We are a leading retailer invested in innovation and technology.
About The Team
As the way we shop continues to evolve, our Data and Artificial Intelligence Team keeps us at the cutting edge. Driven by our innovative, inclusive, and forward‐thinking culture, we're constantly looking at ways to reinvent the shopping experience for our customers and build the next generation of digital retailing. The Data Team within the broader Coles Technology Team focuses on building data collection and analytics capabilities to uncover customer, product, and operational insights and to enable the organisation to be data driven.
About The Role
We are looking for a strategic leader to work closely with the Head of Data & AI Engineering to architect and lead the development of complex, scalable, high‐performance AI/ML and data solutions. You will partner with the Group Product Manager to translate business objectives into data and AI solutions through prioritisation, quarterly OKR planning, managing competing resource demands and solution delivery.
Responsibilities
* Establish and maintain best‐practice engineering standards across the solution development lifecycle (software engineering, data engineering and ML/AI model development) implementing modern DevOps practices, CI/CD and robust QA processes that enable continuous, iterative and reliable value delivery.
* Ensure data and AI solutions comply with internal and external design, security, privacy and ethical standards, coordinating with enterprise architecture, information security and privacy teams to manage risks and data governance across the solution lifecycle.
* Monitor productionised data & AI solution uptime ensuring operational reliability and that SLAs are met.
* Lead domain specific, multi‐disciplinary squads, comprised of machine‐learning engineers, data engineers, full‐stack developers, DevOps engineers, QA and data scientists.
* Drive procurement buy/build/partner decisions, and the implementation of in‐house and vendor solutions.
* Ensure that AI and data engineering efforts within the squads deliver measurable business value and ensure delivery of solutions to agreed corporate plan outcomes (including budget/scope/timelines).
* Manage managers and mentor teams of engineering managers, software engineers, data engineers, ML engineers, data scientists, UX designers in a large corporate environment.
* Recruit, mentor and retain top‐tier engineering talent through structured career development programmes, creating clear progression paths for individual contributors and future engineering leaders.
* Foster a culture of experimentation and continuous improvement within the squads, ensuring continuous skill uplift and encouraging the exploration of new tools, technologies and strategies.
Experience Required
* Proven years of experience in data engineering, machine‐learning or AI roles, with at least 2 years managing multi‐disciplinary engineering teams.
* Proven ability to design architectures, data pipelines and model deployment strategies that support complex AI/ML systems and performance requirements (edge, real time, batch).
* Experienced working with product managers to set strategy, prioritise initiatives (OKRs), manage competing requirements and deliver customer‐focused solutions.
* Track record of managing high‐performing teams that adopt modern software development practices including CI/CD, DevOps/MLOps and automated test and release frameworks to support continuous, iterative product releases.
* Experience in complex corporate environments (retail preferred) working alongside and influencing business and technology partners to integrate solutions into business workflows (API management, load management, integration, data security, logging, etc).
* Experience maintaining the uptime and performance of business and customer‐facing data products and ML/AI services.
* Knowledge of GenAI and agentic workflows.
Commercial Skills and Formal Qualifications
* Proficiency in programming languages like Python, Scala & or Typescript.
* Experienced with methodologies including linear programming, forecasting & or deep learning.
* Experience with machine learning frameworks (PyTorch, scikit‐learn) and AI frameworks (LangChain, LlamaIndex).
* Knowledge of DevOps and MLOps tools and practices including Docker, Terraform & Azure DevOps.
* Knowledge of data engineering tools and technologies (Spark, Kafka, Snowflake, Databricks).
* Significant experience with cloud platforms (Azure preferred, AWS, GCP).
* Strategic and people leadership and team management skills.
* Good understanding of software architecture.
* A Bachelor's or Master's Degree in Computer Science, Engineering, Mathematics, Statistics or a related quantitative field, combined with ongoing professional development in emerging data & AI technologies, leadership practices and industry best practices.
What's in it for you?
* Flexible working options – hybrid working to support work‐life balance.
* Office perks – gym facility, fitness classes, free parking and a mini‐Coles supermarket.
* Discounts – team members receive a 5% discount all year on Supermarket and Liquor purchases, with additional double‐discount periods throughout the year.
* Reward through recognition – digital platform 'mythanks' allowing points to be redeemed for gifts and gift cards.
* Opportunities for learning and development – a range of career development programmes and job‐specific training.
* Paid parental leave for permanent team members.
* Investment in your future – annual team member share plan allowing pre‐tax salary sacrifice to purchase shares.
We encourage applications from people of all ages, cultures (including Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples), abilities, sexual orientation and gender identities. We are committed to creating a workplace that is safe and respectful for our team and are happy to adjust our recruitment process to support candidates with disability.
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