Lead General Merchandise Manager

TN United Kingdom; Cobham; On-site; GBP 35,000 - 50,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading company in Cobham is seeking a Lead General Merchandise Manager to inspire and lead a team in a dynamic retail environment. This role focuses on coaching and developing managers while ensuring exceptional customer service. The ideal candidate will have strong leadership skills and a passion for connecting with customers. With opportunities for career progression and a supportive work environment, this role is perfect for those looking to make a significant impact in retail management.

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

• Experience in managing a team in a customer-focused environment.
• Motivated to develop and dedicated to bringing out the best in others.

Responsibilities

• Lead and inspire a management team in a fast-paced environment.
• Set direction for the department and support team development.
• Ensure excellent customer service and operational efficiency.

Skills

Leadership

Customer Service

Coaching

Job description

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Client:

Sainsbury's

Location:

Cobham, United Kingdom

Job Category:

Other

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EU work permit required:

Yes

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Job Reference:

c4e82e871550

Job Views:

3

Posted:

17.05.2025

Expiry Date:

01.07.2025

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Job Description:

Our Lead General Merchandise Manager role is a brilliant step if you’re ready to stretch your leadership skills to fully lead and inspire a management team and department. You will have clear accountability, realistic expectations, and structured support. It’s a win:win – we give you the time and space to coach your team and strengthen your leadership skills, and you help us to create even better in-store service for our customers and colleagues.

Your leadership experience could be in any customer focussed industry, not necessarily Food Retail. In fact, we’re keen to nurture the broadest mindsets in order to grow a management team that operates effectively across the store, so don’t worry if you don’t have the technical knowledge, we’re looking primarily for the desire to achieve success through your people and a love for connecting with customers.

What you’ll be doing

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

You’ll be working in one of our busiest and most complex stores, reporting directly to the Store Manager and leading a team of managers. It’s fast-paced. Every day will bring unexpected challenges. You won’t always have the answers – that’s fine – but by solving short-term problems and making medium-term changes, you’ll support your team to keep delivering.

General Merchandise includes homeware, interiors, fashion, beauty and entertainment as well as our fantastic TU and Habitat brands. Our General Merchandise teams delight our customers by showcasing our brilliant products alongside our Argos offering to enrich the shopping experience above just food. Your leadership here plays a hugely important role in making our stores an exciting shopping destination for everything our customers want.

Specifically, your role is to set the direction of travel in your area for the next 1-3 months.

What success looks like

There’s a lot to learn. Every day you‘ll be strengthening your existing leadership skills and adding new ones, here’s how:

• You’ll be coaching, motivating and guiding your managers to work as a productive team, building their capabilities and leading them through change
• You’ve mastered helping your team put themselves in the customers’ shoes, taking genuine pride in how we deliver a better service and spot opportunities
• You’ll be leading through communication; clearly articulating how we’re performing and inspiring improvements for now, and the next quarter
• You will be developing yourself as the operational expert and acting as a role model for your team
• You’re confident making decisions at pace and feel empowered and accountable to run your area of the store – and to deputise for the Store Manager

About you

You might currently be managing a smaller supermarket or convenience store or already in a team leadership role. Maybe you’re looking for a new challenge after a career break or transferring from another big store retail environment or another sector. Wherever you’re working now, you’ve demonstrated you can make a difference and love being part of a team.

What matters most is you – that 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?

Join Sainsbury’s instore management teams and you’ll enjoy 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 willsupport and coach you to deliver great performance, whilst having plenty of time to develop.

As one of our Lead Managers you could move into a Deputy Store Manager or Store Manager role with us. You’ll also be well placed for a leadership challenge in head office or 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 pay day.
  
• 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.

Click ‘apply’ to start your Sainsbury’s journey