Procurement Manager - 12-month maternity cover

Retail; Greater London; On-site; GBP 65,000 - 90,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Colleague discount 10%–15%

Pensions scheme and life cover

Private healthcare

Performance bonus up to 20% of salary

Annual leave with option to buy extra

Job summary

Sainsbury's is seeking a Procurement Manager on a fixed-term contract to cover maternity leave, ideally starting by the end of October 2026. You will lead the commercial strategy for Technology Managed Services and BPO, manage a diverse supplier portfolio across the UK and abroad, and drive value through negotiations, renewals and governance.

You are a seasoned procurement professional with a track record in end-to-end category plans, supplier relationships, and complex outsourced/service

Qualifications

• Experience developing end-to-end category strategies.
• Experience managing supplier relationships and commercial negotiations.
• Experience with outsourced services, managed services, BPO, or technology/professional services categories.
• Experience of supplier governance, performance reviews and executive-level supplier discussions.

Responsibilities

• Drive the commercial strategy for Technology Managed Services & BPO.
• Own a diverse portfolio of suppliers and manage global delivery operations.
• Lead category plans, supplier negotiations, renewals and selections.
• Manage supplier governance, performance reviews and risk management.

Skills

Category strategy

Supplier negotiations

Outsourced services

Governance

Job description

This is a Fixed Term Contract covering a maternity leave, you would start ideally by end of October 2026.

Why join us

Joining Sainsbury's as a Procurement Manager means being part of a dynamic and purpose-driven team where your passion and determination can drive meaningful results for the business. With a focus on creating clear and compelling category plans, leading strategic sourcing initiatives, and fostering innovative supplier relationships, you will have the opportunity to make a significant impact while balancing cost, quality, and risk. This is an exciting opportunity to join a high-profile category with significant stakeholder exposure whilst playing a key role in supporting business transformation, supplier innovation and operational performance.

What you'll do

You’ll drive the commercial strategy for Technology Managed Services & Business Process Outsourcing (BPO), leading the commercial management of strategic outsourced service providers. You’ll own a diverse portfolio of suppliers, and this role provides exposure to global delivery operations across the UK, India, South Africa and the Philippines.

You’ll execute category plans that enhance our competitive advantage, minimise risk, and deliver outstanding solutions for customers and colleagues. You’ll lead commercial negotiations, sourcing exercises, contract renewals and supplier selections. By managing difficult conversations with key suppliers and stakeholders, you will act as a critical business partner on complex managed services and outsourcing arrangements, challenging and supporting stakeholders appropriately to drive business success.

Additionally, you will take ownership of strategic supplier management, nurturing productive relationships with key suppliers to identify opportunities for value creation. You'll support strategic supplier governance, driving effective performance reviews, risk management and executive oversight across key supplier relationships. The role also provides significant exposure to business transformation initiatives, working closely with Technology, Finance and Transformation teams to ensure suppliers are aligned to strategic objectives and delivering measurable business outcomes.

Who you are

You’re a seasoned procurement professional with a strong track record of creating and executing end-to-end category plans, demonstrating exceptional commercial acumen. You excel in building strong supplier relationships, and your ability to influence stakeholders at all levels showcases your resilience, adaptability, and commitment to delivering outstanding solutions that align with our strategic objectives and values.

Essential criteria

• Demonstrable experience developing and delivering end-to-end category strategies
• Evidence of managing supplier relationships and commercial negotiations, including contract negotiations and identifying opportunities to create value through strategic partnerships
• Experience managing outsourced services, managed services, BPO, technology services or professional services categories.
• Experience of supplier governance, performance management and executive-level supplier reviews within complex outsourced or managed service environments.

#LI-SS1

We’d all like amazing work to do, and real work-life balance. That’s waiting for you here at Sainsbury’s. For a FTSE business, we move incredibly fast. When we’re not leading projects, we’re supporting teams across the wider group to achieve their goals. And here, you can see the impact of your work as soon as you walk into a store, giving you a real sense of purpose and responsibility. Better still, the team around you will listen to your ideas and opinions, and you’ll have every chance to try something new. The scale and complexity of our business mean there’s always something new to learn, and we’ll support you every step of the way. We’re trusted to get on with it. So get ready to make things happen.

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:

• Starting off with colleague discount, you'll be able to save 10% on your shopping online and instore 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 20% 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, and we provide private healthcare.
• We also offer other benefits that will help your money go further such as season ticket loans, interest free car loan of up to £10k, cycle to work scheme, health cash plans, salary advance (where you can access some of your pay before pay day) as well 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).