Hundreds of Coles workers will be made redundant, redeployed or retrained in an offshoring deal with professional services outfit Accenture.

The supermarket giant would not confirm the exact number of jobs impacted, but confirmed it was in the “several hundreds” of corporate workforce roles.

“Coles is expanding its partnership with Accenture through a new program designed to strengthen the technology, digital and specialist capabilities it needs to continue supporting the business and serve customers,” a spokesperson said in a statement.

“To meet our customers’ growing expectations for seamless, personalised, digital experiences, Coles needs access to the global skills and resources essential to delivering those experiences.”

Under the multi-year partnership, some roles in finance, human resources, marketing and technology would be shifted to Accenture’s overseas and Australian offices, adding to the back-office services the consultancy already provided to Coles.

Such decisions were never made lightly, the Coles spokesperson said.

“We will redeploy as many affected team members as possible, including reskilling opportunities and pathways into other roles across Coles,” they said.

The company claimed it would remain a net-creator of Australian jobs as store numbers continued to grow.

“It’s important to note that the changes affect a very small portion of the 115,000 Australians that Coles employs, and does not impact the vast majority of our team who work in-store, in communities across the country,” the spokesperson said.

“Any roles affected by the program would be more than offset by the number of Australian jobs created through our ongoing store expansion program.”

Friday’s announcement came days after the Australian Financial Review reported Qantas was in advanced talks with Accenture to outsource 100 jobs to India as it sought to cut costs and bolster its operations with artificial intelligence.

The airline says there was no formal agreement in place in response to the report.

AAP has contacted the Australian Services Union for comment.

–AAP