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We have an exciting opportunity for PhD students to join our Data Science team on a 12-week paid internship. The start date for each internship is flexible but must be between May and August 2023.

As an intern, you will join the team and get hands on experience of what it’s like to be a Data Scientist at Tesco. You’ll work with the team on helping us solve an exciting real-life problem. In addition to the technical mentorship and training provided by the team we will also provide a personal mentor to help you get the most out of the internship.

If that sounds exciting, then we'd love to hear from you!

Office Location:

For the internship you can choose which of our 2 offices you want to be based out of: London (Farringdon) office or our Welwyn Garden City campus. At Tesco we offer hybrid and flexible working options but candidates should be able to work from the office 2-3 days a week.

About the team:

At Tesco, our Data Science team focuses on modelling complex business problems and deploying data products at scale; a key part of this is using Operational Research techniques to optimise automated processes and to support decision making. Our work spans across multiple areas including physical stores, online, supply chain, and last mile delivery. This requires our Data Scientists to have an advanced understanding of advanced exact, heuristic, or metaheuristic algorithms and statistics. The team itself is made up of researchers and practitioners with varied backgrounds from both academia and the business world.

This is a hands-on position where you will need to use an analytical approach to find solutions to complex problems. As a PhD Intern you will work within the Data Science team, to understand difficult business problems and prototype solutions. A core component of the role is to translate business problems to operations research problems and then solve them. Our interns will need to be able to validate, document and present the modelling process and performances, as well as communicate complex solutions in a clear, understandable way to non-experts.

We are looking for ambitious PhD students (in their final or penultimate year) or Postdoctoral Researchers with a strong numerical background and a strong desire to pursue a career in data science.

An ideal candidate will have a scientific mentality with the ability to ask the right questions, as well as answer them. Experience in one or more of the following fields would be ideal;

• Meta-heuristic algorithms
• Advanced exact algorithms
• Mixed Integer Linear Programming
• Simulation either DES or ABM

Finally, good programming skills are essential (either Python or Java is preferred) and ideally some familiarity with SWE best practices (such as version control and unit testing).

Our vision at Tesco is to become every customer’s favourite 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 recognise 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.

We have recently announced that we are moving to a more blended working week – combining office and remote working. Our offices continue to be where we connect, collaborate and innovate. Talk to us about how this can work for you.

Note: Should you be successful in your application, your employment will be subject to and conditional upon you providing your bank account details on your agreed start date.

We offer excellent benefits that help make Tesco a great place to work! These include but are not limited to:

• Annual bonus scheme
• Holiday starting at 20 days, rising to 22 days after 12 months, plus a personal day (and bank holidays)
• Great colleague discounts and deals, saving you money on everyday purchases, utility bills for the home and more
• Retirement savings plan – save between 4% and 7.5% and Tesco will match your contribution
• Buy As You Earn and Save As You Earn share schemes
• Opportunities to get on – take advantage of our ongoing learning opportunities and award-winning training to help you achieve the career you want