The Tech Innovations Behind Sainsbury's | Chris Grice
Chris Grice is an Engineering Manager within the Order and Fulfil team at Sainsbury's Tech. Previous to Sainsbury's, Chris has worked in 3rd sector organisations, web agencies, radio, and now retail. During the podcast episode, we spoke about the logistics involved with planning an infrastructure with so many moving parts, the technology involved with staying ahead of the curve in one of the largest chain of supermarkets in the UK. As the business is ever-scaling, how does the tech team at Sainsbury's keep up with developments and changes in the technology world, to ensure the business is always progressing to meet consumer needs and demands, which is especially challenging during remote working and a pandemic. Chris also volunteers at a local Code Club, and has worked with local schools and LEAs to help bridge the digital skills gap in Greater Manchester, and also runs a local Meetup group around GraphQL in Manchester, with speakers from organisations such as the BBC, Hasura, and Moonpig. Showtimes 0:55 - Chris's role as an Engineering Manager at Sainsbury's 1:34 - How the logistics of the business has changed in recent years to keep up with consumer demands 2:40 - Chris's personal career history and journey into retail 5:27 - The dramatic acceleration of scale during the pandemic 6:24 - Remote working and the experimentation when implementing it into the business 9:30 - How tech and digital works in a 150-year-old organisation 10:40 - Experimenting with new tech to stay ahead of the curve 15:03 - Chris's involvement with digital education 17:41 - Raising awareness of what a career in tech actually is 19:43 - Future-proofing the tech industry 22:14 - Advice for people looking to get into the tech industry