Category Demand Manager

We’d all like amazing work to do, and real work/life balance. That’s waiting for you right here. Supply Chain and Logistics is the engine room that gets thousands of products from farms and factories, through the business and to millions of customers every day. We plan around everything from barbecue weekends to Sunday roasts, supporting those who want oven‑ready cauliflower cheese and those who prefer to make it from scratch. Insight and data are everything. But so is judgement — when there’s an issue or ambiguity anywhere, we’re often the first to spot it. There’s a big transformation underway. It calls for people who champion change, bring others with them, and collaborate and communicate. Because those people can go a very long way here.

About The Team

Our Supply Chain function sits at the heart of delivering exceptional customer experiences across our stores and channels. The team is responsible for ensuring the right products are in the right place at the right time, balancing availability, efficiency, and cost. Working closely with Commercial, Retail, and suppliers, the team plays a critical role in driving performance across a multi‑billion‑pound portfolio while continually improving how we operate to meet evolving customer expectations.

More About The Role

As a Category Demand Manager, you will take ownership of the end‑to‑end performance of a category, leading day‑to‑day operations to deliver high product availability, optimal stock levels, and efficient cost to serve outcomes. You will oversee demand planning activity, ensuring forecasts are accurate and aligned to trading plans, while managing performance across a significant sales portfolio. You will also lead key programmes and seasonal events, such as peak trading periods and proposition changes, ensuring the supply chain is set up to deliver. Working cross‑functionally, you will build and execute medium‑term plans, influence senior stakeholders, and drive initiatives that improve network efficiency, working capital, and overall supply chain performance.

More About You

You bring demonstrable experience of working within supply chain, demand planning, or a related operational environment, with the ability to analyse data and translate insights into clear actions. You are comfortable working with demand planning systems and using data interrogation techniques to identify and resolve performance issues. You have proven capability leading and developing teams, creating clear objectives and supporting individuals through coaching and feedback. You build effective working relationships across functions, communicate with clarity, and can influence decisions by presenting structured, evidence‑based recommendations.

Essential Criteria

• Proven experience managing demand planning, forecasting, or supply chain operations within a commercial or retail environment
• Demonstrable ability to analyse complex datasets and apply root cause analysis to inform decision‑making
• Experience using demand planning or supply chain systems (e.g. SAP, Oracle, JDA, or similar) to optimise performance outputs
• Proven track record of leading, coaching, and developing a team to achieve defined performance objectives
• Evidence of influencing cross‑functional stakeholders to deliver measurable improvements in availability, cost, or efficiency

We are committed to being a truly inclusive retailer so you’ll be welcomed whatever 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 save 10% on your shopping online and in‑store 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 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, an interest‑free car loan of up to £10k, a cycle‑to‑work scheme, health cash plans, salary advance (where you can access some of your pay before pay day) and 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.