP landscape and platforms.

This is a unique opportunity to shape foundational capabilities that impact thousands of colleagues, millions of customers and every product sold across Sainsbury's.

What I need to do

Product Leadership

• Define and communicate a compelling vision, strategy and roadmap for the Article Management & Regulatory Technology domain.
• Bring together multiple product strategies into a coherent and compelling long-term vision.
• Own prioritisation across the product family, balancing strategic transformation, regulatory obligations, technical sustainability and business value.
• Define measurable outcomes and product success metrics that demonstrate value delivery.
• Build strong relationships with stakeholders across Commercial, Own Brand, Supply Chain, Finance, Technology, Sustainability and Retail Operations.
• Represent the domain in senior governance forums and influence investment decisions.
• Oversee large-scale migrations and platform modernisation initiatives.

People Leadership

• Lead, coach and develop a team of Product Managers and Senior Product Managers.
• Create a high-performing, high-trust culture focused on customer and business outcomes.
• Develop product capability and craft excellence within the team.
• Foster a culture of learning, experimentation and continuous improvement.
  

How I will succeed

• Be the recognised product authority for Article Management and Regulatory Technology.
• Champion the strategic importance of high-quality product data as a core business asset.
• Successfully balance short-term legislative commitments with long-term transformation goals.
• Ensure the team maintains clear roadmaps, prioritised backlogs and transparent communication of progress and risks.
• Build highly collaborative relationships with Engineering, Architecture, Data, Commercial and Transformation teams.
• Drive alignment across dependent product areas and influence enterprise-wide decisions.
• Create an environment where teams are empowered to innovate while remaining laser-focused on business outcomes.
• Lead resolution and prioritisation of live product incidents and operational issues where required.
  

What I need to know

• Strong understanding of product management principles and modern product operating models.
• Experience leading enterprise-scale technology products and product teams.
• Knowledge of master data management, product information management or enterprise data platforms.
• Understanding of retail, commercial operations and product lifecycle processes.
• Experience working with ERP platforms, preferably SAP.
• Understanding of Agile delivery methodologies and modern engineering practices.
• Experience working within large-scale transformation programmes.
  

What I need to show

Strategic Vision

• Ability to create, communicate and execute a compelling long-term product strategy.
• Ability to balance regulatory commitments, operational needs and transformation objectives.

Commercial Acumen

• Strong understanding of business value, investment trade-offs and return on investment.
• Ability to prioritise effectively across competing demands and stakeholders.

Customer & Colleague Focus

• Relentless focus on understanding and improving colleague experiences.
• Ability to simplify complex processes and remove operational friction.

Data & Technology Leadership

• Ability to translate complex technology concepts into simple business outcomes.
• Curiosity and confidence to challenge, influence and guide technical decisions.

Leadership

• Proven ability to build, lead and develop high-performing teams.
• Excellent influencing, communication and stakeholder management skills.
• Experience leading through ambiguity and organisational change.

Delivery Excellence

• Experience delivering complex programmes across multiple teams and domains.
• Ability to manage risk, dependencies and prioritisation at enterprise scale.
• Strong focus on outcomes over outputs.
  

Resources available to me

• Team of Product Managers and Senior Product Managers
• £Multi-million capital investment portfolio
• Dedicated engineering, architecture and delivery partners
• Product community of practice
• Significant enterprise transformation programme support
• Learning and development opportunities across Sainsbury's Tech

We are committed to making Tech a place where people love to work where diverse and engaged team make a purposeful contribution. Sainsbury’s is committed to being the most inclusive retailer, and flexible working including job sharing is welcomed wherever possible. In Tech we welcome such conversations and are proud to champion a diverse and inclusive culture.

We’d all like amazing work to do, and real work-life balance. That’s waiting for you at Sainsbury’s. Think about the scale it takes to feed the nation. The level of data, transactions and variety involved. Then you’ll realise this is a modern software engineering environment, because it has to be. We’ve made significant investment in the standards and principles that shape how we work. We iterate, learn, experiment and champion ways of working such as Agile, Scrum and XP. So you can look forward to exciting opportunities across everything from AI to reusable tech.