Head of Executive Leadership Development
Salary: Competitive Plus Benefits
Location: London Store Support Centre, London, EC1M 6HA
Contract type: Permanent
Business area: Group HR
Closing date: 15 August 2025
Requisition ID: 400010599
We’d all like amazing work to do, and real work-life balance. That’s waiting for you at Sainsbury’s. We’re the first to say we do HR differently here. For a start, we work as business partners and specialists. That’s whether we’re making sure that nearly 180,000 colleagues are paid on time, or that our strategy is helping us attract the right people, put them in the right place, and unlock their talent. This is a fast-moving business and our policies and rewards keep up too. That’s why we’re as flexible as we can be about where and when you work. We’re also flexible about your future. There’s always room to move up or across, if that’s what you want. We really value different perspectives so there’s no one opinion, no single path, and yours is important. What’s certain is that you’ll be joining one of the happiest, most engaged teams in the business.
Head of Executive Leadership Development
(People Division/ Talent Capability and Development)
About the team
We are a forward-thinking team committed to fostering a culture of continuous growth, challenge, and innovation. Our environment thrives on diverse perspectives, open dialogue, and a collective ambition to raise the bar in all we do. We champion collaboration, value each voice, and believe that success is built through mutual support and active engagement across every level of our organisation.
More about the role
As part of our division, you will play a pivotal role in shaping the way we grow and develop both as individuals and as a collective. Day-to-day, you will help create an environment where constructive challenge is welcomed and every team member is empowered to realise their full potential. You will engage in coaching, feedback, and personal development—supporting your colleagues up, down, and across the organisation.
You will have the opportunity to participate in key projects to advance our culture of continuous improvement, build capability, and drive change. Expect to work closely with thought leaders, attend external conferences, and access a range of personal development tools as you contribute to our evolving landscape.
More about you
You are someone who embraces self-awareness and strives for growth, recognising your strengths and development areas, and seeking feedback to enhance your impact on others. You bring a passion for fostering talent in those around you and demonstrate resilience and adaptability in a changing environment. Your approach to feedback is collaborative and constructive, and you are committed to your own learning journey as well as that of your peers.
Your behaviours reflect curiosity, openness, and the courage to challenge the status quo. You value diverse perspectives and are proactive in building an inclusive, high-performing culture.
Essential criteria
- Demonstrated ability to deliver constructive, adult-to-adult feedback and coaching across all levels of the organisation
- Proven experience facilitating environments that encourage diverse perspectives and open challenge
- Experience utilising and/or supporting the use of modern personal development tools (e.g. psychometric assessments, online development platforms)
- Leadership Development Design: Can craft structured programmes, strategies, and experiences that cultivate leadership capabilities in individuals, teams and organisation.
- Experience designing and leading strategic sessions with senior leaders that foster alignment, shared vision and actionable plans among senior leaders e.g. facilitating peer to peer learning circles that push boundaries, disrupt conventional thinking and spark breakthrough ideas.
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, 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).
