Category Planner – Grocery Food in London

We’d all like amazing work to do, and real work-life balance. That’s waiting for you at Sainsbury’s. Here, everything in our stores starts in Sainsbury’s Commercial. From product, proposition, packaging and price, to whether it meets our sustainability commitments or simply tastes great, our team is responsible for all food, non-food and Clothing items available in Sainsbury’s stores, online and on demand. It’s an incredibly fast-paced environment. People here are in it together and aren’t afraid to take risks. The knowledge and experience you gain here could set you up for career moves anywhere else in the business. So, if you’re passionate about your products and just as hungry to learn, you’ll fit in perfectly.

We’re looking for a Category Planner to join the Grocery Food team and lead the activation and execution of our seasonal aisle offer. We’re looking for motivated, strategic & commercially minded individuals who are passionate about Retail and excited to play a pivotal role in the success of Sainsbury’s largest food category.

As a Category Planner, you’ll lead the evolution and optimisation of our seasonal aisle proposition, ensuring we deliver a commercial and customer centric outcome. You’ll use insight, data & analytics to refine our promotional plans and strong leadership to engage wider stakeholders and deliver the strategy. You’ll work closely with category and wider business stakeholders such as Marketing and Nectar 360, as well as our supply base to make this happen.

You will:

• Own the end-to-end planning and delivery of seasonal and value events including post-event reviews.
• Translate customer, market and commercial insights into actionable recommendations that improve category performance and customer engagement.
• Influence stakeholders across Commercial, Marketing, Retail, Supply Chain, Display Planning and Nectar360 to align behind a common strategy.
• Lead event performance reviews, identifying key opportunities and recommendations to continuously improve future plans.
• Support the development of long-term category and promotional strategies that deliver sustainable growth.

As a Category Planner for our Grocery Food category, you are a highly skilled professional with a strong commercial understanding and a keen eye for detail. Excellent communication and influence skills, strong organisational abilities, quick decision-making ability, and data interpretation skills will be crucial to excel in this role. We’re looking for strategic thinkers with strong analytical & project management skills.

• Strategic thinking with ability to build and optimise promotional plans using data, insight & analytics.
• Advanced Excel skills and the ability to interpret data into actionable insights.
• Project management, organisational, and stakeholder management skills, with strong abilities to influence.
• Proven customer-centricity, with experience using qualitative and quantitative insights.
• Demonstrable commitment to compliance, simplicity, and continuous improvement in line with company values.
• Ability to manage multiple priorities and deliver results in a fast-paced, deadline-driven environment.
• Strong communication and storytelling skills, with the ability to translate complex data into clear and compelling recommendations.
• Experience building effective relationships and influencing stakeholders at all levels.
• Commercial acumen with a track record of balancing sales, profit and customer outcomes.

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.

Starting off with colleague discount, you'll be able to get 10% off at Sainsbury's, Argos, TU and Habitat after 4 weeks. This increases to 15% off at Sainsbury’s every Friday and Saturday and 15% off at Argos every pay day. We've also got you covered for your future with our pensions scheme and life cover. You'll also be able to share in our success as you may be eligible for a performance-related bonus of up to 20% of salary, depending on how we perform.

Your wellbeing is important to us too. You'll receive an annual holiday allowance, and you can buy additional holiday. We also offer other benefits that will help your money go further such as season ticket loans, interest free car loan of up to £10k, cycle to work scheme, health cash plans, pay advance (where you can access some of your pay before pay day) as well access to a great range of discounts from hundreds of other retailers. And if you ever need it there is also an Employee Assistance Programme, you will also be eligible for private healthcare too.

Moments that matter are as important to us as they are to you which is why we give up to 26 weeks’ pay for maternity or adoption leave and up to 4 weeks’ pay for paternity leave.