Tesco UK • Welwyn Garden City • Hybrid • Full-Time • Working hours 36 • Apply by 30-Jun-2026
The Technical Programme Manager is accountable for delivering a portfolio of complex, large‑scale store hardware and infrastructure programmes that underpin critical Tesco business priorities. These programmes span multiple technologies, suppliers, and geographies, and carry significant technical, operational, and commercial risk.
You will lead programmes end‑to‑end, shaping ambiguous initiatives through to execution and rollout. A core expectation of the role is the active use of data, automation, and AI‑driven insights to improve operational efficiency, delivery predictability, risk management, and decision‑making at scale.
What is in it for you
We're all about the little helps. That's why we make sure our Tesco colleague benefits package takes care of you – both in and out of work. Find out more!
- Annual bonus scheme of up to 20% of base salary
- Holiday starting at 25 days plus a personal day (plus Bank holidays)
- Private medical insurance
- 26 weeks maternity and adoption leave (after 1 year service) at full pay, followed by 13 weeks of Statutory Maternity Pay or Statutory Adoption Pay, we also offer 6 weeks fully paid paternity leave
- Free 24/7 virtual GP service, Employee Assistance Programme (EAP) for you and your family, free access to a range of experts to support your mental wellbeing
You will be responsible for
- Deliver a portfolio of complex, large‑scale technology and infrastructure programmes aligned to key business outcomes
- Define, own, and continuously optimise integrated delivery plans, including technical implementation, rollout sequencing, and operational readiness
- Initiate and shape programmes with ambiguous scope, evolving requirements, and uncertain delivery models
- Manage dependencies across engineering, platform, product, operations, and supplier teams, using AI‑enabled tracking and insights to provide transparency and early risk visibility
- Build a deep technical understanding of infrastructure architecture and the store operations it supports, enabling informed, high‑quality decisions
- Apply strong judgement and influence to manage trade‑offs across cost, risk, quality, and speed, supported by data‑driven and AI‑assisted analysis
- Leverage AI and analytics to improve operational efficiency, including:
- Predictive risk identification and mitigation
- Delivery performance tracking and forecasting
- Incident trend analysis and root‑cause identification
- Automation of reporting, governance packs, and operational insights
- Establish new or enhance existing delivery methodologies, embedding automation and AI to improve pace, consistency, and execution quality
- Lead the management of major incidents, ensuring timely, accurate, insight‑led communication to enable effective decision‑making
- Ensure post‑incident reviews are data‑driven, actions are tracked, and learning is systematically embedded into future delivery
- Provide strong leadership that enables delivery through others, fostering ownership, accountability, and continuous improvement
- Support long‑term planning and annual budget definition, using data and AI‑supported forecasting to improve investment decisions
- Build trusted relationships with supplier partners and internal/external stakeholders to deliver hardware, software, rollouts, and professional services
- Add value to vendor selection and commercial processes, including tendering, SLAs, warranties, and outsourcing models
- Lead commercial negotiations and drive hardware, software, and professional service contracts to conclusion
- Coach peers across technology roles, promoting modern programme management practices, automation, and AI‑driven decision‑making
- Contribute to the growth of the wider technology and programme management communities
You will need
- Delivering complex technology and/or infrastructure programmes across multiple teams and geographies
- 3+ years’ experience leading multiple large‑scale technology programmes, ideally in distributed, retail, or operational environments
- Strong technical knowledge of infrastructure, deployment architectures, and the software development lifecycle
- Deploying both data‑centre and distributed hardware solutions supporting 24/7, business‑critical applications
- Anticipating risk and proactively mitigating issues using structured, data‑driven approaches
- Strong written, verbal, and presentation skills, with the ability to communicate complex topics clearly to senior stakeholders
- Building credibility and influencing senior leadership teams
- Excellent programme, stakeholder, and vendor management capability
- Demonstrated resilience during incidents, change, and ambiguity while maintaining delivery momentum
- Strong understanding of agile and modern delivery techniques
- Experience applying data, automation, or AI to improve delivery efficiency, insight, and outcomes
The successful candidate will demonstrate a tenacious "can‑do, will‑do" mindset. You will be comfortable challenging the status quo and driving change, while bringing people with you through strong leadership, collaboration, and a clear focus on value delivery.
About us
Our vision at Tesco is to become every customer's favourite way to shop, whether they are at home or out on the move. Our core purpose is "Serving our customers, communities and planet a little better every day". Serving means more than a transactional relationship with our customers. It means acting as a responsible and sustainable business for all stakeholders, for the communities we are part of and for the planet.
We are proud to have an inclusive culture at Tesco where everyone truly feels able to be themselves. We celebrate diversity and recognize the value and opportunity it brings. We are committed to creating a workplace where differences are valued, and we give every colleague equal opportunities. We are proud to be accredited Disability Confident Leader and are committed to providing a fully inclusive and accessible recruitment process.
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