Senior Buyer - Cooked and Continental Meats

Sainsbury’s Group; City of Westminster; On-site; GBP 49,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading retailer in the UK is seeking a skilled individual to develop and execute sourcing strategies for Cooked and Continental Meats. Responsibilities include managing supplier relationships, executing promotional strategies, and leading cross-functional teams. The ideal candidate should have experience in fresh food buying and strong negotiation skills. This role offers a competitive salary and a range of benefits including employee discounts, healthcare, and performance-related bonuses.

Benefits

Colleague discount

Pensions scheme

Interest-free car loan

Private healthcare

Flexible working options

Qualifications

• Demonstrable experience in fresh food buying and managing supplier relationships.
• Ability to work cross-functionally and lead teams effectively.
• Strong resilience and confidence during negotiations.

Responsibilities

• Develop and execute sourcing strategies for Cooked and Continental Meats.
• Lead a matrix cross-functional team across various departments.
• Identify and negotiate cost savings with suppliers.
• Implement pricing and promotional strategies to drive sales.

Skills

Supplier management

P&L management

Negotiation skills

Stakeholder management

Problem-solving

Job description

Responsibilities

• Develop and execute a customer-focused source and selection strategy for Cooked and Continental Meats.
• Lead a matrix cross-functional team (Agriculture, Development, Technical, Supply Chain, Finance).
• Manage complex end‑to‑end buying models.
• Identify and negotiate cost savings through brilliant supplier relationship management and an understanding of the end-to-end supply chain.
• Take a leading and driving role in key category projects to outperform the market.
• Implement pricing, promotional and ranging strategies.
• Analyse financial, market and customer data to identify opportunities to deliver a market‑leading product range, including regular review of own‑label products against appropriate competitor benchmarks.
• Accountable for category plan at sub‑category level.
• Work with Supply Chain, Own Brand and Retail to drive product range.
• Deliver to business targets on sales, profit, value and range.
• Support the implementation of NPD (New Product Development).
• Liaise with the Product Technologist/Developer in setting the quality criteria for products, ensuring the optimal balance between quality and price is maintained.

Qualifications

The role requires strong supplier management, P&L management, delivery and training. We are looking for someone with positive energy, who thinks independently but works well in a team environment and can lead cross‑functionally and own critical commercial recommendations. Demonstrable experience in fresh food buying, ideally with exposure to own‑branded products and the ability to deliver results quickly in a fast‑paced environment.

Flexibility to travel: willingness to travel to supplier locations as and when needed & travelling to weekly meetings at London Store support centre.

• Track record in fresh food category management: showcasing the ability to manage a category P&L, balancing profitability, volume and market performance.
• Experience managing relationships & proven negotiation skills within a long‑term supplier agreement framework, with a track record of leveraging commercial terms and driving value in supplier agreements.
• Ability to handle complex stakeholder interactions, demonstrating resilience and confidence in challenging conversations and decision‑making.
• Evidence of continuous improvement mindset, including solving complex problems creatively and challenging existing processes to deliver innovative solutions.

Benefits

We are committed to being a truly inclusive retailer, so you'll be welcomed whatever 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 who 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. You will receive an annual holiday allowance, and you can buy additional holiday.

Salary: £48,582 per year (estimated).

1. Starting off with colleague discount, you will be able to get 10% off at Sainsbury's, Argos, TU and Habitat after 4 weeks. This increases to 15% off at Sainsbury's every Friday and Saturday, and 15% off at Argos every payday.
2. We have a pensions scheme and life cover. You may also be eligible for a performance‑related bonus of up to 20% of salary, depending on how we perform.
3. Other benefits include season ticket loans, interest‑free car loan of up to £10,000, cycle‑to‑work scheme, health cash plans, pay advance, and access to a great range of discounts from hundreds of other retailers.
4. Employee Assistance Programme, private healthcare, maternity/adoption leave up to 26 weeks' pay and paternity leave up to 4 weeks' pay.

Mission

Sainsbury's Buying Teams ensure that we get the best products at the best prices to help us deliver quality and value to our customers. We aim to deliver on a mission that matters: helping everyone eat better. You will own, deliver and optimise the sourcing, buying and selling strategy for the Cooked and Continental Meats buying area. This will be achieved through brilliant sourcing, buying and selling strategies. Great product selection, product innovation, value and profit optimisation and supplier management. This is a great role for someone looking to get involved in delivering a large‑scale strategy project as we aim to deliver several projects covering end to end sourcing and selling, considering quality, environmental credentials, sustainability and the future needs of our customers as we meet our corporate ‘Plan for Better’ objectives. Cooked Meats is a key area within MFP and being able to think short and long term in this area is key to our current and future success.