Senior Buyer

Sainsbury's; Coventry; Hybrid; GBP 80,000 - 100,000; Full time

Job summary

A prominent UK retailer is looking for a Senior Buyer for Menswear to shape the sourcing, buying, and selling strategy. This role demands commercial acumen, relationship-building skills, and the ability to influence product strategy to drive market performance. You will lead a team to ensure high-quality, sustainable outcomes and collaborate with various departments to create exceptional product offerings. Strong negotiation skills and a proven track record in retail are essential for success in this fast-paced environment.

Benefits

10-15% Colleague Discount

Performance-related bonus up to 20%

Annual holiday allowance

Private healthcare

Employee Assistance Programme

Qualifications

• Proven track record of delivering strong commercial results in Menswear Clothing.
• Extensive experience in own-brand product development.
• Demonstrated ownership of an apparel category P&L.
• Strong relationship-building and negotiation capability.

Responsibilities

• Develop and execute a customer-focused sourcing and product strategy.
• Manage complex, end-to-end apparel sourcing models.
• Lead key category initiatives and projects.
• Implement pricing and ranging strategies.

Skills

Commercial acumen

Supplier negotiation

Product development

Attention to detail

Job description

Overview

Senior Buyer – Menswear

At Sainsbury’s, our Buying teams shape the products millions of customers choose every day. We’re committed to delivering standout style, great value and quality our customers can trust.

This Senior Buyer role sits at the heart of our Menswear team, giving you the chance to lead a high‑profile category with real commercial impact. If you want to shape the future of Menswear at scale, this is the place to do it.

You’ll take full ownership of our menswear sourcing, buying and selling strategy, from trend‑led development to long‑term sourcing plans. Your decisions will influence the ranges customers love and how we deliver value across a competitive market.

You’ll also play a key part in evolving our end‑to‑end sourcing model, improving quality, sustainability, ethical standards and customer experience, all aligned with our ‘Plan for Better’ commitments. With Menswear a major focus for the business, your commercial thinking and creativity will drive both immediate trading performance and long‑term growth.

What You’ll Do

You’ll develop and execute a customer‑focused sourcing and product strategy for Clothing, shaping a compelling menswear assortment that reflects customer needs, market trends and business priorities. You’ll partner closely with Design, Technical, Merchandising, Ethical, Supply Chain and Finance teams to bring products to life and ensure they land brilliantly in stores and online.

You will manage complex, end‑to‑end apparel sourcing models and build strong international supplier relationships, negotiating effectively to drive value. You’ll lead key category initiatives and projects, implement pricing and ranging strategies, and use data and insight to identify opportunities that keep us ahead of the market. Working across multiple internal teams, you’ll be accountable for category plans, delivering against targets for sales, profit, value and range performance, while maintaining the right balance of style, quality, durability and ethical standards.

Who You Are

A passionate Menswear Buyer, commercially sharp, dynamic and agile with a deep understanding of the customer and trends. You bring pace, clarity and confidence to everything you do, to drive growth and turnaround, thriving in fast‑moving retail environments where priorities shift and decisions matter.

Known for your independent thinking, you balance commercials with forward‑looking strategic intent. You take full accountability and are comfortable operating autonomously while staying aligned to the wider business goals.

A natural communicator and collaborator, you influence with credibility across functions and levels, bringing teams and partners with you. Curious, solutions‑focused and resilient, you challenge the status quo and push for better, in product, people, process and performance.

Essential Criteria

• Proven track record of delivering strong commercial results in Menswear Clothing across multiple categories
• Extensive experience in own‑brand product development, with the ability to thrive and deliver pace in a dynamic retail environment
• Demonstrated ownership of an apparel category P&L, balancing margin, volume, and market performance
• Strong relationship‑building and negotiation capability, with experience building robust supplier strategies and willingness and flexibility to travel to supplier locations as required operating long‑term supplier partnerships
• Confident in navigating complex stakeholder environments, showing resilience, sound judgement, and clarity of decision‑making
• Clear evidence of a continuous improvement mindset, combining creative thinking with practical problem‑solving to enhance ways of working
• Exceptional attention to detail, paired with a deep passion for product and a relentless drive to raise standards
• Clear, compelling communicator and confident presenter
• Inspirational and motivational leader, leading with empathy and compassion

Benefits

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).

Location

You’ll split your time between home and Ansty SSC (Coventry), coming into the office when it matters most for collaboration and business needs.