General Merchandise Manager

Sainsbury's; Bicester; On-site; GBP 25,000 - 45,000; Full time

Job summary

An established industry player in retail is seeking a dynamic General Merchandise Manager to lead a team in enhancing customer experiences. This role emphasizes operational management and people development, providing a unique opportunity to grow your leadership skills. You'll be at the forefront of creating a welcoming environment for both customers and colleagues, driving performance, and ensuring the store runs efficiently. With a clear path for progression and a supportive team structure, this position is perfect for those looking to advance their career in a vibrant and fast-paced setting. Join a company that values your potential and offers numerous benefits to support your journey.

Benefits

10% discount card

Free food and hot drinks

Generous holiday entitlement

Pension matching

Share scheme

Wellbeing support

Cycle to Work scheme

Special offers on gym memberships

Qualifications

• Proven experience in managing or supervising teams in retail.
• Motivated to develop and dedicated to customer service excellence.

Responsibilities

• Manage a medium to large in-store team and ensure smooth operations.
• Support the Lead General Merchandise Manager in delivering retail outcomes.

Skills

People Development

Team Management

Customer Service

Operational Management

Performance Management

Communication Skills

Education

Experience in a fast-paced environment

Supervisory experience

Tools

Digital Stock Management

Job description

You’re ambitious for more leadership responsibility. Maybe one day, you’d like to run your own store or take on a bigger role in the future. First, you want to focus on your people development skills – crafting a team that delivers what you need, when you need it.

This is a well-balanced management role with clear accountability – you’ll understand exactly what’s expected of you and who to turn to for support. Whether you already have some supervisory experience or you’re looking to make the step up, it’s the perfect chance to get close to your team and grow your skills.

What you’ll be doing

Our purpose is driven by our passion for food; together we serve and help every customer.

General Merchandise includes homeware, interiors, fashion, beauty, and entertainment as well as our fantastic TU and Habitat brands. We delight our customers by enriching the shopping experience beyond just food, and your leadership here plays a hugely important role in the customer experience. Reporting to our Lead General Merchandise Manager, your job is focused on operational in-store management, ensuring that your area is running smoothly, day in and day out.

There’s an emphasis on managing a medium to large in-store team – assigning tasks and planning breaks, creating rotas, addressing performance issues both sensitively and effectively, and helping with recruitment. You’ll be a visible leader on the shop floor, a role model who drives training and creates a team where everyone feels welcome, and colleagues feel safe to challenge the way things are done.

What success looks like

There’s lots to achieve. Here’s how you’ll know you’re developing:

1. You’re supporting the Lead General Merchandise Manager to deliver improved customer and retail outcomes in your area.
2. You’ll work closely with another Manager, sharing ideas and identifying ways to improve things, and provide a brilliant handover from each shift to the next.
3. You’re confident being direct with your team – giving honest feedback, early and often.
4. You’ve learned how to help your team to put themselves in the customers’ shoes, taking genuine pride in how we deliver a better service.
5. You’re increasingly making decisions at pace and comfortable not knowing all the answers.

About you

We’re open-minded about your career trajectory. You’re probably already managing or supervising people in a similarly fast-paced setting and confident to deal with the many different challenges each day throws up – your team are depending on you!

You’ll need to share Sainsbury’s love of technology. We’re ahead of the curve here – we do as much as we can digitally – from stock management to rotas.

What matters most is you – you’re motivated to develop, dedicated to bringing out the best in others and, like all of us, passionate about customer service. After all, that’s what our stores are all about.

Where next?

The Sainsbury’s in-store management structure is designed precisely to help people like you to progress, and where everyone has the support and the opportunity to deliver excellence. When joining us, you will receive a clear induction and orientation alongside a training plan specific to your needs that you'll build alongside your manager. They will support and coach you to deliver great performance, whilst having plenty of time to develop.

As a General Merchandise Manager, you could move into a Lead Manager role in Food, In-store Customer Experience, Clothing, or General Merchandise. Looking further ahead, it’s great preparation for a Store Management role or a leadership challenge across the Sainsbury’s family: Habitat, Tu, Argos, Sainsbury’s Bank, and Nectar 360. Trust us – we know how to make the most of your potential.

Added benefits

• 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:
• 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 and 15% off at Argos every payday.
• 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 fulfill 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.

Click ‘apply’ to start your Sainsbury’s journey.