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Food Manager
Sainsbury's
Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames, England, United Kingdom["Full time"]
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What you’ll be doing:
• Role modelling and coaching for high standards and efficiency across the
whole food hall.
• Managing compliance to processes whilst bringing the passion and flare for
great shop keeping and customer service.
• Ensure every single one of our customers gets the food they want when they
shop with us to help ensure we are the first choice for food.
• People management is a big part of the role, managing performance and
capability, conducting disciplinaries and ensuring scheduling and pay are
accurate.
• At times you will assume overall responsibility for running the store, making
sure that all colleagues are given direction and support to deliver for the
customer.
What makes a great food manager:
• Previous line management responsibilities in a fast-paced, operational
environment.
• Provides brilliant customer service and coaches a team to do the same.
• Delivers KPI's or other performance indicators.
• Can manage disciplinaries, performance issues or other similar employee
relations issues.
• Leads operations and comfortable doing this alone in the absence of more
senior management.
Essential Criteria:
• A track record of delivering exceptional customer experiences, with evidence
of coaching others to consistently raise the bar.
• Experience leading teams in a dynamic, customer-facing environment — you’ve
inspired others, driven high performance, and created a culture where
colleagues thrive.
• Leadership experience in a high-volume, fast-paced operational setting —
whether in retail, food service, or hospitality — where you’ve overseen daily
operations, solved business problems, and kept teams focused on what matters
most: delivering for customers.
• Proven success in delivering against a wide range of KPIs — from sales and
stock availability to customer satisfaction and colleague engagement, you’ve
made a measurable difference.
• Experience managing complex people matters, including performance, absence,
and formal employee relations cases, with confidence and fairness.
RESPONSIBILITIES
Leading in our stores:
Our management teams don’t just run stores - they’re the driving force behind
our business. With bold leadership, a passion for service and an eye for
opportunity, they empower teams to raise the bar every single day for our
customers. Whether it's product availability, safety standards, or delivering
seamless daily operations, they’re hands-on, sleeves-rolled-up changemakers. And
the impact? Work becomes more rewarding for our colleagues, and shopping becomes
a next-level experience for every customer who walks through our doors. This is
how we bring our purpose to life, one powerful action at a time.
QUALIFICATIONS
Working for us has great rewards
Salary will be dependent upon your experience as well as the store size,
complexity and location. Alongside this, we also offer a great range of benefits
for our managers, including:
• Discount card – 10% discount off on your shopping at Sainsbury’s, Argos, Tu
and Habitat after four weeks. This increases to 15% discount off at
Sainsbury’s every Friday and Saturday.
• An annual bonus scheme based on our, and your, performance.
• Free food and hot drinks provided for Colleagues in all our stores.
• Generous holiday entitlement, maternity and paternity leave.
• Pension – we’ll match 4-7.5% of your pension contributions.
• Sainsbury’s share scheme – build up an investment at discounted rates.
• Wellbeing support – access to emotional support, counselling, legal and
financial advice.
• Colleague networks – link with like-minded people to help fulfil your
potential.
• Our Cycle to Work scheme gives you the opportunity to hire a new bike and
cycling equipment, whilst saving on tax and NI.
• Special offers on gym memberships, restaurants, holidays, retail vouchers and
more.
An inclusive place to work and shop:
We are dedicated to being a truly inclusive retailer, where every colleague can
achieve their full potential and every customer feels welcome when they shop
with us.
To support this commitment, our colleagues may be entitled to a range of
enhanced discretionary leave for families, as well as support for carers. We
provide our colleagues resources to help them understand and support their role
and their team effectively. Our internal colleague networks seek to ensure true
representation for everyone, helping us identify and remove barriers that our
colleagues may face. We are proud to offer a range of development opportunities,
including mentorship, training, and career progression pathways, to help our
colleagues grow and succeed. We also celebrate diversity through various
initiatives and events, fostering a culture of inclusion and respect. If you
would like to learn more about our commitment to inclusivity, please take a
look here
[https://www.about.sainsburys.co.uk/sustainability/better-for-everyone/diversity-and-inclusion].
Should you require any reasonable adjustments during the application or
interview stages, please let us know, and we will endeavour to support you.