Head of Strategy

We’d all like amazing work to do, and real work-life balance. That’s waiting for you at Sainsbury’s. For a FTSE business, we move incredibly fast. When we’re not handling projects, we’re helping all corners of the wider group with what they’re trying to achieve. And around here, you can see the results of your work as soon as you walk into a store, which gives 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 sheer scale and complexity of our set-up means there’s always something else around the corner, and we’ll help and support you every step of the way. We’re trusted to get on with it. So get ready to make things happen here.

Location – Hybrid (approx. 2 days per week in our London office)

Why join us

Joining the strategy team at Sainsbury's presents a unique opportunity to directly shape the future direction of a leading retail organisation, with exposure across the Sainsbury's, Argos and Nectar brands. You will be at the forefront of driving impactful change, collaborating closely with senior leaders to lead high-profile strategic projects. Our team values diversity of thought, intellectual curiosity and ambition.

What You’ll Do

As the Head of Strategy at Sainsbury's, you will be at the forefront of shaping the company's future direction, collaborating closely with the board and divisional directors to create Sainsbury’s strategy to 2030 and beyond. Your role will involve leading 1-2 strategy projects at a time – managing small internal teams and external consultancies to answer our most challenging questions across our brands - structuring complex problems, developing hypotheses, and distilling key insights from data to inform recommendations for senior leaders. By building strong relationships with stakeholders, you also ensure the successful delivery of strategic initiatives.

Who You Are

A strategic thinker with a proven track record of leading teams and delivering high-impact corporate strategy projects within the retail industry. Your analytical mindset and structured, hypothesis-led approach allow you to break down complex problems and generate actionable recommendations. Your exceptional project management skills, stakeholder engagement and communication abilities enable you to collaborate effectively with senior leaders and drive strategy projects forward. You embody the company's core values of customer-centricity, accountability, and fostering a culture of continuous learning and development.

Essential Criteria

• Minimum of 5 years of experience either working in a top strategy consultancy (McKinsey, Bain, BCG, LEK, Oliver Wyman, OC&C), or with a mix of top-tier strategy consulting and industry/freelance/contracting experience
• Evidence of applying structured, hypothesis-led approaches to solve corporate strategy problems and deliver actionable recommendations
• Ability to analyse and interpret complex data sets to generate impactful insights for senior stakeholders – with excellent PowerPoint and Excel skills
• Proven ability to lead and inspire teams to successfully deliver project objectives
• Passion for retail markets, with practical understanding of customers, market, competition, and financial insights

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.

Here are some of them: 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 65% of salary, depending on how we perform (in cash and shares). 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, 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. You'll also receive a company car cash allowance unless you are going to travel 10,000 business miles in your role, then you'll be able to choose a car. 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.

Please see www.sainsburys.jobs for a range of our benefits (note, length of service and eligibility criteria may apply).