Technical Delivery Manager

At Debenhams Group, we are on a journey of transformation, revitalising our brand, culture, and connection with colleagues and customers alike. In a fast-changing retail environment, effective and authentic communication is vital to building trust, aligning our teams, and amplifying the impact of our work across internal and external audiences.

The Technical Delivery Manager (TDM) is responsible for the end to end planning, coordination, and delivery of software within their assigned Realm, with this role focused specifically on supply chain, distribution, warehouse, and carrier systems. This includes warehouse management systems (WMS), carrier integrations, order routing, inventory movement, and the operational tooling that keeps goods flowing accurately from source to customer.

This role carries a stronger Business Analyst slant than a typical TDM position. Beyond owning delivery, the TDM is expected to get close to the operational detail of warehouse and distribution processes, map current and future state workflows, and translate complex logistics requirements into clear, well specified engineering work. The TDM bridges the gap between warehouse operations, carrier partners, and engineering execution, and is accountable for defining what the team builds as well as when and how it is delivered.

Experience with SSI Schafer's WAMAS warehouse management system is preferable but not essential. Familiarity with warehouse automation concepts and how a WMS interacts with order management, carrier, and inventory systems is more important than specific product experience.

This role will be based out of our Sheffield DC 3 days per week.

WHAT YOU'LL BE DOING

Business Analysis & Requirements Definition

• Work directly with Warehouse and Distribution Operations to understand current processes, pain points, and inefficiencies, and translate these into clear problem statements.
• Produce process maps and workflow diagrams (current state and target state) for warehouse, distribution, and carrier related processes, making complex operational flows understandable to both engineers and stakeholders.
• Elicit, document, and validate detailed business and functional requirements from operational stakeholders who may not be able to articulate needs in technical terms.
• Define clear acceptance criteria and success measures for warehouse, distribution, and carrier initiatives before work begins, so engineers understand both the "what" and the operational "why."
• Identify edge cases and exception handling early, particularly around exceptions common in warehouse and carrier operations (short picks, damages, carrier failures, address exceptions, returns).
• Act as the analytical link between WMS platforms (such as SSI Schafer WAMAS), order management systems, and carrier integration layers, ensuring requirements account for how data and events flow between them.

Planning & Roadmap Ownership

• Own and maintain the Realm roadmap, balancing new feature development, technical improvement, and operational bug resolution across warehouse, distribution, and carrier systems.
• Translate operational and commercial requirements from Warehouse, Distribution, and Logistics stakeholders into clearly defined epics, stories, and acceptance criteria in Jira.
• Run sprint planning, backlog refinement, and roadmap review sessions with the team and stakeholders.
• Proactively identify dependencies, risks, and blockers, particularly around integration points with carriers and third party logistics providers, escalating to the Head of Programme where needed.
• Size and sequence work in collaboration with the Technical Lead, ensuring the backlog reflects realistic capacity.
• Maintain a rolling short term plan (sprint or iteration level) and a longer term view (quarterly roadmap) that is always current and visible to stakeholders.

Delivery Coordination

• Run the day to day delivery rhythm of the Realm: standups, sprint reviews, retrospectives, and ad hoc triage.
• Act as the primary point of coordination between engineering (Technical Lead and developers), warehouse and distribution operations, carrier partners, and third parties.
• Own delivery against committed sprint goals and milestone dates, proactively re-planning when scope or capacity changes.
• Track progress in Jira and ensure the board is an accurate reflection of reality at all times.
• Manage handoffs and release coordination, working with the Technical Lead to ensure changes are safe to ship, particularly for warehouse floor and carrier facing systems where downtime has direct operational impact.
• Identify and remove blockers quickly, whether process, people, or technical, to keep the team moving.
• Facilitate retrospectives and drive continuous improvement actions that genuinely improve how the team works.

Product Development & Discovery

• Act as the product and analytical voice of the Realm.
• Gather, challenge, and prioritise requirements from Warehouse, Distribution, and Logistics stakeholders, ensuring the team always works on the highest value items.
• Define and communicate a clear problem statement and success criteria before work begins, grounded in genuine operational understanding rather than secondhand requirements.
• Make prioritisation decisions and be prepared to defend them, balancing operational urgency, technical feasibility, and long term platform health.
• Identify opportunities for improvement in warehouse throughput, distribution accuracy, and carrier performance based on data, stakeholder feedback, and industry awareness.
• Work with the Technical Lead to ensure technical considerations (scalability, maintainability, debt) are factored into product decisions, not treated as afterthoughts.

Stakeholder Management

• Serve as the primary point of contact for the Realm's stakeholders, primarily Warehouse & Distribution Operations, Logistics, and the Head of Programme.
• Manage expectations proactively: communicate progress, changes to scope, and risks clearly and in plain language, particularly to operational stakeholders who need practical rather than technical framing.
• Provide regular status updates to the Head of Programme, including delivery confidence, upcoming milestones, and any issues requiring escalation.
• Build and maintain strong working relationships with external vendors and agencies, managing their delivery commitments and holding them to agreed timelines and quality standards.
• Facilitate cross-Realm coordination where work spans multiple squads or dependencies exist on other teams, such as order management or fulfilment.

Vendor & Carrier Management

• Own the day to day relationship with external technology partners, agencies, and SaaS vendors relevant to the Realm, including WMS providers and carrier integration partners.
• Define deliverables, agree timelines, and track progress on externally delivered work, including carrier onboarding and integration projects.
• Manage relationships with carrier partners on technical and operational matters, ensuring integration requirements (tracking, labelling, manifesting, exceptions) are well understood and delivered against.
• Escalate vendor or carrier performance issues promptly and work with the Head of Programme or Director of Engineering to resolve contractual or delivery disputes.
• Ensure vendor and carrier delivery integrates smoothly with internal engineering work and does not introduce risk to the Realm's roadmap.