Head of Strategic Planning

Overview

Lead a multidisciplinary Strategy & Planning function at Tesco Media to drive integrated, insight-led growth. You will shape standards and frameworks, guide client strategy and partnerships, and translate customer data into compelling commercial plans. You’ll collaborate across commercial, product, and measurement teams to scale revenue and strengthen Tesco Media’s market position. Your leadership will enable high-quality client conversations, thought leadership, and a scalable operating model. This role offers a chance to influence retail media strategy at scale and foster an inclusive, high-performing culture.

Pay / Benefits

• flexible working hours
• birthday leave
• private medical cover
• life assurance
• income protection
• wellbeing benefits

Responsibilities

• Set vision, priorities and standards for Strategy & Planning
• Evolve from channel-led to integrated, insight-led commercial planning
• Balance long-term growth with in-year performance
• Partner with commercial leaders to identify growth opportunities
• Translate client and sales demand into propositions, GTM activity and resource allocation
• Build scalable planning frameworks, tools and reusable growth models
• Lead strategic planning for major clients with multi-year growth plans
• Develop service models for different client groups and partners
• Embed customer insight across planning, proposition development and market narratives
• Create automated tools to improve planning quality, speed and scale
• Ensure recommendations are evidence-based and tied to measurable outcomes
• Establish governance, prioritisation and resource-planning processes
• Shape future design of the function, including structure and development priorities
• Oversee programme management across strategic workstreams and collateral
• Collaborate with Marketing to shape thought leadership and industry narratives
• Represent Tesco Media in senior client, agency and industry forums
• Turn retail media and market trends into actionable growth opportunities
• Lead and develop a large, multidisciplinary team with clear goals and development paths
• Foster an inclusive culture focused on curiosity, commercial thinking and continuous improvement
• Support senior stakeholders with credible, confident delivery

Key requirements

• Significant leadership experience in media strategy, retail media, commercial strategy, customer insight, strategic planning, or similar environments
• Proven track record in developing commercial strategies that drive client and revenue growth
• Experience leading, coaching and developing high-performing, multidisciplinary teams
• Ability to translate complex customer data into clear, commercially compelling strategies
• Confidence influencing senior stakeholders and delivering through cross-functional teams
• Strong media-planning knowledge and understanding of how planning drives commercial performance
• Experience building, scaling or transforming teams or operating models
• Excellent storytelling, facilitation and communication skills
• Judgement to prioritise and turn strategy into action
• Experience in retail media or agency planning leadership is valuable
• Experience in client growth planning, joint business planning, thought leadership or market-facing activity beneficial

• strategic thinking
• facilitation and storytelling
• stakeholder management
• media planning knowledge
• customer insight translation
• commercial strategy development

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