To lead the Group’s Data, Analytics, and AI capability as a commercial value driver, delivering measurable improvements in revenue, margin, cost efficiency, and working capital through datadriven decisioning and AI-enabled solutions across Retail, Supply Chain (UPD), and Shared Services. The role ensures that data is treated as a strategic asset across the organisation, driving omnichannel growth, customer experience, operational excellence, and innovation, while embedding robust data governance, quality, integrity, and responsible AI practices across all business domains. The role is accountable for translating business priorities into production-grade data and AI solutions, ensuring adoption, scalability, and measurable business impact.

Own and govern a prioritised portfolio of high-impact data and AI use cases, aligned to strategic objectives and business value (e.g. demand forecasting, pricing optimisation, customer analytics, and supply chain optimisation).

▪ Lead end-to-end delivery of analytics and AI solutions, from problem definition and business case through to deployment, adoption, and value realisation within operations.

▪ Define, track, and realise financial and operational value, including revenue uplift, margin improvement, cost reduction, and working capital optimisation.

▪ Embed data-driven decision-making into core business processes, in partnership with Group and business unit leadership.

▪ Ensure alignment with Enterprise Architecture and IT ecosystems, delivering scalable, integrated, and sustainable data and AI solutions.

▪ Establish and scale the Group’s data and AI operating model, including tooling, standards, governance frameworks, and best practices.

▪ Lead and manage a multidisciplinary function, encompassing data science, advanced analytics, and master data management.

▪ Oversee the industrialisation of models, ensuring robust deployment, monitoring, and lifecycle management through MLOps.

▪ Drive data quality, integrity, and governance, ensuring a strong and reliable data foundation across the enterprise.

▪ Ensure full compliance with data privacy and regulatory requirements (including POPIA), while embedding responsible AI practices

Postgraduate degree in Data Science, Statistics, Computer Science, Mathematics, Engineering, or related discipline

Advanced knowledge of data science methodologies, machine learning, AI frameworks, and statistical modelling

▪ Deep understanding of enterprise data platforms, data engineering, analytics tools, and cloud-based AI environments

▪ Strong knowledge of data governance, master data management (MDM), data quality, and data integrity frameworks

▪ Predictive analytics, forecasting, optimisation techniques, and decision science

▪ Strong understanding of customer, retail, supply chain, and operational data ecosystems

▪ Knowledge of AI ethics, responsible AI, and regulatory considerations

Strategic thinking and ability to translate data into business value and outcomes

▪ Ability to translate complex business problems into scalable data and AI solutions.

▪ Leadership of multidisciplinary data teams (data science, master data, data quality) ▪ Advanced analytical problem-solving and hypothesis-driven modelling

▪ Executive communication, influencing, and data storytelling

▪ Strong technical capability (Python, R, SQL, cloud AI/analytics platforms)

▪ Model deployment, monitoring, and lifecycle management

▪ Data governance, master data management, and quality assurance leadership

▪ Stakeholder engagement and influencing skills at executive level.

▪ Ability to drive execution and ensure delivery into operational environments.

12+ years’ experience in data science, AI, analytics, or master data management

▪ Proven experience deploying predictive and prescriptive models into production environments

▪ Experience leading enterprise data science and master data teams

▪ Demonstrated experience driving data and AI strategy across multiple business functions

▪ Experience providing executive-level insights

to support strategic and operational decision-making

▪ Experience working in complex, data-rich environments

▪ Strong leadership and development track record

Competative monthly salary