Customer and Trading Manager - Small Supermarket

Sainsbury’s Group; Kettering; On-site; GBP 36,000 - 48,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Discount card

Annual bonus scheme

Free food and hot drinks for Colleagu​

Generous holiday entitlement

Pension - employer matching

Job summary

Sainsbury’s Group is seeking a Customer & Trading Manager to help run daily store operations. You’ll lead a small team, drive customer service excellence and ensure efficient, safe service for all customers.

The role emphasizes hands-on leadership, performance management, and the ability to operate autonomously when senior managers are absent. A strong focus on achieving KPIs and maintaining smooth shop flow is essential.

Qualifications

• Proven track record delivering excellent customer service and coaching a team.
• Experience leading a team in a fast-paced, customer-facing environment.
• Operational leadership with responsibility for store operations in absence of senior managers.
• Demonstrated success meeting or exceeding KPIs across sales, availability and customer satisfaction.

Responsibilities

• Work closely with a small management team to run the store daily.
• Take responsibility for day-to-day store operations and act as the sole manager when needed.
• Lead a team to ensure customers are served efficiently and safely.
• Manage performance, scheduling, and pay, and handle disciplinary matters as required.
• Occasionally support other nearby stores as needed.

Skills

Customer service

Team leadership

Operations management

KPI achievement

Employee relations

Job description

• Working closely with a small team of managers to make sure the store runs like clockwork every day.
• Taking responsibility for the day to running of the store, often being the only manager in with accountability for the full shop.
• Work alongside a team to complete all tasks, ensuring our customers are served efficiently and safely.
• People management is also big part of the role, managing performance and capability, conducting disciplinaries and ensuring scheduling and pay are accurate.
• Where we have close knit networks of stores and it may mean that you need to help another store now and then.

What makes a great customer & trading manager

• Previous line management responsibilities in a fast-paced, operational environment.
• Provides brilliant customer service, and coaches a team to do the same.
• Delivers KPI's or other performance indicators.
• Can manage disciplinaries, performance issues or other similar employee relations issues.
• Leads operations and comfortable doing this alone in the absence of more senior management.

Leading in our stores

Our management teams don't just run stores - they're the driving force behind our business. With bold leadership, a passion for service and an eye for opportunity, they empower teams to raise the bar every single day for our customers. Whether it's product availability, safety standards, or delivering seamless daily operations, they're hands-on, sleeves-rolled-up changemakers. And the impact? Work becomes more rewarding for our colleagues, and shopping becomes a next-level experience for every customer who walks through our doors. This is how we bring our purpose to life, one powerful action at a time.

Experience and Skills

• A track record of delivering brilliant customer service and coaching colleagues to do the same.
• Experience of leading a team in a fast-paced, customer-facing environment - you've motivated others, driven performance, and kept operations running smoothly.
• Operational leadership skills - you've taken responsibility for store operations in the absence of more senior managers.
• Demonstrated success in meeting or exceeding KPIs - whether it's sales, availability, customer satisfaction or colleague engagement, you've made a measurable impact.
• Has managed employee relations issues, including performance and absence management.

Salary will be dependent upon your experience as well as the store size, complexity and location. Alongside this, we also offer a great range of benefits for our managers, including:

Benefits

• Discount card - 10% discount off on your shopping at Sainsbury's, Argos, Tu and Habitat after four weeks. This increases to 15% discount off at Sainsbury's every Friday and Saturday.
• An annual bonus scheme based on our, and your, performance.
• Free food and hot drinks provided for Colleagues in all our stores.
• Generous holiday entitlement, maternity and paternity leave.
• Pension - we'll match 4-7.5% of your pension contributions.
• Sainsbury's share scheme - build up an investment at discounted rates.
• Wellbeing support - access to emotional support, counselling, legal and financial advice.
• Colleague networks - link with like-minded people to help fulfil your potential.
• Our Cycle to Work scheme gives you the opportunity to hire a new bike and cycling equipment, whilst saving on tax and NI.
• Special offers on gym memberships, restaurants, holidays, retail vouchers and more.

An inclusive place to work and shop

We are dedicated to being a truly inclusive retailer, where every colleague can achieve their full potential and every customer feels welcome when they shop with us.

To support this commitment, our colleagues may be entitled to a range of enhanced discretionary leave for families, as well as support for carers.

We provide our colleagues resources to help them understand and support their role and their team effectively.

Our internal colleague networks seek to ensure true representation for everyone, helping us identify and remove barriers that our colleagues may face.

We are proud to offer a range of development opportunities, including mentorship, training, and career progression pathways, to help our colleagues grow and succeed.

We also celebrate diversity through various initiatives and events, fostering a culture of inclusion and respect.

If you would like to learn more about our commitment to inclusivity, please take a look .

Should you require any reasonable adjustments during the application or interview stages, please let us know, and we will endeavour to support you.