Sourcing Technologist

About the role

Tesco Sourcing has been responsible for sourcing Tesco’s non-food products from across the world since 1973. We deliver l fashion and home products with great value in mind for our customers for the UK and Central Europe stores.

Our headquarters is in Hong Kong and we have hubs based in China, India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, and Turkey. We also have colleagues based within our offices in Central Europe, as well as smaller hubs in Vietnam and Cambodia.

We are recruiting for a Technologist for non-food products position in our office in Kraków who have experience support the team developing new and existing factories across Europe to ensure products are manufactured to a consistent level of quality.

This role will report to our Technical Manager located in Poland and play a vital role in ensuring own brand products are manufactured with consistent quality and safety standard and empowering the suppliers by training and up skilling them to be capable of self-inspection or self-approval.

About the team

Our Home Technical function is leading to ensure all own brand products are safe, meet legal requirements, and always meet customer expectations, also products are with great quality and produced in safe, responsible & sustainable way. We have local technical team in various countries across Asia & Europe, from product specialist to production specialist to ensure to produce the right products in the right place. It's our mission to serving Tesco customers, communities, and planet a little better everyday, to deliver great quality & sustainable products at right price.

You will be responsible for :

Operational

Ensuring Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs), processes and best practices are followed

Clearly briefing the factories with the Tesco product standards & testing requirements

Working closely with factories to ensure products are manufactured with consistent quality and safety standard

Closely monitoring the technical critical path to assure Cargo Received Date (CRD) is met and highlighting any risks to the project landing on time.

Approving pre-production / production samples which are legal and safe and meet the Product Buying Brief as close as possible

Approving and ensuring complete product files (product specifications, certifications, DoC, ….) are held by Tesco

Working closely with Product Buying Brief for any incidents of recall, EPW, customer complaints and high return products

Supporting the Line Manager in resolving any problems or technical issues

Supporting any ad-hoc projects assigned

Supplier Partnership

Build a trust relationship with strategic partners who understand our technical strategy to drive quality and reduce cost through Quality Engineering (QE)

Monitor new and existing suppliers’ performance and train them up to constantly manufacture products that meet / exceed the Tesco standard

Empower the suppliers by training and up skilling them to be capable of self-inspection or self-approval

Provide technical support to the commercial team in executing their Supplier Partnership Plan & Supplier Contingency Plan

Work with our suppliers to understand the opportunity to improve the overall satisfaction rate in our Supplier Viewpoint score

Be the main point of contact for our supplier partners in addressing technical issues.

You will need

Fluent in written and spoken English

Experience with production processes (i.e. glass, ceramic, plastic, candles, wood or paper production)

Product testing reports analysis skills

Track record of delivering safe, legal, ethical products to the customer

Production / Manufacturing process knowledge as relevant for product area

Familiar with factory technical audit, evaluation techniques and quality systems

Product experience as relevant for food contact product area – preferable

Willing to travel across Europe for factory visits

Excellent communication and time management skills

What’s in it for you

Hybrid work

We know life looks a little different for each of us. That’s why at Tesco, we always welcome chats about different flexible working options. Some people are at the start of their careers, some want the freedom to do the things they love. Others are going through life-changing moments like becoming a carer, adapting to parenthood, or something else. So, talk to us throughout your application about how we can support. This role requires you to be based in or near Kraków, as you will spend 60% (3 days) of your week collaborating with colleagues at our office locations or local sites and the rest remotely.

We offer excellent benefits that help make Tesco a great place to work! These include but aren’t limited to :

Flexible working arrangements

Hybrid work setup

Annual bonus scheme

Additional days of annual leave

Employee insurance programme

Private healthcare through LuxMed

Multisport card

About Us

Our vision at Tesco is to become every customer's favorite 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. At Tesco, we not only celebrate diversity, but recognize the value and opportunity it brings. We're committed to creating a workplace where differences are valued, and make sure that all colleagues are given the same opportunities. We're a big business with diverse working patterns and many business areas which means that we can find something that works for you. Everyone is welcome at Tesco.