<p>Why join us</p> <p>Joining the Category Planning team at Sainsbury's means being part of a team that is always one step ahead, driving innovation and delivering exceptional value to our customers. As a Category Planner for Food For Later, you'll have the opportunity to collaborate with a diverse group of strategic thinkers and problem solvers, working alongside stakeholders from various departments to execute our promotional plans and maximise our category's impact. With your analytical skills and attention to detail, you'll play a vital role in shaping our promotional strategy, utilising data and insights to drive improvements and deliver on our corporate objectives. At Sainsbury's, we value work-life balance and provide a flexible working environment that empowers our colleagues to excel in their roles while enjoying a fulfilling personal life. Join us to make a difference and be part of a team that thrives on providing the best for our customers.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>What you'll do</p> <p>As Category Planner for Convenience, you’ll work alongside a range of stakeholders, from Buyers through to Marketing, BU Ops, Convenience Central teams, and our supply base. With in-depth analysis and a keen eye for detail, you will sit at the heart of how we deliver against the Sainsbury’s Strategy, managing our promotional space to highlight value and innovation to our customers, and driving convenience activations and seasonal marketing campaigns.</p> <p>You will be accountable for managing the execution of the promotional plan across secondary space, developing a convenience trade and customer plan, and representing convenience with Marketing and other stakeholders to champion channel priorities. You’ll work closely with Marketing to deliver market-leading activation, lean on insight and data to inform decisions, lead performance reviews, coordinate meal deals and multibuys, and support the implementation and communication of retail execution for promotional plans and seasonal events.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>Who you are</p> <p>You are a proactive and strategic thinker with a keen eye for identifying opportunities and making effective decisions in a fast-paced retail environment. With your solid understanding of retail, customer insights, and buying or promotions knowledge, you play a pivotal role in delivering the overall value proposition for the category. Your exceptional project management and analytical skills enable you to effectively manage promotional timelines, optimise promotional space, and drive improvements through data-driven insights. With excellent communication and influencing abilities, you collaborate closely with stakeholders across the organisation and build strong working relationships to ensure the successful implementation and communication of promotional plans. Your strong sense of initiative, problem-solving skills, and drive for process improvement contribute to the continuous evolution of the Food For Later promotional strategy, ultimately enhancing the customer experience and achieving our corporate goals.</p> <p>Essential Criteria:</p> <ul> <li><strong>Proven project management experience</strong>, with ownership of end-to-end processes such as POS launches, timeline coordination, and stakeholder engagement.</li> <li><strong>Ability to build and maintain strong relationships with cross-functional teams</strong>, including Buyers, Commercial, Supply Chain, Marketing, and Retail.</li> <li><strong>Demonstrable decision-making and problem-solving skills</strong>, including challenging working groups and driving solutions to completion.</li> <li><strong>Strong organisational capability</strong>, with evidence of prioritising, coordinating, and managing multiple tasks in a fast-paced environment.</li> <li><strong>Analytical skills to interpret data and generate insights</strong>, including performance reviews and presenting clear recommendations confidently to key stakeholders.</li> </ul>