Operating Model Manager
Salary: Competitive Plus Benefits
Location: London Store Support Centre and Home, London, EC1M 6HA
Contract type: Permanent
Business area: Retail
Closing date: 14 August 2025
Requisition ID: 400009908
We’d all like amazing work to do, and real work-life balance. That’s waiting for you at Sainsbury’s. As the link between sellers and buyers, retail and head office, our retail operations team is the cog that keeps things running. With teams focused on store facing, labour, transformation, online, delivery and contact centre work, we touch almost every part of the business. It’s an incredibly fast-paced environment where you need to pivot not just daily, but often hourly. So while we plan all we can, it’s vital that we all think outside our job descriptions and look to optimise and improve how we do everything. There’s also a real team ethos. After all, it’s people like you who are going to truly transform this part of the business.
Why join us
Joining Sainsbury's as a Retail Operating Model Manager means being part of a forward-thinking and dynamic team that is dedicated to shaping the future of retail operations and customer experience. With a focus on collaboration, innovation, and continuous improvement, you will have the opportunity to lead transformative change initiatives, drive efficiencies, and ensure that our operating models are aligned with our business strategy and customer priorities. As a valued member of our team, you will have the chance to make a real impact, develop your leadership skills, and contribute to the success of a leading retail organisation that is committed to delivering exceptional customer standards and service.
What you'll do
As the Retail Operating Model Manager at Sainsbury's, you will play a crucial role in facilitating and delivering activities that align with our Retail Priorities and business strategy, ensuring that the operating models are fit for stores and consistently meet the evolving needs of our customers. You will work collaboratively across various departments and teams to review and enhance current operating models, conduct productivity analysis, and redesign end-to-end processes to drive customer satisfaction and improve operational efficiency. Your responsibilities will include partnering with senior leaders, regional directors, store managers, and category teams to translate insights into robust methodologies and resources that support the achievement of financial and customer outcome targets. Operating in a dynamic and fast-paced environment, you will lead and challenge your team to drive transformative thinking, embed efficiencies, and ensure cost-effectiveness in the day-to-day operation of the retail models while maintaining a focus on delivering exceptional customer service and driving business growth.
Who you are
As a Retail Operating Model Manager for Sainsbury's, you are a seasoned professional with a proven track record in delivering change through process improvement and enhancing end-to-end store operational processes. Your deep understanding of how stores serve customers, coupled with strong commercial acumen and analytical skills, enables you to create compelling business cases and drive impactful strategies that align with the organisation's goals. With exceptional communication and inclusive leadership abilities, you thrive in fast-paced environments, fostering collaboration, innovation, and continuous improvement to deliver exceptional customer standards and business results.
Essential Skills
- Proven experience of delivering change through Process Improvement
- Extensive knowledge of end-to-end Store operational processes
- Strong commercial acumen and ability to analyse insight and data to create strong and compelling business cases and arguments
- Exceptional communication skills, both written and oral with the ability to adapt the message and form of delivery to wide-ranging audiences
- A high degree of critical and analytical thinking to solve complex problems
- Accountability for driving business results and challenging initiatives that are not aligned to our values and strategic aims
- Benchmark, anticipating future change and opportunities and pre-empting key problems that need to be addressed to support the long-term agenda and strategy
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 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 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, interest free car loan of up to £10k, 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. 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).
