Head of Competition & Consumer Law
Salary: Competitive Plus Benefits
Location: London Store Support Centre and Home, London, EC1M 6HA
Contract type: Permanent
Business area: Corporate Services
Closing date: 08 August 2025
Requisition ID: 400008803
Why join us
Joining the Legal Services Department at Sainsbury's as the Head of Competition & Consumer Law offers a unique opportunity to lead a high-performing team of competition and consumer lawyers in supporting the business's strategic objectives. With the chance to work on complex and high-profile competition and consumer law projects, you will play a pivotal role in shaping the legal landscape within the organisation while collaborating with senior stakeholders and influencing key decision-making processes. This role provides a platform for personal and professional growth, enabling you to drive impactful change, manage risk effectively, and contribute to the company's ongoing success in a dynamic and challenging environment.
What you'll do
As the Head of Competition & Consumer Law at Sainsbury's, you will lead a high-performing team of competition and consumer lawyers to ensure compliance with competition and consumer laws, with both areas having equal time commitment and focus. Your role will involve providing pragmatic, timely advice to various teams across the business, taking a lead advisory role in high-profile projects, and managing complex competition litigation projects. You will proactively identify and manage competition and consumer protection law risks, develop lobbying strategies for future trends, oversee merger control work, and ensure compliance with regulatory requirements. Additionally, you will collaborate with key regulators, instruct external resources effectively, and contribute to setting the tone and culture for the Legal Services Department, which is part of the Corporate Services Division (covering Cosec, Insurance and Health & Safety).
Who you are
You are a seasoned legal professional with extensive experience and expertise in UK competition legislation, mergers, regulatory practise, and consumer law. Your proven ability to lead and motivate high-performing teams, collaborate with senior stakeholders to Board level, and provide pragmatic, commercially sound advice in complex and confidential corporate projects demonstrates your commitment to driving compliance, managing risk, and delivering financial benefits to the business. With your exceptional influencing skills, strategic mindset, and commitment to ongoing personal development, you play a crucial role in shaping the legal landscape and culture within the organisation, driving success and innovation in the ever-evolving regulatory environment.
Essential criteria
- Experienced legal professional; qualified solicitor or barrister, with credible in-house and/or private practice experience
- Competition and Consumer law experience; In-depth knowledge of UK competition legislation, mergers, regulatory practice, including appetite to lead and learn on competition litigation work, and demonstrable appetite for and knowledge of DMCC Act’s consumer provisions, including related regulators/industry bodies
- Experience, or compelling appetite, to lead and motivate a high performing team, creating an environment for autonomy, diverse perspective and challenge
- Demonstratable experience of working under pressure, handling high profile, challenging situations involving colleagues up to Board level or equivalent
- Proven collaborator and influencer across senior, large, complex, multi-disciplinary teams
#LI-UH1
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 save 10% on your shopping online and instore at Sainsbury's, Argos, TU and Habitat, and we regularly increase the discount to 15% at points during the year. 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 65% of salary (which may vary for Nectar360), depending on how we perform (in cash and shares). Your wellbeing is important to us too. You'll receive an annual holiday allowance, and you can buy up to an additional week's holiday, and we provide private healthcare. We also offer other benefits that will help your money go further such as season ticket loans, cycle to work scheme, health cash plans, salary 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. You'll also receive a company car cash allowance unless you are going to travel 10,000 business miles in your role, then you'll be able to choose a car. 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).
