Assistant Buyer
Salary: Competitive Plus Benefits
Location: London Store Support Centre and Home, London, EC1M 6HA
Contract type: Permanent
Business area: Finance & Business Development
Closing date: 05 September 2025
Requisition ID: 400015929
We’d all like amazing work to do, and real work-life balance. That’s waiting for you at Sainsbury’s. For a FTSE business, we move incredibly fast. When we’re not handling projects, we’re helping all corners of the wider group with what they’re trying to achieve. And around here, you can see the results of your work as soon as you walk into a store, which gives you a real sense of purpose and responsibility. Better still, the team around you will listen to your ideas and opinions, and you’ll have every chance to try something new. The sheer scale and complexity of our set-up means there’s always something else around the corner, and we’ll help and support you every step of the way. We’re trusted to get on with it. So get ready to make things happen here.
Why join us
Joining Sainsbury's as an Assistant Buyer in our Procurement team offers an exciting opportunity to make a tangible impact on our business. Through our comprehensive 2-year programme, you will gain exposure to various aspects of procurement and supplier management, allowing you to develop essential skills and knowledge in researching categories, building plans, executing tenders, and negotiating contracts. As you progress, you will delve into the strategic side of procurement, understanding how your contributions drive real change and add value to the organisation. With a strong focus on collaboration, continuous learning, and personal growth, you will have the support and resources needed to become a professional buyer. Join our team and be part of a dynamic environment that encourages innovation, curiosity, and the pursuit of excellence in delivering results for a leading multi-channel organisation.
What you'll do
As an Assistant Buyer for Procurement at Sainsbury's, you will play an integral role in executing sourcing strategies and category plans under the guidance of Procurement Managers and Senior Buyers. You will provide analytical and research support to projects, analysing data and identifying trends that may impact the business. Collaborating cross-functionally, you will engage with internal stakeholders and subject matter experts to ensure effective supplier management and contract compliance. Your responsibilities will also include conducting due diligence on data sets, prioritising workload, and proactively identifying and escalating risks. By demonstrating curiosity, adaptability, and excellent communication skills, you will build relationships with stakeholders, contribute to the simplification and innovation of processes, and act as a key contributor to the achievement of business objectives.
Who you are
As an Assistant Buyer for Procurement for Sainsbury's, you are a driven and ambitious professional who is passionate about delivering exceptional results for the business. You thrive in a dynamic and fast-paced environment, and are eager to learn and grow in the field of procurement and supplier management. With excellent organisational skills and the ability to manage multiple priorities, you have experience in project management and possess strong analytical capabilities to turn data into valuable insights. Your exceptional communication and influencing skills enable you to confidently engage and collaborate with various stakeholders, explaining complex ideas in a clear and concise manner. As a team player, you actively build trusted relationships and contribute to a collaborative and supportive work environment. Committed to delivering results, you approach challenges with resilience, adaptability, and a problem-solving mindset. With a natural curiosity and a desire to continuously improve, you contribute to driving innovation and simplification in procurement practises.
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 5% 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. 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. 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). Please note, due to the volume of applications we receive, our roles may close early.
