Senior Buyer - Food for Later

Sainsbury's Supermarkets Ltd; London; On-site; GBP 40,000 - 55,000; Full time

Job summary

Sainsbury's is seeking a Buyer for its Food for Later category. The role focuses on negotiating product pricing and optimizing buying strategies while delivering quality and value to customers. You will collaborate across teams to enhance product ranges, with opportunities for growth and a competitive salary.

Benefits

10% colleague discount at Sainsbury's

15% discount on Fridays and Saturdays

Up to 20% performance-related bonus

Annual holiday allowance

Health cash plans

Pensions scheme

Private healthcare

Cycle to work scheme

Employee Assistance Programme

Flexibility in working hours

Qualifications

• Proven track record in negotiating with suppliers to optimise product ranges.
• Ability to analyse financial, market, and customer data to identify improvement opportunities.

Responsibilities

• Own, deliver, and optimise the buying strategy for specific product categories.
• Collaborate cross-functionally to improve product ranges and develop new offerings.
• Manage supplier relationships and lead projects for successful outcomes.

Skills

Commercial Acumen

Analytical Skills

Negotiation

Communication

Job description

Salary: Competitive Plus Benefits
Location: London Store Support Centre, London, EC1M 6HA
Contract type: Permanent
Business area: Food Commercial
Closing date: 03 July 2025
Requisition ID: 400001221

We’d all like amazing work to do, and real work-life balance. That’s waiting for you at Sainsbury’s. Here, everything in our stores starts out in Food Commercial. Whether it’s the product, proposition, packaging or price, or the fact that something tastes great, our team is responsible for all food items available in store, digitally and on demand. You’ll discover it’s incredibly fast-paced. People here are in it together and not afraid to take risks. They’re enthusiastic too, and their amazing leadership team is right behind them. The knowledge and experience you gain here could set you up for career moves, anywhere else in the business. So, if you’re passionate about food and just as hungry to learn, you’ll fit in perfectly.

Joining Sainsbury's Buying Teams means being part of a dedicated and friendly group working towards a mission that truly matters: Helping Everyone Eat Better. As a Buyer, you will have the opportunity to own, deliver, and optimise the buying and selling strategy within a specific category, contributing to the sustainable growth of market share and cash profit. Collaborating across functions, you will leverage your commercial acumen and analytical skills to drive product improvement, develop new offerings, and identify cost savings. With a focus on customer-centricity, you will play a pivotal role in shaping the product range, influencing stakeholders, and making key decisions to enhance our customers' experience. Join us and be part of a team committed to delivering quality and value, while enjoying a flexible work-life balance and a culture that fosters continuous learning and growth.

What you'll do

As a Buyer, you will play a vital role in ensuring that we get the best products at the best prices to deliver quality and value to our customers. You will own, deliver, and optimise the buying and selling strategy for a specific buying area within the Food for Later (Picnic, Pastry and Hot Pie) category, with the responsibility of driving sustainable market share growth and cash profit through a competitive and distinctive customer offer. In this role, you will work cross-functionally to review product ranges, identifying opportunities for product improvement, new product development, and cost savings. You will make key decisions in both the Buying Strategy and Selling Strategy, influencing stakeholders and using financial, market, and customer data to drive a market-leading product range. Additionally, you will optimise the supply base, manage supplier relationships, and lead cross-functional projects to deliver successful outcomes. With your strong commercial acumen, analytical skills, and effective communication, you will contribute to the overall success of the team and help us achieve our mission of Helping Everyone Eat Better.

Who you are

You are a highly experienced professional with a proven track record in negotiating with suppliers and optimising product ranges to deliver quality and value to customers. With your strong commercial acumen, you develop and execute customer-focused category plans aligned with the company's strategy, aiming to sustainably grow market share and cash profit. Your ability to analyse financial, market, and customer data allows you to identify opportunities for product improvement, new product development, and cost savings. Collaborating cross-functionally, you review product ranges, make key decisions in buying and selling strategies, and effectively manage supplier relationships to achieve performance objectives. With excellent communication skills, adaptability, and resilience, you navigate complex information, influence stakeholders, and lead relevant projects to successful delivery.

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 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 pay day. 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 additional holiday. 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, pay 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, you will also be eligible for private healthcare too.

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).