About dunnhumby

dunnhumby is the global leader in Customer Data Science, helping the world's most ambitious retailers and brands put the customer at the heart of every decision. With nearly 3,000 experts across Europe, Asia, Africa and the Americas, we partner with iconic businesses like Tesco, Coca-Cola, Meijer, Procter & Gamble and Metro to turn data into growth, innovation and measurable value for their customers.

Tesco Media

Tesco Media is the ultimate media partner to brands. Built on unrivalled customer insight, it’s a media owner with soul, scale, and storytelling power. Tesco Media helps brands and agencies connect meaningfully with customers, drive creative effectiveness, and grow at the point of purchase.

Tesco Media is looking for a Head of Strategy & Planning to lead an established, multidisciplinary function into its next phase of growth.

Our Strategy & Planning function brings together media planning, client strategy and insight to help brands and agencies make better, more effective decisions. The team develops client growth plans, delivers thought leadership and turns customer insight into compelling recommendations that create measurable commercial value.

This is not a traditional strategy role. It is a senior commercial growth leadership position for someone who can connect strategy with execution, simplify complexity and bring teams together around shared priorities.

You will lead a team of 19 across strategy, planning and insight, building the standards, tools and capabilities that enable high-quality client conversations and scalable revenue growth. Working closely with commercial, product, proposition, measurement, research and marketing teams, you will help shape the future of Tesco Media’s client offering and strengthen its position as a leader in retail media.

What you’ll be doing

Lead strategy, planning and commercial growth

Set the vision, priorities and standards for the Strategy & Planning function.
Lead the continued evolution from channel-led media planning towards integrated, insight-led commercial planning.
Balance long-term strategic growth with strong in-year commercial performance.
Partner with commercial leaders to identify growth opportunities and enable consistent, high-quality execution.
Turn client, category and sales demand into clear priorities for propositions, go-to-market activity, product development and resource allocation.
Build scalable planning frameworks, playbooks, tools, category narratives and reusable client growth models.

Strengthen client and agency partnerships

Lead the strategic planning approach for major clients, including annual and multi-year client growth plans.
Develop service models that meet the needs of different client groups, agency partners and emerging opportunities.
Help commercial teams create more strategic, insight-led client conversations.
Identify opportunities to grow existing partnerships and develop new revenue streams.
Ensure that client and agency needs are clearly represented in Tesco Media’s commercial strategy and development roadmap.

Champion insight and effectiveness

Embed customer insight throughout planning, strategy, proposition development and external market narratives.
Develop a programme of trend-led and category insight that strengthens client conversations and elevates Tesco Media’s market position.
Work with measurement and insight teams to turn effectiveness learning into practical planning principles, commercial evidence and compelling client stories.
Develop automated tools that improve planning quality, consistency, speed and scale.
Ensure that recommendations are grounded in evidence and connected to measurable client outcomes.

Build an effective and scalable operating model

Establish clear ways of working across Strategy & Planning, Commercial, Product, Propositions, Measurement, Marketing and other partner teams.
Create governance, prioritisation and resource-planning processes that make the function easy to engage and able to scale.
Use automation, standardisation and capability-building to improve everyday delivery while creating capacity for bespoke strategic work.
Shape the future design of the function, including its structure, responsibilities, performance measures and development priorities.
Oversee programme management across strategic workstreams, briefing, training, collateral and cross-functional delivery.

Grow Tesco Media’s market reputation

Partner with Marketing to shape thought leadership, event narratives, case studies and industry award activity.
Represent Tesco Media in senior client, agency and industry forums.
Turn retail media, shopper, ecommerce and commercial trends into actionable growth opportunities.
Use category intelligence and market narratives to strengthen commercial differentiation and senior client engagement.
Build recognition for Tesco Media’s effectiveness, innovation and creativity.

Lead and develop a high-performing team

Lead, coach and develop a large, multidisciplinary team with clear responsibilities and shared goals.
Create meaningful development pathways and succession opportunities across strategy, planning and insight.
Set clear expectations, decision rights and measures of success.
Build an inclusive culture that values curiosity, commercial thinking, collaboration, pace and continuous improvement.
Support the team to operate confidently and credibly with senior stakeholders.

What we expect from you

Significant leadership experience within media strategy, retail media, commercial strategy, customer insight, strategic planning, or an agency or client environment.
A strong record of developing commercial strategies that deliver client and revenue growth.
Experience leading, coaching and developing high-performing, multidisciplinary teams.
The ability to translate complex customer data and insight into clear, commercially compelling strategies.
Confidence influencing senior stakeholders and delivering through cross-functional teams in a matrix environment.
Strong media-planning knowledge and a clear understanding of how planning excellence contributes to commercial performance.
Experience building, scaling or transforming a team, function or operating model.
Excellent storytelling, facilitation and communication skills.
The judgement to prioritise effectively, challenge constructively and turn strategy into action.
Experience in retail media or agency planning leadership would be particularly valuable.
Experience of client growth planning, joint business planning, thought leadership, industry events, awards or other market-facing activity would also be beneficial.

The person we’re looking for

You will be a strategic and commercially minded leader who can see the bigger picture while ensuring that ideas translate into practical action. You will be comfortable navigating complexity, creating clarity and building trusted relationships across different teams and disciplines.

You will combine planning excellence with a strong understanding of client growth, customer insight and commercial effectiveness. Most importantly, you will be an inclusive people leader who can set a clear direction, develop talent and inspire work that raises the standard for retail media.

What You Can Expect From Us

We won't just meet your expectations. We'll defy them. So you'll enjoy the comprehensive rewards package you'd expect from a leading technology company. But also, a degree of personal flexibility you might not expect. Plus, thoughtful perks, like flexible working hours and your birthday off.

And we don't just talk about diversity and inclusion. We live it every day – with thriving networks including dh Gender Equality Network, dh Proud, dh Family, dh One, dh Enabled and dh Thrive as the living proof. We want everyone to have the opportunity to shine and perform at your best throughout our recruitment process — please let your recruiter know what adjustments would help.

UK Benefits

Flexible Allowance that can be used towards selected benefits, with any remaining unused allowance paid in salary or directed to pension contributions
Private Medical cover through Vitality, including the option to add partner and/or dependants within the flexible allowance
Mandatory Life Assurance cover, Income Protection and confidential Employee Assistance support for employees and their families
Access to wellbeing and lifestyle benefits including gym support, cycle to work, travel insurance, dental options and technology purchase schemes
Long Service Awards and Talent Scout referral programme
Birthday leave plus a range of family and annual leave benefits available to eligible employees

Our approach to Flexible Working

At dunnhumby, we value and respect difference and are committed to building an inclusive culture by creating an environment where you can balance a successful career with your commitments and interests outside of work.

We believe that you will do your best at work if you have a work / life balance. Some roles lend themselves to flexible options more than others, so if this is important to you please raise this with your recruiter, as we are open to discussing agile working opportunities during the hiring process.

For further information about how we collect and use your personal information please see our Privacy Notice which can be found

About the company

Dunnhumby helps retailers and consumer brands improve customer experiences through data science, offering services like media solutions, customer insights, and personalized marketing, plus Dunnhumby Ventures. It analyzes shopper data from browsers and internet devices using unique identifiers (without directly storing personal information) to derive actionable insights that inform targeted campaigns and personalized programs. The company stands out by combining retail-focused data science with a broad services suite and an active venture fund to stay ahead in retail technology. Its goal is to empower retailers and brands to deliver better, data-informed customer experiences that drive sales and engagement.

Company Size

1,001-5,000

Company Stage

Acquired

Total Funding

N/A

Headquarters

London, United Kingdom

Founded

1989

Get referred to dunnhumby

See people who can refer or advise you

Simplify's Take

What believers are saying

September 18, 2026 Azoma investment pushes dunnhumby into agentic commerce measurement.
May 5, 2026 Campaign named Tesco Media Retail Media category winner.
July 9, 2026 AI-assisted grocery research strengthens dunnhumby's customer-behavior thought leadership.

What critics are saying

Jamie Samaha replaced Josh Bottomley on July 20, 2026, resetting execution during expansion.
Retail media rivals Kevel, Tesco, Walmart, and Amazon compress pricing and steal budgets quickly.
If Tesco internalizes the stack, dunnhumby loses its distribution moat and data advantage.

What makes dunnhumby unique

Tesco ownership and 400 million-household shopper data anchor proprietary retail intelligence.
June 19, 2026 network alliance connects Tesco, B&Q, John Lewis, and Waitrose pilots.
June 2026 Retail Innovation Forum and venture arm funnel startups into client deployments.

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Benefits

Flexible Work Hours
Unlimited Paid Time Off
Remote Work Options

Company News

Marketing Minute

Oct 15th, 2026

Tesco puts influencers on the shelf in a retail-media shake-up.

Tesco puts influencers on the shelf in a retail-media shake-up. Tesco Media, powered by dunnhumby, has unveiled its biggest retail-media overhaul yet, adding a new ad platform, shoppable formats, on-site video, in-store influencer content and a fresh measurement framework to make brand budgets work harder. Tesco turns its shelves into a media network Tesco has set out its most ambitious retail-media plans to date. At its media upfront, the retailer and its data arm dunnhumby announced a new advertising platform, shoppable ad formats, smarter in-store media and, most eye-catching of all, influencer content brought directly into stores. The pitch is simplicity. Tesco says the changes are designed to make the retail-media experience easier to buy and to help brand creator spend work harder, backed by new AI tools for creative effectiveness and an expanded measurement framework. Why retail media keeps growing Retail media is the fastest-growing slice of advertising because it sits closest to the purchase. A supermarket knows what millions of shoppers actually buy, and that first-party data has become gold as third-party cookies fade. UK digital adspend topped twenty-one billion pounds in the first half of the year, with retail media a major driver. Tesco folding influencer content into the store is the telling part. It collapses the gap between social discovery and the shelf, so the creator who inspired a purchase can appear near the point of sale. That is the full-funnel loop brands have chased for years. Marketing Minute's read For big brands, the new measurement framework matters most. Retail media has long been criticised for marking its own homework; clearer, comparable metrics are what move budgets from test to always-on. Tesco knows trust in the numbers is the real unlock. For smaller advertisers, the warning is different. As the biggest retailers turn their shelves, screens and now influencers into ad inventory, the cost of visibility at the point of sale will climb. Independent brands should secure their own first-party data and direct customer relationships now, before renting that attention back becomes the only option left. What did Tesco announce at its media upfront? Tesco Media, powered by dunnhumby, announced a new ad platform, shoppable formats, on-site video, in-store influencer content, AI creative tools and an expanded measurement framework, all aimed at simplifying retail media. Why is retail media growing so fast? It sits closest to the point of purchase and runs on retailers' first-party shopper data, which has become more valuable as third-party cookies disappear. UK digital adspend passed twenty-one billion pounds in the first half of 2026. Retail media's weak spot has always been measurement, so Tesco fixing the numbers matters more than the shiny new formats. When brands can trust the data, retail media stops being an experiment and becomes a permanent line on the plan. - Daniel Nikolla, Founder of Merx Marketing The retailers with the shopper data are becoming the media owners. Own your first-party data now, or pay to rent attention back later. Is retail media a genuine growth channel for your business, or an expensive toll on your own shelf? Share your view. If you would like to know more about this topic, please contact Marketing Minute on [email protected] Sources: Marketing Week, The Drum, Retail Gazette and Retail Technology Innovation Hub. Related reading

Irish Business News

Sep 24th, 2026

Dunnhumby reports €26.2m Irish revenue as retail data specialist posts 16pc growth.

Dunnhumby reports €26.2m Irish revenue as retail data specialist posts 16pc growth. Home Economy Irish Households Face €1,000 Surge in Living Costs as Price Rises Offset... Irish Households Face €1,000 Surge in Living Costs as Price Rises Offset budget relief. September 24, 2026 Irish households are bracing for a €1,000 increase in average annual spending as a wave of price rises threatens to eliminate any financial relief delivered in the forthcoming budget, according to new analysis. The surge in living costs comes as inflation continues to outpace wage growth and government support measures across the country. Consumer advocacy groups and economic analysts warn that higher prices across essential goods and services will effectively neutralise budget measures aimed at easing the cost-of-living burden on families throughout Ireland. Key facts. * Average Irish household spending set to increase by €1,000 annually due to inflation * Price rises across essential goods and services will offset budget relief measures * Multiple sectors experiencing upward pressure on consumer costs in September 2026 * Budget gains for consumers expected to be completely wiped out by mounting expenses Inflation pressures mount across multiple sectors. The €1,000 additional burden on households stems from persistent inflationary pressures affecting a broad range of consumer categories. Energy costs, food prices, transport expenses, and housing-related charges are all contributing to the cumulative impact on family budgets. The timing of these increases coincides with the budget announcement period, creating a stark contrast between government assistance and market realities. Industry observers note that the scale of price increases represents a significant challenge for policymakers attempting to deliver meaningful support to Irish consumers. While budget measures traditionally provide short-term relief through tax credits, welfare increases, or targeted subsidies, the sustained nature of current price growth is overwhelming these interventions. Impact on household financial planning. Financial experts advise Irish families to reassess their budgets and spending priorities in light of the projected cost increases. The €1,000 figure represents approximately 2-3% of median household income, a substantial erosion of purchasing power that will affect discretionary spending and savings capacity. The situation places particular pressure on lower and middle-income households, who typically allocate a higher proportion of their income to essential goods and services most affected by inflation. Mortgage holders, renters, and families with childcare expenses face compounding pressures as multiple cost categories rise simultaneously. Economic outlook and consumer confidence. The outlook for Irish consumers remains challenging as inflationary trends show little sign of abating in the near term. Retailers and service providers continue to pass increased input costs onto customers, citing higher wages, supply chain disruptions, and elevated commodity prices as driving factors. Consumer confidence indicators may face downward pressure as households recognise that budget gains will prove insufficient to maintain their standard of living. This could have knock-on effects for retail spending, hospitality sector performance, and overall economic growth as families become more cautious with their finances. Economic commentators emphasise that addressing the structural drivers of inflation will require coordinated action beyond annual budget measures. Supply-side reforms, competition policy enforcement, and targeted interventions in key sectors may prove necessary to bring price growth back under control and restore real income growth for Irish households. As the budget approaches, the challenge for government will be setting realistic expectations about what fiscal measures can achieve in the face of persistent inflation, while simultaneously demonstrating commitment to protecting household living standards through this extended period of economic pressure.

SecurityBrief Asia

Sep 23rd, 2026

Corsearch names Nicholas Langeveld as Chief Revenue Officer.

Corsearch names Nicholas Langeveld as Chief Revenue Officer. Wed, 23rd Sep 2026 (Today) Corsearch has appointed Nicholas Langeveld as Chief Revenue Officer, expanding its commercial leadership team. Langeveld will oversee Sales, Account Management, Marketing and Revenue Operations across Corsearch's global business. His remit includes connecting how the company sells to customers, onboards them and supports them across trademark clearance, portfolio strategy, enforcement and online protection. The appointment comes as companies place greater emphasis on brands and other intangible assets, which executives increasingly see as a board-level concern. Corsearch argues that risks such as counterfeit goods, digital impersonation, trademark conflicts, unauthorised content and online fraud are putting pressure on the trust that underpins brand value. Langeveld joins from dunnhumby, the Tesco-owned customer data science business, where he served as Chief Growth Officer. He brings more than 20 years of commercial leadership experience across data, analytics and artificial intelligence businesses. Earlier in his career, he spent six years as Chief Executive Officer of Affectiva, a consumer insight platform, where he helped expand the business to more than 1,400 brand clients in 75 countries. He also held senior roles at Toluna and MetrixLab, and worked at Nielsen after its acquisition of BuzzMetrics and before its public listing. Commercial focus His role will focus on building a more integrated commercial organisation around a single objective tied to customer brand value. Corsearch serves more than 5,000 organisations, including 73 of the Fortune 100, and employs more than 1,500 people across North America, Europe and Asia. Its business spans trademark intelligence, online brand protection and content protection. Corsearch says it combines data, artificial intelligence tools and specialist staff to help businesses identify threats and manage intellectual property decisions throughout the life of a brand. Todd Morris, Chief Executive Officer of Corsearch, linked the hire to changing customer demands around brand protection and trust. "Nick has built his career on the idea that durable growth follows from understanding customers better than anyone else and organizing around what they are trying to achieve," said Todd Morris, Chief Executive Officer of Corsearch. "Our customers' brands are worth what consumers are willing to trust them with, and Nick understands that protecting that trust is how you elevate Brand IP. As Brand IP becomes a boardroom concern for more of our customers, that is exactly the leadership our commercial organization needs." Leadership build-out Langeveld's appointment follows the arrival of Morris as Chief Executive Officer earlier this year, as Corsearch continues to reshape its senior leadership team. It is aligning its commercial strategy more closely with what it describes as the value of customers' brand intellectual property. That approach reflects a wider shift in corporate priorities as more companies seek to protect revenue, reputation and customer relationships from online abuse and infringement. Businesses face a growing volume of threats across marketplaces, social platforms and digital channels, while artificial intelligence has accelerated both brand creation and misuse. Langeveld said his immediate focus would be customer conversations and understanding how clients define value in their intellectual property portfolios. "What drew me to Corsearch is that the value of a brand's IP portfolio is really a measure of how much consumers trust what it stands for," said Nicholas Langeveld, Chief Revenue Officer of Corsearch. "Protect that trust and the asset appreciates. Let it erode and everything else follows. My first priority is to spend time with our customers and understand what elevating that value looks like from where they sit, because our growth should be a reflection of theirs, and I want them to hold us to that."

GlobeNewswire

Sep 18th, 2026

Azoma receives investment from dunnhumby ventures to accelerate its Agentic Commerce Optimization platform.

Azoma receives investment from dunnhumby ventures to accelerate its Agentic Commerce Optimization platform. Investment to accelerate Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) for retailers and CPG brands, tying AI visibility to revenue. September 18, 2026 05:00 ET | Source: Azoma London, Sept. 18, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) - Azoma, the Agentic Commerce Optimization platform that measures and improves how AI shopping agents discover, interpret and recommend products for retailers and CPG brands, today announced an investment from dunnhumby ventures. As part of the investment, dunnhumby will be able to extend how it supports its retailer clients in optimizing their customer-facing chat agents while providing brands with the ability to optimize their discoverability and relevance in the new agentic commerce ecosystem. The investment reflects a shared view that AI shopping assistants are becoming a primary route to purchase, and that retailers and consumer packaged goods brands need to measure that channel as rigorously as they measure the shelf. The new funds will accelerate Azoma's product roadmap for customers including L'Oréal, Unilever and Mars, extending its ability to connect AI Visibility to recommended actions and measuring incremental revenue. The move reinforces dunnhumby's commitment to rapid innovation in AI and bringing leading-edge technologies to clients as consumer behaviours and retail ecosystems continue to evolve. dunnhumby has a track record of partnering with startups and tech companies whose propositions are creating value across category management, consumer insights, loyalty, retail media, and beyond. Azoma's analysis of tens of millions of AI responses in the second quarter of 2026 found that earned or social media accounts for 86.5% of the citations behind Alexa for Shopping's recommendations, and 76% of those behind Walmart Sparky's. ChatGPT draws more heavily on retailer sources, at 37.1%. The answer a shopper receives is therefore assembled largely from sources the brand does not own. This AI visibility problem is what the investment will solve for commerce and CPG brands. The biggest challenges facing Answer Engine Optimization and Generative Engine Optimization tools are knowing which prompts to track and what the revenue impact of actions has been. dunnhumby's data and expertise will enable Azoma to provide both. Max Sinclair, CEO and Co-Founder, Azoma, commented: "dunnhumby has decades of expertise helping brands and retailers leverage customer data insight." He added: "Agentic Commerce is the next frontier. dunnhumby understands this, and brands and retailers' current data blindness better than anyone. Their investment is a vote of confidence in our current solution and shared vision. In time, their data will help us demonstrate to the world's largest retailers and consumer brands the tangible value of agent-driven recommendations. Agentic commerce is a $9 trillion opportunity, and this is how we will continue to define the category." Leo Nagdas, Head of dunnhumby ventures, has also joined Azoma as advisor to the board as part of the investment. Nagdas founded dunnhumby's Retail Innovation Network, an open innovation programme for retail technology leaders. "AI shopping assistants are rewriting the path to purchase, and today retailers and CPGs have no reliable way to connect what an agent recommends to a sale," said Nagdas, Head of dunnhumby ventures. "Azoma is a leader in the emerging agentic commerce space, and the team combines real depth in AI with a practical grasp of how retail actually works. Backing companies like Azoma is how we bring emerging technology to our clients as consumer behaviours and retail ecosystems keep changing." About Azoma Azoma is the Agentic Commerce Optimization platform that helps brands drive revenue through AI shopping agents like Alexa for Shopping, Walmart Sparky, ChatGPT and Gemini. Azoma combines AEO/GEO measurement with optimization and execution across product data, content, and third-party sources that influence how AI systems discover, interpret, and recommend products. Trusted by leading consumer brands including L'Oréal, Unilever, Mars, Beiersdorf, and Reckitt, Azoma is the technology layer that helps brands increase product visibility, recommendations, and sales through AI-powered shopping experiences. Learn more at azoma.ai. About dunnhumby ventures dunnhumby ventures is dunnhumby's strategic innovation and venture capital arm with a mandate to partner and invest in early-stage retail technology start-ups that embrace data and artificial intelligence for innovation along the customer's path to purchase. We foster industry collaboration via the Retail Innovation Network, our exclusive ecosystem of senior retail innovation leaders, and seek to align with partners at an early stage to supercharge their ability to take innovation to market by tapping into dunnhumby's retail industry expertise, pioneering data science assets, and global retailer and supplier partner network. Our areas of focus include artificial intelligence (AI), data capture and enrichment, retail media, customer engagement, category management, supply chain, and commerce. For more visit: https://www.dunnhumby.com/ventures/ Which AI shopping agents does Azoma measure? Azoma measures retailer shopping agents such as Alexa for Shopping, Walmart Sparky and AI Lazzie, as well as general-purpose assistants including ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude, Meta AI and Siri. What should brands look for in a GEO or AEO tool? Coverage of the agents that matter in their categories: Azoma measures retailer assistants including Alexa for Shopping and Walmart Sparky, not general-purpose chatbots alone. Measurement of the third-party sources agents cite, not just the brand's own pages - Azoma's analysis found that earned and social media accounts for 86.5% of the citations behind Alexa for Shopping's recommendations. And a route from visibility to commercial outcome. What is Agentic Commerce Optimization? It is the practice of measuring and improving how AI shopping agents find, interpret and recommend products. It covers product data, on-site and off-site content, and the third-party sources agents draw on when answering a shopper's question. Azoma is a leader in this space. How does ACO relate to Generative Engine Optimization and Answer Engine Optimization? GEO and AEO concern how a brand appears in AI-generated answers across general-purpose assistants. Agentic Commerce Optimization applies the same principle at the point of purchase, where an agent is recommending a specific product to buy. Azoma is pioneering this field.

RetailWit

Sep 18th, 2026

Azoma secures dunnhumby ventures investment to boost AI shopping agent platform for retailers

Azoma has secured an undisclosed investment from dunnhumby ventures to develop its Agentic Commerce Optimisation platform. The platform measures and improves how AI shopping agents discover and recommend products for retailers and consumer brands. The funding will accelerate Azoma's product roadmap for customers including L'Oréal, Unilever and Mars. The investment enables dunnhumby to support retailer clients in optimising customer-facing chat agents whilst helping brands boost discoverability in the agentic commerce ecosystem. Azoma's analysis of tens of millions of AI responses found that earned or social media accounts for 86.5% of citations behind Alexa for Shopping's recommendations and 76% behind Walmart Sparky's. ChatGPT draws more heavily on retailer sources at 37.1%. Leo Nagdas, head at dunnhumby ventures, has joined Azoma as board adviser as part of the investment.

dunnhumby

Head of Strategic Planning

About the job