Australia's largest retailer scaling AI and last-mile logistics across 1,800+ stores
Coles operates Australia's largest retail network with 115,000+ employees, 1,800+ outlets, and 8,000+ suppliers. The tech stack—Python, dbt, Airflow, SQL on Azure—reflects a data-driven operations platform, now adopting Snowflake and Databricks to deepen analytics capability. Active hiring skews toward operations and management roles while engineering tackles last-mile planning rebuilds and AI transformation projects, signaling pressure to automate high-cost logistics and supply-chain execution.
Notable leadership hires: Quality Lead
Coles is one of Australia's largest retailers and employers, operating a national network of over 1,800 stores alongside digital sales channels. The workforce spans store operations, corporate, manufacturing, distribution, and fulfilment functions. The company engages millions of customers weekly and coordinates with 8,000+ suppliers. Strategic focus areas include food safety, supply continuity, cybersecurity maturity, workplace compliance, labour efficiency, and cost management. Current transformation priorities include rebuilding last-mile planning and dispatch systems, rolling out driver-facing mobile tools, and integrating telematics into routing optimization.
Core stack: Python, dbt, Apache Airflow, SQL, Power BI, Tableau, Azure, Terraform, CloudFormation, Docker, Kubernetes. Currently adopting Snowflake and Databricks for expanded analytics.
Active projects: last-mile planning and dispatch system rebuilds, AI transformation initiatives, driver-facing mobile app development, telematics integration with dispatch, dynamic re-routing systems, and marketing automation workflows.
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