PA to Corporate Affairs Director
Salary: Competitive Plus Benefits
Location: Holborn Store Support Centre and Home, London, EC1N 2HT
Contract type: Permanent
Business area: Corporate Affairs
Closing date: 09 June 2025
Requisition ID: 400000008
We’d all like amazing work to do, and real work-life balance. That’s waiting for you at Sainsbury’s. This is where you’ll enjoy a broad range of projects, no matter what your level, because our Corporate Affairs team is non-hierarchical and truly plugged in to the rest of the business. Whether it’s internal, external or government relations, you’ll have the chance to collaborate with everyone from food waste to health, or general merchandising to Nectar, in order to support some amazing campaigns. You’ll help build trust around Sainsbury’s with customers, senior stakeholders, media and more. And if non-linear progression is what you’re after, you’ll find opportunities are all around.
Hybrid - London SSC (minimum 2-3 days per week) and Home
Why join us
Joining Sainsbury's as a Personal Assistant for our Corporate Affairs Director, is a unique opportunity to be at the heart of the communications team in major retail organisation, contributing to the smooth operation and success of our Corporate Affairs teams, consisting of Corporate Communications and Campaigns, Government Relations, Consumer Communications and Internal Communications. You will play a pivotal role in managing busy schedules, handling correspondence, and ensuring effective communication. With a focus on professionalism, integrity, and confidentiality, this role demands a keen eye for detail, excellent organisational skills, and the ability to navigate a complex and fast-paced environment. By joining our team, you will become part of a supportive and dynamic organisation that values collaboration and offers opportunities for growth and development.
What you'll do
You will play a vital role in providing professional and comprehensive administrative support. Your main responsibilities will include managing and prioritising diaries, ensuring they are well-informed and prepared for their commitments, managing correspondence, and handling incoming emails efficiently. You will also be responsible for building a strong network with other executive PAs within the company to coordinate meetings. Additionally, you may be required to collate reports, make travel arrangements, and handle ad hoc administrative duties as needed. This role requires excellent communication skills, a high level of discretion, and the ability to plan and prioritise effectively. Your attention to detail, proficiency in MS Office, and can-do attitude will contribute to your success in this highly visible and confidential role.
Who you are
You are an experienced Personal Assistant who is highly professional and thrives in a fast-paced and complex environment. You possess excellent communication skills and the ability to build relationships and liaise confidently at all levels. You are highly skilled in prioritising and organising workloads, demonstrating a clear sense of initiative and taking ownership of tasks. Confidentiality and discretion are second nature to you, and you maintain a positive and flexible attitude to deliver exceptional support in response to changing priorities. You have a keen attention to detail, ensuring accuracy even under pressure. Your maturity, grounded confidence, and ability to perform at the highest professional standards make you a valuable asset in this role.
What you need to know and show
Essentials
· Significant experience as a Personal Assistant at Director level within a fast moving and complex environment
· Excellent verbal and written communication skills with the ability to build relationships, influence and liaise clearly and confidently at all levels
· Proven ability to plan, organise and prioritise workload
· Highly skilled in communicating with tact, discretion, and diplomacy on confidential and sensitive matters
· Ability to maintain high levels of attention to detail and accuracy whilst working under pressure
Desirables
· High confidence in the presence of senior people
· A clear sense of initiative and takes ownership to resolve issues with minimum supervision or direction
· Proficient in MS office suite programmes (Outlook, Excel, PowerPoint, Word, SharePoint and Teams)
· Demonstrates a positive, "can-do" attitude and a high level of flexibility to provide support in response to changing priorities and needs
· Ability to maintain high levels of attention to detail and accuracy whilst working under pressure
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 10% 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, 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.
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).
