<p>New Business Manager (New Categories)<br><br><strong>Division/Department</strong></p> <p>Argos Commercial & Digital / Services & Propositions</p> <p><strong>Location</strong></p> <p>London/Coventry SSC & Home</p> <p><strong>Reporting to</strong></p> <p>Head of SDF Business Development</p> <p><strong>Directly or indirectly manages</strong></p> <ul> <li> <p>Direct Reports - Yes</p> <p>&nbsp;</p></li> <li> <p>Indirect Reports - Yes</p> <p>&nbsp;</p></li> </ul> <p><strong>Budget</strong></p> <p>You will be responsible for the execution of the SDF New Business commercial budget, latest views and feeding into annual budgeting cycles. This includes:</p> <ul> <li>Defining SDF New Business Strategy and new supplier partnerships in accordance with divisional and company strategy&nbsp;</li> <li>Plan and prioritise the how and the when to execute SDF New Business workload, activity and sequencing across categories, alongside ad hoc projects to manage weekly workload, periodic performance, latest view process, and annual budget and goals (recognising direct & indirect teams plans & capacity)</li> </ul> <p><strong>In a nutshell</strong></p> <p>You will be responsible for creating the SDF strategy and managing and executing the New Business SDF strategy focusing on new category launches for the Argos division, to deliver profitable range growth and greater customer choice.&nbsp; Accountable for defining the category opportunities, in collaboration with the Insight teams, owning the strategic narrative and delivery and execution of the ranges; leading supplier acquisition across multiple categories, agreeing ranges and owning commercial agreements, co-ordinating range development through to launch, establishing effective relationships with key internal and external stakeholders at a senior level. You will be seen as a passionate and proactive contributor and leader who is an effective and inspiring communicator and will source new ranges through new and growing supplier partnerships.</p> <p><strong>What I am accountable for&nbsp;</strong></p> <p><strong>Execution of the New Business Strategy</strong></p> <ul> <li>Clearly define the opportunities for new product categories and ranges for Argos</li> <li>Proactively engage stakeholders with the plan, bringing them on the journey, communicating effectively across functions, inspiring others and engaging the newly formed team to deliver</li> <li>Ability to translate market data and customer insight into tangible action, seeking out information to ensure we have a compelling and market leading range supported by suppliers who want to work with our brand.</li> </ul> <p><strong>Range & Source</strong></p> <ul> <li>Develop knowledge of broader GM category strategy to inform new category strategy and prioritisation working closely with the Insight and Category teams</li> <li>Research the market to identify, validate and assess potential supplier routes to meet range gaps.</li> <li>Proactively engage with brands and suppliers, representing Argos, seek to understand suppliers’ range, capabilities and needs to evaluate opportunities.</li> <li>Lead the New Business Buying & Merchandising team to effectively source capable new business routes to maximise assortment growth. Embed best practice and opportunities for improvement as identified.</li> </ul> <p><strong>Supplier management</strong></p> <ul> <li>Contribute to the evolution of SDF New Business processes working closely with the New Business counterpart and the Operations team to manage progress, consulting with Suppliers, Finance, MDS, PI, Digital and Category teams to understand the impact. Propose solutions to maximise financial returns, delivery at pace whilst maintaining customer and service expectations.&nbsp;</li> <li>Introduce suppliers to Argos SDF ways of working and service level expectations. Negotiate and agree commercial terms with suppliers.</li> <li>Develop business case and create supplier and range proposals, to meet identified category headroom opportunities and maximise financial returns and ensure supplier agreements are in line with our customer and service expectations.</li> <li>Lead point of contact for suppliers, providing account management and commercial relationship via team through supplier onboarding and product induction process.</li> </ul> <p><strong>Launch new ranges</strong></p> <ul> <li>Develop, drive and deliver the SDF&nbsp;New Business programme,</li> <li>Be an SDF subject matter expert for internal and external stakeholders</li> <li>Co-ordinate cross functional activity and supplier inputs to manage supplier onboarding and product set up progresses at pace and right first time.</li> <li>Co-ordinate with central teams (Technical, Product, Digital, Finance, SDF Fulfilment, Trade Planning) to ensure on time delivery and appropriate visibility of range launches and ongoing commercial performance, including volume forecasting.</li> </ul> <p><strong>Team management:&nbsp;</strong></p> <ul> <li>Creates clear headline vision, continually brining this to life to the team and ensuring all colleagues know their part to play</li> <li>Lead team to plan weekly priorities, periodic activity, and annual programme & initiatives to achieve the department's budget metrics and objectives.</li> <li>Develop a culture where the as-is status is challenged, and new ways of working are trialled</li> <li>Ensure team activity is legal and compliant, and that any team members are trained to understand their obligations under competition law and ethical training</li> <li>To act as a coach, setting stretching goals, regularly providing feedback and assessing individuals’ performance.</li> <li>Where necessary, deputise for SDF Leadership Team.</li> <li>Manage and support the SDF New Business team, creating an excellent culture of collaborative working, stretching thinking and energy behind delivering the commercial outcomes&nbsp;</li> <li>Plan and prioritise workload for the SDF New Business Team on a weekly basis and set stretching goals to meet team objectives, budget expectations, and drive their development.</li> <li>Performance management and ongoing coaching of team to deliver department goals and values-led culture.</li> </ul> <p><strong>KPIs</strong></p> <ul> <li>Deliver against strategic goals, financial metrics & KPIs</li> <li>Communicate & enforce clear expectations with suppliers</li> <li>Excellent team culture supported by strong We’re Listening results</li> </ul> <p><strong>What I need to know&nbsp;</strong></p> <p><strong>Essential Criteria</strong></p> <ol> <li><strong>Senior commercial experience</strong> in Buying, Merchandising or Account Management within non‑food retail or e‑commerce, with accountability for category or proposition performance.</li> <li><strong>Proven delivery of new categories or propositions</strong>, owning end‑to‑end strategy, supplier sourcing, commercial agreements and launch execution.</li> <li><strong>Strong financial acumen</strong>, with experience managing budgets, forecasts and business cases to deliver profitable growth.</li> <li><strong>Supplier acquisition and negotiation expertise</strong>, with the ability to influence and manage senior internal and external stakeholders.</li> <li><strong>People leadership and programme management experience</strong>, leading multi‑level teams and complex cross‑functional delivery at pace.</li> </ol> <p><strong>Desirable</strong></p> <ul> <li>Proven track record of delivering results to targets as an individual and within a team&nbsp;</li> <li>Demonstrate strong supplier relationships&nbsp;</li> <li>Ability to identify market trends and opportunities.</li> <li>Experience in creating and developing new propositions and commercial strategies, can balance short- and long-term objectives to deliver.</li> <li>Demonstrates understanding of business performance to understand that impact of their decisions</li> </ul> <p><strong>What I need to show</strong></p> <ul> <li>Ability to work under pressure in a fast-moving dynamic retail environment</li> <li>Effective communicator, presenter, and team player with an ability to bring others with them to deliver the strategy, always approachable and visible.</li> <li>Demonstrate confidence and credibility with stakeholders (internal & external), influencing colleagues and suppliers at a Senior level&nbsp;</li> <li>Acts as a change agent and embraces new ways of working and share best-practice, responding resiliently when faced with ambiguity, able to challenge the norm</li> <li>Addresses difficult issues in an open and constructive way. Asking appropriate questions about performance&nbsp;</li> <li>Creating an environment of ownership and pro-active to make things happen</li> <li>Builds an effective network of stakeholders both internally and externally</li> <li>Brave decision making, mitigating risk to make effective commercial choices</li> </ul> <p>Our Valued Behaviours are our common DNA that every colleague should live by and provide the benchmark for how we deliver our goals/individual contribution, and how we relate to other colleagues in the organisation.</p> <ul> <li>Own it <ul> <li>Do what you say you’ll do</li> <li>Don’t walk past a problem</li> </ul></li> <li>Make it better&nbsp; <ul> <li>Improve things for your customer&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</li> <li>Spot opportunities to simplify&nbsp;</li> </ul></li> <li>Be human&nbsp; <ul> <li>Walk in the shoes of your colleagues and customers</li> <li>Show care and respect to everyone</li> </ul></li> </ul> <p>In addition to role modelling the Valued Behaviours, all People Managers should be consistently driving all four Leadership Performance Expectations, all the time. The Leadership Performance Expectations are:&nbsp;</p> <p style="margin-left:0cm"><strong>Obsessed with the customer</strong>: You must:</p> <ul> <li>Use data and insight to understand customer needs and solve customer problems</li> <li>Use our Purpose to support decision making everyday</li> <li>Role model living our customer commitments and guide teams to do the same</li> </ul> <p style="margin-left:0cm"><strong>Obsessed with performance</strong>: You must:</p> <ul> <li>Know and be accountable for your part to play, delivering it brilliantly</li> <li>Align team goals and ruthlessly prioritise resources to deliver our Customer Commitments</li> <li>Assign clear accountabilities, hold people accountable (in your team and out) and act on performance both good and bad</li> </ul> <p style="margin-left:0cm"><strong>Lead beyond boundaries:</strong> You must:</p> <ul> <li>Actively share and seek to understand the big picture, both internal and external</li> <li>Story tell our Next Level Sainsbury’s strategy to drive end-to-end thinking</li> <li>Build productive partnership inside and outside our organisation</li> </ul> <p style="margin-left:0cm"><strong>Lead fearless teams</strong>: You must:</p> <ul> <li>Create the environment for diverse perspective and challenge, where we are always looking to raise the bar</li> <li>Grow everyone around you (up, down and across) through adult-to-adult feedback and coaching</li> <li>Know yourself (strengths, weaknesses and impact on others) and continuously develop</li> </ul> <p><strong>Support we will provide</strong></p> <ul> <li>Sainsbury’s intranet (Our Sainsbury’s) for corporate information and guidance</li> <li>Sainsbury’s L&D, line management support for personal development</li> <li>Market insight and customer data</li> <li>Wider SDF team</li> <li>Supporting departments: Insight, Category teams, Technical & Ethical teams, MDS, Digital & PI teams</li> <li>Work-life balance is important to us, so we offer our colleagues as much flexibility as possible in line with the needs of their role. We trust them to decide how, where and when they work, combining remote and collaborative working with a flexible approach to hours, giving them plenty of time and space for life outside of work whilst delivering against our business goals.</li> </ul> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>&nbsp;</p>