Lead General Merchandise Manager

Sainsbury's; Greater London; On-site; GBP 38,000 - 45,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading supermarket chain is looking for a Lead General Merchandise Manager in London to drive operational excellence. You will manage a team to ensure exceptional standards across non-food products. The role requires sharp leadership, strong performance management skills, and a commitment to delivering outstanding customer experiences. Additional responsibilities include strategizing for trading activities and effectively managing stock. This position offers a competitive salary and various employee benefits.

Benefits

10% discount on shopping after four weeks

Annual bonus scheme

Free food and hot drinks

Generous holiday entitlement

Pension matching contributions up to 7.5%

Wellbeing support

Cycle to Work scheme

Special offers on memberships and vouchers

Qualifications

• Experience managing large teams in a fast-paced environment.
• Comfortable with performance management and employee relations.
• Ability to deliver high standards and improve KPIs.

Responsibilities

• Direct a team of managers for product showcase.
• Plan for key trading activities with store leadership.
• Manage performance, scheduling, and stock in-store.

Skills

Leadership

Customer service

Data interpretation

Performance management

Inclusivity and teamwork

Job description

• Locations Sainsbury's Supermarkets Ltd, London, Greater London, SW6 2SY, GB
• Closing Date 02/13/2026, 12:00 PM
• Full Time or Part Time Full time
• Contract Type Permanent
• Advertised Salary From £38,600

Overview

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.

Responsibilities

What you’ll be doing:

• Direct a small team of managers to showcase all our non – food products from homeware to beauty, including our fantastic TU and Habitat brands
• Planning for upcoming key trading activity by working closely with the rest of the store leadership team
• Regularly taking full accountability for the store in the absence of a store manager, role modelling and coaching for high standards and efficiency across the store.
• Ensuring correct management of stock in our in-store warehouse
• People management is a big part of the role, managing performance and capability, conducting disciplinaries and ensuring scheduling and pay are accurate.

Qualifications / What makes a great Lead General Merchandise Manager

• A passionate leader who is consistently ambitious for their customers and colleagues, every day, growing their team to do the same.
• Experience of managing managers, in a fast-paced, customer-facing environment – doing this in a retail merchandising environment would be advantageous.
• An operator who is comfortable managing alone in the absence of more senior management.
• Driven to deliver high performance with a focus on efficiency and engagement.
• Confident in the use of data, and understanding / interpreting KPI's or other performance indicators, and has experience of improving these.
• Puts inclusivity at the heart of what they do and uses this to build an inclusive team and working environment.
• Can manage disciplinaries, performance issues or other similar employee relations issues (Up to dismissal).
• Experience leading large teams in a fast-paced, customer-focused environment — you’ve developed leaders, built high-performing teams, and created a culture of ownership and accountability.
• A track record of delivering exceptional customer experiences across complex operations, with evidence of delivering these through your team.
• Proven success in delivering and improving KPIs — from sales and stock availability to customer satisfaction and colleague engagement, you’ve driven results that matter.
• Experience managing sensitive and complex people matters, including performance, absence, and formal employee relations cases, with confidence, fairness, and sound judgement.
• Leadership experience in an operational environment — whether in retail, hospitality, or food service — where you’ve owned departmental performance and confidently led the store in the absence of senior leadership.
• Can evidence leading change — whether rolling out new ways of working, embedding new systems, or shifting team mindsets, you’ve brought people with you and made change stick.

Rewards and Benefits

Working for us has great rewards

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.
• 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.

Inclusion and Support

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 here .

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

About Us

Sainsbury’s company vision
Our vision is to be the most trusted retailer, where people love to work and shop. That means harnessing the talent, creativity and diversity of our colleagues to ensure that customers receive great service every time they shop with us.
If you would like to hear more about our vision and values, be sure to visit our corporate page.
We invest in training, development and multiple initiatives to ensure our teams feel enabled to offer the best shopping experience to our customers and that Sainsbury’s is truly a ‘Great Place to Work’.

About the Team

We’re in the business of looking after our biggest asset. Our people.
That means making it our business to properly take care of the potential and wellbeing of our truly outstanding teams. Join us in HR, and we’ll make it yours too.
They bring the spark, the funny, the graft, the grit. And they’re literally the most important asset we have. So it’s in our interests to give the people at Sainsbury’s everything they need to feel valued, engaged and motivated, and truly able to shine.
That’s where our HR colleagues have a pivotal role to play. From our ‘centre of excellence’ teams in Reward and Recruitment, through to our core teams in Change and Talent, they’re creating environments that allow our colleagues to thrive and we’re proud of their incredible ability to understand Sainsbury’s inside out.