“Staying close to customer problems and thinking about how technology can make a difference is really interesting. You go through the process of evaluating and experimenting different solutions with your product, and finally make a real impact to customer experience and witness numbers turning around. It is very fulfilling. It gives a lot of joy.

There were a number of reasons why I wanted to join Tesco in 2008. I had prior experience in retail, and I was looking to build a career in retail technology. Tesco was one of the biggest retailers and at the forefront of technology. I knew about their world-class supply chain and the massive scale at which they operate.

I started out as an Engineer in the Store Ordering team. Store Ordering is a key part of the supply chain that ensures the right products are in the right store, at the right time. Being a developer, I got the opportunity to design and build mainframe applications that focused on improving complex store ordering algorithms.

One of the key accomplishments while in ordering was leading the implementation of a brand new algorithm to improve the availability of grocery products in stores. It was one of the most complex applications that had been developed so far. In spite of this, we achieved high quality and our efforts were appreciated. We were bringing the gold standard in development.

Over the next few years, I discovered that I enjoyed staying close to domain problems and exploring how technology can be leveraged. When I reflected on the success of that complex algorithm, I realised that my passion lies in product. I reassessed my career choice, which had predominantly been in engineering, and I made the switch to Product Management.

I was really fortunate to have a good manager who supported my career aspirations. He suggested I speak to a few individuals who were already in the product management space, so I could understand more about the role and its potential. A few opportunities came my way, and my manager also helped me to identify the one that would best fit my experience and build my confidence.

Moving to Stock API provided a brilliant learning opportunity, as the product had just been conceived. Over here, I got to manage the overall lifecycle of the product from ideation to launch during which there were a fair share of setbacks and memorable successes. From just being a wrapper, Stock API today is an enterprise API for Tesco, contributing to causes spanning across Customer experience, Supply Chain and Finance.

As the product matured, the whole experience helped me mature as a Product Manager too. Now, I’m the Senior Product Manager for the Stock API team. My role involves collaborating with the Product, Programme and Engineering teams across domains, charter the roadmap for my product to take it closer to the vision which is to be the single source of stock for Tesco.

Stock Level maintains a real-time and accurate record of the quantity of an item in a location, at any given time. For example, Level API can tell you there are 30 tins of beans right now in the Hartford store. Stock record is a very critical piece of information because it is key to many operations. Like predicting stock availability to make accurate customer promises, computing store replenishments, and is also an input for Tesco’s stock valuation. There are also channels where colleagues can give us feedback around low availability or waste.

It comes back to: how can we make life better for our colleagues and our customers? Giving our colleagues real-time records means they can do their stock routines more efficiently and easily. And they can spend more time with our customers. We give our customers real-time visibility of available products, so they can make the right shopping decisions and have a great experience. From Tesco’s perspective, it’s about striking the right balance. Ensuring that we can make promises and fulfil them.

One of my favourite personal moments was when we celebrated my 10th-year work anniversary. My team organised a small event and invited my husband as a special guest. I didn’t have any idea he was coming. But at home, he’d hear me talk passionately about the problems we’re solving. Some of them are so relatable that you don’t need to be working in technology to understand them. It was wonderful to have him at the event, and spend the time with the rest of the team. He talked about how envious he is about the kind of work we do at Tesco. It was very special and close to my heart.

Recently, I celebrated 15 years here and I’ve felt privileged to contribute to Tesco’s purpose during that time. There are two basic values we live by: ‘no-one tries harder for customers’ and ‘treat others the way you like to be treated’. You see people creating these moments every single day, and it’s incredible. We have a very diverse and talented team who are very good at what they do. There’s a lot to learn from each of them. And I’m positively challenged and pushed, every day.”