Production Manager
Salary: Competitive Plus Benefits
Location: Bedford Depot, Kempston, MK43 9AA
Contract type: Fixed-Term Assignment
Business area: Marketing
Closing date: 05 May 2026
Requisition ID: 400058504
Why join us
Joining Sainsbury's as the Production Manager for Tu Studio offers the opportunity to lead and inspire a team in advancing our photo studio production operations towards creative excellence and efficiency. Collaborating closely with Studio Leads and stakeholders, you will play a pivotal role in shaping the future of our Ecom studio while driving continuous improvement and innovation. With a focus on sample planning, forecasting, and client communication, this role provides a dynamic environment where you can make a tangible impact and contribute to the success and growth of our Tu studio, all within a supportive and collaborative team setting.
What you'll do
As the Production Manager for TU Studio at Sainsbury's, you will lead and develop a team of Production and sample coordinators, inspiring them to create clear goals and objectives while providing coaching and constructive feedback for their growth and enhancement of production and forecasting skills. Your role will involve collaborating with key stakeholders to understand their requirements and provide creative solutions, maintaining professionalism and clear communication in all interactions. You will oversee the sample and image workflow processes, driving continuous improvements to ensure the studio evolves efficiently and delivers desired results. Additionally, you will analyse studio performance metrics, deliver efficiencies to meet business goals, and collaborate with the studio to achieve service level agreements and key performance indicators, while also managing the production budget, resource planning, and project and shoot planning to ensure smooth execution of shoots.
Who you are
As the Production Manager for TU Studio at Sainsbury's, you are a seasoned professional with a strong track record in leading and inspiring studio teams towards creative excellence and operational efficiency. With a keen eye for detail and exceptional organisational skills, you excel in sample management, resource planning, and continuous process improvement. Your ability to foster collaborative relationships with stakeholders and effectively communicate creative objectives ensures the successful execution of projects while maintaining alignment with brand guidelines and business objectives.
Essential criteria
Proven experience leading and developing studio, production, or operations teams, including setting clear objectives and providing ongoing coaching and feedback.
Demonstrable experience managing photo studio or creative production operations, with responsibility for end‑to‑end delivery.
Strong experience overseeing sample management, workflow planning, and image or asset production processes.
Proven ability to plan, forecast, and resource production activity to meet business demand within a creative agency environment.
Experience in project, shoot, and production planning, ensuring smooth and timely execution.
#LI-SM1
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).
