Strategic Sourcing Manager - Commercial

Sainsbury's; City Of London; On-site; GBP 60,000 - 80,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading UK retailer is seeking a Strategic Sourcing Manager to enhance supplier relationships and lead sourcing projects. The ideal candidate will possess strong commercial acumen and experience in stakeholder management, project management, and negotiation. This role offers opportunities for significant impact and personal growth within a dynamic team. Benefits include discounts, performance bonuses, and flexible working options.

Benefits

10-15% discounts at Sainsbury's and Argos

Pensions scheme

Life cover

Performance-related bonuses

Flexible working options

Annual holiday allowance

Employee Assistance Programme

Private healthcare

Qualifications

• Proven experience working alongside or with a food retailer.
• Experience in influencing senior leaders and aligning cross-functional teams.
• Ability to perform robust commercial and financial analysis.
• Leading project/program plans end to end.

Responsibilities

• Lead complex sourcing projects and develop sourcing strategies.
• Negotiate with suppliers to deliver cost efficiencies.
• Manage stakeholder relationships and conduct robust analysis.

Skills

Stakeholder management

Commercial acumen

Analytical skills

Project management

Negotiation excellence

Job description

Why join us

Joining Sainsbury’s as a Strategic Sourcing Manager offers you the opportunity to be at the forefront of driving stronger, more resilient supplier relationships and influencing strategic decisions that impact our corporate strategy and customer experience. In a dynamic and collaborative environment, you will lead complex sourcing projects, engage with cross‑functional stakeholders, and contribute to the ongoing transformation and growth of the business. With a focus on continuous improvement, stakeholder management, and commercial acumen, this role provides a platform for you to make a tangible impact, develop your skills, and drive value across multiple categories, supported by a diverse and motivated team that values innovation and excellence.

What you’ll do

As a Strategic Sourcing Manager at Sainsbury’s, you will play a crucial role in driving stronger, more resilient, and mutually beneficial supplier relationships to support the achievement of the company’s strategic goals. You will lead complex sourcing projects, working closely with commercial teams to develop and implement sourcing strategies, negotiate with suppliers, and deliver cost efficiencies and innovative solutions across multiple categories. By managing stakeholder relationships, leading strategic sourcing projects, and providing robust commercial analysis, you will contribute to the ongoing success and transformation of Sainsbury’s in a dynamic and collaborative environment.

Who you are

You are a customer‑centric, commercially and financially astute professional with a collaborative and inclusive approach to building strong partnerships across functions and suppliers. With a proven track record in stakeholder management, programme and project management, and negotiation excellence, you excel in driving margin improvement and value capture in the food retail sector. Your analytical mindset, advanced commercial modelling skills, and collaborative capabilities enable you to deliver impactful sourcing solutions, influence senior leaders, and align cross‑functional teams toward achieving strategic objectives, all while maintaining a customer‑first mindset and continuously seeking smarter ways to deliver value.

Essential Criteria

• Proven experience working alongside or with a food retailer: Candidates must have current or very recent significant experience working directly for or with a food retailer as a commercial professional.
• Stakeholder management cross‑functional collaboration: experience in influencing senior leaders and aligning cross‑functional teams to achieve strategic objectives in a collaborative environment. Candidates must demonstrate a strong track record in building and managing relationships with both internal and external stakeholders.
• Advanced commercial, financial and analytical skills: The role requires the ability to perform robust commercial and financial analysis, develop sourcing strategies, and use advanced commercial modelling to deliver impactful sourcing solutions.
• Proven experience in project/program management: leading and being responsible for projects/programmes plans end to end.

Qualifications

We are committed to being a truly inclusive retailer, so you’ll be welcomed wherever 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 a 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, and pay advance (where you can access some of your pay before pay day) as well as 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, and you will also be eligible for private healthcare.

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).

Responsibilities

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 Sainsbury’s stores starts out in Sainsbury’s Commercial. Whether it’s the product, proposition, packaging or price, or the fact that something tastes great, our team is responsible for all food, non‑food and clothing items available in Sainsbury’s stores, 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 your products and just as hungry to learn, you’ll fit in perfectly.