Category Planner - Produce
Salary: Competitive Plus Benefits
Location: Holborn Store Support Centre, London, EC1N 2HT
Contract type: Fixed-Term Assignment
Business area: Food Commercial
Closing date: 15 June 2025
Requisition ID: 30665189
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.
Why join us
At the core of Produce is the Category Planning & Ranging team. Every day we champion our customers, spot new commercial opportunities, and consider the impact on store colleagues to orchestrate a delicate balancing act that drives our team to greater success.
As a Category Planner for Produce you’ll support the Senior Category Planner to deliver the overall Category Strategy through key events, secondary space, in aisle and across channels. You’ll get to work alongside a range of stakeholders, from Buyers, Marketing, Commercial Operations and our supply base. The successful candidate with have strong project management skills, and a highly organised approach. With in-depth analysis and a keen eye for detail, you will sit at the heart of how we deliver against the First Choice for Food Strategy.
What you'll do
- Represent Produce from a customer planning perspective with Marketing and other internal stakeholders, ensuring our fair share of voice on the customer plan
- Support the management and instore activation of value campaigns including Aldi Price Match and Nectar Prices
- Use data and analytics to support decision making on our value position and campaigns, and challenging the status quo
- Manage and be accountable for the execution of shippers in Produce, working cross functionally to drive best practice and right first-time delivery
- Support with the planning and activation of key events such as Christmas and Easter
- Support on the implementation and communication of the Retail execution of seasonal events, and any other category in-store activation, ensuring that all POS is raised correctly, and plans are communicated accordingly
Who you are:
- Organised individual who thrives on planning, prioritising and coordinating
- Excellent project management skills including independent thinking, goal setting and results orientation. Ability to manage and drive process timelines and dependencies
- Excellent communication and ability to influence at all levels
- An individual comfortable working in a dynamic and constantly changing environment
- Solid understanding of retail, insight and customers with buying or promotions knowledge an advantage although not necessary
- Strong analytical skills including interpreting data into insights, problem solving, and building and presenting recommendations to stakeholders
- Initiative and drive to solve problems and improve processes
- Excellent Excel and PowerPoint skills
- Ability to build great working relationships across Sainsbury’s and suppliers
- Ability to work within a team and make decisions best for the customer, providing support and challenge
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: 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.
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.
Please see www.sainsburys.jobs for a range of our benefits (note, length of service and eligibility criteria may apply).
