Finance Manager - Retail Non-Labour Costs in London

We’d all like amazing work to do, and real work‑life balance. That’s waiting for you here at Sainsbury’s. For a FTSE business, we move incredibly fast. When we’re not leading projects, we’re supporting teams across the wider group to achieve their goals. And here, you can see the impact of your work as soon as you walk into a store, giving you a real sense of purpose and responsibility. Better still, the team around you will listen to your ideas and opinions, and you’ll have every chance to try something new. The scale and complexity of our business mean there’s always something new to learn, and we’ll support you every step of the way. We’re trusted to get on with it. So get ready to make things happen.

About the team: You will be joining the Retail Costs Team within Retail Finance, a highly visible function that partners closely with senior leaders across Channel Operations and Customer Contact & Service. The team plays a critical role in supporting the delivery of the Retail strategy by providing clear insight, constructive challenge and robust financial governance across a large and diverse cost base. This is a collaborative, fast‑paced environment where your analysis directly informs strategic decisions and investment choices.

More about the role: As Finance Manager – Retail Non‑Labour Costs, you will act as a key finance business partner to the Director of Channel Operations and the Director of Customer Contact & Service. You will be accountable for the financial oversight of significant non‑labour cost areas, including Security & Guarding, Contact Centres and a range of store‑controllable costs. Your day‑to‑day work will involve reviewing cost performance, identifying risks and opportunities, and supporting prioritisation and trade‑off discussions with senior stakeholders. You will lead the planning, budgeting and forecasting cycles for Retail Non‑Labour Costs, while ensuring strong governance around operating and capital expenditure. The role also involves challenging investment proposals, appraising returns, and embedding learnings into future decision‑making. In addition, you will provide ad‑hoc and forward‑looking analysis to support commercial decision‑making and lead a team to deliver high‑quality outputs within a culture of curiosity and continuous improvement.

More about you: You are a commercially minded finance professional who thrives in a business‑partnering role and enjoys influencing decision‑making at senior level. You are comfortable holding stakeholders to account while maintaining strong, collaborative relationships, and you bring confidence when challenging assumptions and investment choices. You approach problems with curiosity, anticipate risks before they materialise and remain resilient when operating in a complex and fast‑moving environment. You will be an effective communicator, able to adapt your style to audiences with varying levels of financial knowledge. You are organised, disciplined and capable of managing competing priorities, while remaining focused on delivering insight that drives improved performance and value for money.

Requirements:

• Professionally qualified accountant (ACCA, ACA or CIMA).
• Demonstrable experience of financial ownership of P&L and balance sheet performance.
• Proven ability to influence and challenge stakeholders up to Director level using clear financial insight.
• Evidenced experience of leading budgeting, forecasting and planning cycles.
• Demonstratable experience of maintaining robust financial controls and governance over operating and capital expenditure.
• Experience working within Retail or a similar industry.

Benefits: 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… 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. Here are some of them… Starting off with colleague discount, you'll be able to save 10% on your shopping online and instore at Sainsbury's, Argos, TU and Habitat, and we regularly increase the discount to 15% at points during the year. 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 up to an additional week's holiday, and we provide private healthcare. 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, salary advance (where you can access some of your pay before payday) 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. 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.