Senior Production Manager

hackajob is collaborating with Sainsbury's DTD to connect them with exceptional professionals for this role. We’d all like amazing work to do, and real work-life balance. That’s waiting for you at Sainsbury’s. We’re one of the biggest supermarkets in the UK, with one of the largest retail websites. So marketing here happens at scale. We move faster than you might expect too, across Brand Planning, Brand Comms and Creative, Digital Marketing, CRM and Loyalty, Nectar 360 and Insights. With more people shopping with us every week, there are more interactions, more moments to connect. And thanks to data and insight, we understand our customers in a way few others can. We work alongside incredible brand partners and some of the best agencies in the industry. So if you’re passionate about learning, growing and experiencing new teams, come and explore it all with us.

Joining the Zest studio team at Sainsbury's presents a unique opportunity to lead and shape the creative production output for some of the most renowned brands in the retail industry. As a Senior Production Manager, you will be at the forefront of driving excellence in content creation and delivery, working collaboratively with talented teams to bring innovative ideas to life. With a focus on fostering strong relationships, continuous development, and operational efficiency, this role offers a dynamic environment where creativity, strategic thinking, and leadership converge to create impactful brand experiences. Embrace the challenge, drive innovation, and be part of a team dedicated to delivering exceptional results that resonate with audiences across diverse platforms and mediums.

As the Senior Production Manager, you will lead and direct a high‑calibre production and scheduling team to deliver first class studio creative production output across Sainsbury's brands. You will serve as the critical link between two large, high‑volume production studios, ensuring exceptional brand content production by organising inbound production traffic, maintaining creative and operational excellence, and aligning production processes with the highest standards. Your role will involve proactive capacity and resource planning, forecasting, and budgeting to meet current and future creative production demands, fostering relationships, and driving team development to enhance capabilities and drive continuous production improvement.

You are a strategic leader with a deep understanding of creative content production and a proven track record of delivering exceptional results across various mediums. Your expertise in stakeholder management, team capacity planning, and production process optimisation enables you to drive the studio's output to meet and exceed brand and industry standards while fostering a culture of continuous improvement and innovation. With strong communication skills, creative problem‑solving abilities, and a keen eye for industry trends, you are dedicated to inspiring and developing a high‑performing team to deliver outstanding creative content that resonates with our customers and drives business success.

Essential Criteria

• Proven experience leading creative production teams within a high‑volume studio environment.
• Experience delivering multi‑channel content (e.g. digital, print, broadcast, social) at scale.
• Demonstrable experience managing end‑to‑end production workflows across multiple concurrent projects.
• Experience overseeing production scheduling, traffic management, and studio operations.
• Demonstrated ability to plan and manage team capacity, resource allocation, and utilisation.
• Experience forecasting production demand and managing associated budget within creative agency.

We are committed to being a truly inclusive retailer so you’ll be welcomed whoever you are and wherever you work. Around here, there’s always the chance to try something new — whether that’s as part of an evolving team or somewhere else across the business — and we take development seriously and promise to support you. We also recognise and celebrate colleagues when they go the extra mile and, where possible, offer flexible working. When you join our team, we’ll also offer you an amazing range of benefits.

• Colleague discount: 10–15% on shopping online and in‑store at Sainsbury's, Argos, TU, and Habitat.
• Pensions scheme and life cover.
• Performance‑related bonus of up to 20% of salary, depending on company performance.
• Annual holiday allowance with the option to buy an additional week, private healthcare, season ticket loans, interest‑free car loan up to £10k, cycle‑to‑work scheme, health cash plans, salary advance, and a range of retailer discounts.
• Employee Assistance Programme.
• Up to 26 weeks’ pay for maternity or adoption leave and up to 4 weeks’ pay for paternity leave.