Product Lead (Dark Store Fulfilment Systems)

About this role

<p>Takealot.com, a leading South African online retailer, is looking for a highly talented <strong>Product Lead </strong>for our<strong> Dark Store Systems </strong>to join our team in South Africa.</p> <p>The <strong>Product Lead</strong> owns the strategic roadmap and functional requirements for our hyper-local micro-fulfillment network. This role serves as the bridge between operations, commercial teams, and engineering to enable ultra-fast delivery.</p> <p>Your mission is to establish the core software foundations for our dark store operations, ensuring seamless inventory movement from our central supply chain right through to the customer's digital basket, culminating in a frictionless digital handoff to the on-demand delivery fleet.</p> <p><strong>Think you’ve been challenged before? Think again!</strong></p> <ul> <li><strong>Scale</strong>: Over 4 million happy shoppers shop online on takealot.com and Mr D. Show them what you can do.</li> <li><strong>Learn</strong>: We work with the best of the best, and then some. Code alongside industry leaders and upskill in record time.&nbsp;</li> <li><strong>Grow</strong>: Expand your career in the fast-growing Takealot Group: takealot.com, TFS and Mr D. We like to promote from within: Here’s your chance.&nbsp;</li> </ul> <p><strong>Who’s who</strong></p> <p>This position reports to the Head of Product (Takealot Group Fulfilment).</p> <p><strong>Your immediate key responsibilities will include:</strong></p> <ul> <li><strong>WMS Vendor Selection &amp; Implementation:</strong> Drive the functional evaluation, vendor selection, and implementation roadmap for a scalable Warehouse Management System (WMS) tailored for rapid dark store picking, ensuring integration into our existing core systems.</li> <li><strong>DC to Dark Store Workflows:</strong> Own the product requirements for stock transfer workflows between Main DCs and local dark stores. Define the business logic for automated replenishment triggers based on velocity and minimum stock thresholds.</li> <li><strong>Real-Time Stock Availability: </strong>Establish data freshness SLAs and business rules for displaying live dark store stock to our online shopping platforms.<strong> </strong>Partner with engineering to prioritize high-throughput, low-latency solutions that scale.</li> <li><strong>Overselling Prevention Logic: </strong>Define rules for dynamic inventory safety buffers and stock caching. Ensure the system accurately reflects fast-moving item availability to prevent bad customer experiences from out-of-stock orders.</li> <li><strong>Driver-to-Store Handshake: </strong>Own the digital workflow that transitions an order from the packing table to the on-demand driver.</li> </ul> <p><strong>We’d love to meet you if you have:</strong></p> <ul> <li><strong>Vision &amp; Strategic Thinking</strong>: You’re skilled at defining a clear, ambitious product vision and translating it into a cohesive strategy across multiple teams. You know how to craft compelling narratives, strategic documents, and product requirements that align stakeholders, inform decisions, and inspire action. You are equally comfortable zooming out to shape long-term direction and diving deep into the details to ensure executional excellence.</li> <li><strong>Product Craft &amp; Execution: </strong>You bring extensive experience envisioning, building, and scaling <strong>fulfillment and operational systems</strong>—ideally in an e-commerce or logistics context. You have a proven track record of delivering impact through exceptional product thinking, strong execution, and a deep understanding of what it takes to ship and scale successful <strong>backend operational platforms</strong> that enable seamless customer experiences.</li> <li><strong>Operationally-Obsessed Problem Solving:</strong> You lead with curiosity and a deep understanding of <strong>fulfillment operations</strong>, constantly seeking to identify pain points, inefficiencies, and opportunities for improvement. You are experienced in product discovery and know how to turn operational insights into meaningful, innovative solutions that solve real-world problems while driving measurable business outcomes.</li> <li><strong>Commercial and Market Acumen</strong>: You use data, user insights, and competitive intelligence to assess opportunities and make informed decisions. You understand how to balance customer value and commercial impact, and you prioritise work that drives both strategic growth and operational efficiency.</li> <li><strong>Analytical Rigor</strong>: You are data-literate and insight-driven, with the ability to interpret both quantitative and qualitative signals. You define success metrics, design experiments, and track performance to inform decisions and continuously improve the product.</li> <li><strong>Thoughtful Leadership</strong>: You lead with humility, curiosity, and conviction. You have experience mentoring and developing product talent, fostering a high-performing, customer-focused culture. You advocate for excellence, drive innovation, and inspire teams to do their best work.</li> </ul> <p><strong>Qualifications and experience:</strong></p> <ul> <li><strong>Qualifications: </strong>Bachelor’s Degree or Advanced Diploma in a related field with at least 7 years of software product management experience or exposure (through projects or responsibilities)</li> <li><strong>Warehouse Tech Expertise: </strong>5+ years of Product Management experience handling enterprise WMS, Inventory Management Systems (IMS), or localized fulfillment software.</li> <li><strong>Stock Management Expertise: </strong>Deep understanding of inventory management principles, including stock transfer workflows, replenishment triggers, safety stock calculations, and allocation logic. You are well-versed in designing systems that ensure accurate, real-time stock visibility and seamless movement of inventory across multiple locations.</li> <li><strong>Technical Integration: <