Category Planner - Grocery Food in City of 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 Sainsbury’s stores starts out in Sainsbury’s Commercial. Whether it’s the product, proposition, packaging or price, or the fact that something tastes great, our team is responsible for all food, non-food and Clothing items available in Sainsbury’s stores, digitally and on demand. You’ll discover it’s incredibly fast-paced. People here are in it together and not afraid to take risks. They’re enthusiastic too, and their amazing leadership team is right behind them. 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 2 Category Planners to join the Grocery Food team. One will lead the creation and execution of our flexible space strategy; the other will lead our Convenience & Digital channels strategy as well as being the category’s interface with our Formats team. 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 play a central role in planning and executing the Category Plan. In one role, you’ll lead the evolution and optimisation of our out of 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, as well as our supply base to make this happen and will lead a team of two who support the delivery of the plan. Supporting and growing your team, you’ll role model valued behaviours, set clear direction, and coach others with a focus on development and wellbeing.

In the second role, you’ll lead our Convenience & Digital channels strategy, ensuring our trade plans are translated successfully into the channels & that our proposition is optimised. You’ll need to be strategic as well as comfortable with data to deliver a winning plan. You’ll need excellent organisational and project management skills as you interface with our Formats team to ensure changes to equipment and kit design land successfully in our stores. Alongside Formats, you’ll work closely with buyers, Convenience & Digital teams.

As a Category Planner for our Grocery Food division, 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
• One of the roles available has line management responsibilities so we’d be looking for someone who has a keen interest in developing and supporting a team

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.

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.