Imports Controller

Sainsbury's; Coventry; On-site; GBP 30,000 - 50,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading UK retailer is seeking an experienced Imports Controller to manage operations in their Imports BWS Grocery team. You will handle Port to DC services, collaborating closely with team members and stakeholders to optimize operations. The ideal candidate should possess strong commercial awareness, experience in supply chain logistics, and exceptional analytical skills. This role offers various benefits, flexible working arrangements, and opportunities for personal development.

Benefits

10-15% colleague discount on shopping

Pensions scheme and life cover

Performance-related bonus up to 10% of salary

Annual holiday allowance

Cycle to work scheme

Employee assistance programme

Qualifications

• Experienced in supply chain and logistics with a strong understanding of trading and FMCG operations.
• Excellent analytical and problem-solving skills for forecasting import container arrivals.
• Strong communication skills to build effective relationships with stakeholders.

Responsibilities

• Provide operational expertise to a team of imports coordinators.
• Support the Operations Manager with necessary analysis and reports.
• Collaborate with internal stakeholders to ensure smooth operations.

Skills

Commercial awareness

International Supply Chain experience

Shipping documentation expertise

Customs duty classification

Understanding of Trading and Global Sourcing

Standard industry import procedures

Job description

Why join us

Joining our team as an Imports Controller provides you with an exciting opportunity to be part of a dynamic and fast-paced environment, handling one of the largest transport operations in the UK. As part of our Imports BWS Grocery team, you will play a crucial role in delivering exceptional Port to DC service to our business. We value problem-solving skills, resilience, and strong interpersonal abilities in our employees. Working closely with internal and external stakeholders, you will have the chance to influence at a senior management level and contribute to the optimisation of operations and efficiencies. You will be supported by comprehensive training, guidance, and career development opportunities, allowing you to thrive in your role and make a tangible impact. We prioritise work-life balance and offer flexible working arrangements, empowering our colleagues to excel both professionally and personally.

What you’ll do

Here you will be an integral part of the Imports BWS Grocery operations team, collaborating with the Operations Manager to ensure the delivery of a best-in-class Port to DC service for our business. Your main responsibility will be to provide operational expertise to a team of imports coordinators, assisting them in completing container DC bookings in accordance with customer demand and DC capacities. Additionally, you will play a vital role in supporting the Operations Manager by providing necessary analysis and reports to facilitate the planning of BWS, GNFR (Goods not for re-sale) and food stock flow with internal stakeholders and external service providers. Building strong and effective relationships with various internal stakeholders, such as Logistics planning, Grocery Supply chain analyst team, 3rd Party stakeholders & commercial team, will be crucial in this role. Given the fast-paced and dynamic nature of our operations, your positive and problem-solving approach, as well as your ability to influence senior management both internally and externally, will be essential to thrive and excel in this role.

Who you are

You are a highly experienced and commercially aware supply chain and logistics professional with a strong understanding of trading, global sourcing, and FMCG supply chain operations. Your ability to provide operational expertise and support to imports coordinators enables the successful completion of container DC bookings in alignment with customer demand and DC capacities. With your strong analytical and problem-solving skills, you excel in forecasting group-wide import container arrivals and managing container storage requirements to optimise stock flow and reduce costs. Your exceptional communication skills and ability to build effective relationships allow you to collaborate with internal stakeholders, external service providers, and third-party partners to ensure smooth operations and maximise performance. Your attention to detail, resilience to challenges, and proactive approach empower you to manage daily operational challenges and deliver resolutions. With the drive for personal development and improvement, you contribute to the continuous enhancement of processes while maintaining a positive and flexible approach to work-life balance.

Essential Skills

• Able to demonstrate commercial awareness
• Experience of International Supply Chain
• Experience of opening shipping documentation
• Experience of classifying product for customs duty
• Understanding of Trading, Global Sourcing, Secondary and Supply Chain Operations gained in an FMCG environment
• Experience of standard industry import procedures

Qualifications

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:

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'll also be able to share in our success as you may be eligible for a performance-related bonus of up to 10% 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. We also offer other benefits that will help your money go further such as season ticket loans, cycle to work scheme, health cash plans, salary advance (where you can access some of your pay before pay day) as well as 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.

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

Responsibilities

We believe in providing meaningful work and achieving a real work/life balance. Here, you'll find both. Our Supply Chain team is the engine room for getting thousands of products from farms and factories to our millions of customers every day. We leverage insight and data to anticipate customer needs, ensuring they get what they want, when they need it. You'll be part of a team that is data-driven and judgement-focused, always the first to identify and address any issues or ambiguities. A culture of collaboration, customer obsession, and continuous improvement drives us to deliver market-leading product availability and operational excellence, and fuels our innovation. Our Supply Chain team calls for people who champion change, are customer-obsessed, data-driven, and excel at collaborating and communicating effectively - because those people can go a very long way.