Reward Women in Tech talks: Sandra Stanley, Chief Data Science Officer, Dunnhumby

We’re passionate about empowering women at Reward , creating a culture where they feel supported, heard, celebrated and inspired.

As part of this initiative, our Women in Tech team hosted a talk with Sandra Stanley Chief Data Science Officer from Dunnhumby, who has had an illustrious career in Data & Data Science.

Sitting down with one of our Women In Tech allies Samir Domah and speaking in our London offices, Sandra shared her inspirational career journey, invaluable experiences as a woman navigating her way to the top, the challenges she faced and advice for women looking to further their careers. Insights included:

• Biggest Accomplishments: Sandra recently won DataIQ Global Data & Analytics leader of the year for 2023. Humbly stating she couldn’t have won this accreditation without an incredible team, the accolade recognised her dedication to inclusion and equality while creating a successful, ambitious data team. Under Sandra's leadership, Dunnhumby has seen the number of female leaders rise from 21% to more than 40%.??
• Overcoming Barriers: Sandra candidly discussed the challenges she’s faced, particularly work/life balance as well as navigating career progression after returning from maternity leave. She also spoke about the data and tech barriers to entry facing women - with most roles requiring coding skills, businesses may need to review and loosen these criteria to diversify their talent pool.
• Importance of diversity in the workplace: Sandra is a huge believer that business success is driven by diverse workforces, highlighting how women take a more holistic approach to leadership as opposed to a functional/ goals-driven approach. She also mentioned that visible female leaders break down gender stereotypes of roles for the next generation, redefining perceptions of roles in tech and data to encourage more applicants.
• Advice: Offering advice for women wanting to further their careers, Sandra highlighted “don’t assume you need to perform a role in a certain way, feel empowered to make recommendations on how a role should be done”. She emphasised the importance of sponsors who can sing your praises when you’re not in the room, and encouraged seeking inspiration and mentorship from others in the industry.

A massive thank you to Sandra for joining us and providing Team Reward with some inspirational soundbites, empowering us to challenge the status quo by advocating for women in our business and throughout our industry to drive gender parity.