Senior Data Strategist - 12M FTC

Division/Dept. 

Nectar360 

Location 

Holborn store support centre 

Reporting to 

Client Planning Director (C5) - New Business and Value Add 

In a nutshell  

Nectar360 is a loyalty, data, and marketing services business.  Our 1st party data (Nectar) is the key to unlocking customer understanding across the various Sainsburys businesses and supplier base (FMCG and General Merchandise (GM) brands)–our clients.   

The commercial team in Nectar360 is responsible for how we combine, leverage, and commercialise data and media. Ensuring that Nectar360 remains relevant in a rapidly changing market where digital first thinking has become the norm, and the understanding of customer is a key differentiator.   

The colleague will be working in one of the fastest growing and dynamic areas of the business, supporting us in driving significant profit growth from Nectar360’s data-driven media and digital offering – in and around store, onsite (Sainsbury’s & Argos e-Commerce) and offsite (our Digital Trading Platform (DTP)) monetisation. 

The colleague will need a unique blend of data literacy, digital channel knowledge, relationship building expertise, commercial drive, and stakeholder management to be successful in this role. They will be a strategic thinker, with a passion for data driven marketing, customer behaviour understanding. 

This client-facing role requires the development of long-term relationships across senior client stakeholders in multiple businesses and across a wide array of industries, whilst also influencing internal Nectar360 teams and colleagues in Sainsbury’s and Argos. 

You will play a key role in delivering Nectar360’s digital aspirations and our ambitious growth plans – growing our profits by 60% over the next 5 years.  

What you need to do 

• Communicate Nectar360’s vision and be fully conversant in the benefits and USPs of all Nectar360 services with a focus on Argos capabilities.
• Responsible for feeding into client account and brand planning that is strategically aligned to Argos category and corporate objectives, using customer and ecommerce data as the foundation for recommendations.
• Be the category expert, aligned to select categories and key GM client accounts, facing into clients and Trading contacts.
• Demonstrate a strategic mind-set by understanding the key business challenges of our Argos clients. Work with the cross functional team (Analytics, Data & Insights, Clients Services and Campaign Media Management) to develop solutions.
• Create insights led proposals for GM clients, ensuring that strategy, data selection and process adhere to Sainsbury’s and Nectar’s data guidelines.
• Unlock incremental proactive category growth opportunities, through identifying, planning and sharing category centric media strategies with Trading teams.
• Manage stakeholders of varying seniority and agendas to create campaigns that resonate with the GM customer - driving trade and meeting broader corporate and category objectives.
• Develop and mentor members of the Nectar360 team to nurture data planning techniques (inc. use of ecommerce data, customer data from Sainsbury’s Insight Platform and testing methodologies), client relationship skills and commercial acumen.
• Take responsibility for our data led products and propositions, working alongside other teams to ensure data led-planning expertise shapes the future of Nectar360’s offering i.e. our Digital Trading Platform and Ecommerce Media Platform.
• Custodian of the use of data within planning, strategy, and customer targeted comms.

What you need to know 

• Proven track record of success in data/digital/comms planning within a consultative environment
• Experience of working with customer loyalty, market research and ecommerce data, gained within retail clients and/or FMCGs or General Merchandise.
• Highly organised and confident in planning and prioritising workload. Energetic, self-motivated and driven – the ability to spot and leverage opportunities across the business.
• Advanced user of Powerpoint and Excel.
• Excellent written, verbal, and numerical communication skills.
• Extensive knowledge of how targeting, segmentation and profiling techniques are used for direct marketing campaigns.
• Comfortable presenting in front of and influencing senior stakeholders and clients.
• Experienced at leading projects and engaging wider business functions.
• Strong client liaison skills i.e. able to work collaboratively and in partnership to deliver high quality data driven solutions.
• Be comfortable dealing with ambiguity, and then taking stakeholders on a journey to the right solution for the business  

What you need to show 

• Exceptional data-led planning skills with a strong e-commerce and digital focus.
• Ability to inspire and coach the broader virtual team through innovative use of data, passion and enthusiasm.
• Showcase success back to the business to ensure that the broader teams benefit from best practice.
• Strong technical expertise by utilising confidence and self-belief to provide recommendations in the face of challenges from clients and internal stakeholders with partial information.
• Have an in-depth understanding of team objectives, helping to set them and take an active role in driving them forward by acting as the example to continually make it better.
• Comfortable defining ways of working with Trading teams – the Senior Data Strategist needs to be able to spot and leverage these opportunities in categories where they own the relationships and be the expert on customer behaviour.
• Act as the expert on any initiatives that involve data and customer targeting in the broader Sainsbury’s or Argos business – guide other teams as they build new propositions i.e. Digital Trading Platform.
• Expertise in presenting complex ideas back to clients, the wider Nectar360 team, Marketing and Trading teams to persuade and inform.   
• Experience and expertise in pushing back, and challenging the status quo whilst maintaining relationships throughout 

What decisions I can make including budget 

• Targeting guidelines for rules for on/offsite channels based on data and best judgement.
• Ways of working with Argos Trading and Nectar360 GM teams to reach business and client targets and objectives.
• Ways of working with Argos Propositions and Campaign teams to drive Argos supplier participation in events.
• Data and Comms training programmes for other Nectar360 colleagues.
• Best practice recommendations to clients based on data  

Support we will provide 

• Access to expert across the business to support your upskilling.
• Clear and measurable measures of success at all time.
• Bitesize talks with industry or sector experts.
• Online self-development tools across a broad range of topics.
• In person and external training as part of the broader Sainsbury’s L&D programme.
• Internal optional mentoring and coaching.
• Attendance at events, conferences or external training programmes to develop data or category expertise 

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