Head of Transformation

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.

Joining Sainsbury’s as the Head of Transformation means being at the forefront of shaping and delivering our ambitious business agenda, driving innovation, making a real impact, and shaping the future of our business.

As part of a dedicated team in the Transformation Division, you will have the opportunity to collaborate closely with stakeholders across the organisation, translating our strategy into transformative programmes that enhance our customer experience and drive sustainable growth. With the support of talented colleagues, you will lead complex, end-to-end transformation initiatives and have the chance to showcase your thought leadership, strategic programme management skills, and ability to drive change at pace.

At Sainsbury’s, we value curiosity, agility, and collaborative ways of working, and you’ll have access to a network of subject matter experts and resources to maximise your potential.

You will play a pivotal role in shaping and delivering our multi-year Transformation agenda, working closely with the CTO and Operating Board. Employing an outcome-centric and hypothesis-led approach, you will provide thought leadership, challenge the status quo, and drive innovative solutions to solve our toughest business problems.

You will be responsible for setting up the right ways of working, engaging stakeholders at all levels, and owning the end-to-end storytelling to inspire change and alignment. Leveraging your network and collaborating with subject matter experts, you will maximise collective knowledge and capability to deliver successful outcomes.

Additionally, you will champion a transformation mindset, demonstrate agility in decision-making and problem-solving, and ensure that programme delivery is underpinned by strong business cases and measurable progress. Throughout your role, you will exhibit strong communication, teamwork, and leadership skills, fostering collaborative and agile ways of working across the organisation.

A strategic leader with a growth mindset and a passion for driving end-to-end thinking and delivering impactful change. With your experience in cross-functional working and successful delivery of complex programmes, you demonstrate exceptional thought leadership and the ability to navigate through ambiguity to provide practical recommendations. Your creative mindset and curiosity enable you to challenge the status quo, drive innovative solutions, and shape the narrative to inspire change at all levels of the organisation.

You will have experience of implementing large-scale physical automation and warehouse management system programmes that drive efficiency in logistics, require supply chain routes and processes to be rebuilt, whilst working collaboratively with commercial and retail divisions to maximise the business benefits of the change. You will be fully accountable for delivering this change across all business divisions.

With your strong communication skills and stakeholder management capabilities, you build relationships effortlessly and foster high-performing teams to accelerate the pace of Transformation. As a role model for positive, collaborative, and agile ways of working, you constantly seek continuous learning and utilise data and insights to inform strategic decisions and solve complex problems.

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 get 10% off at Sainsbury's, Argos, TU and Habitat after 4 weeks. This increases to 15% off at Sainsbury’s every Friday and Saturday and 15% off at Argos every pay day. 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 65% of salary, depending on how we perform (in cash and shares).

Your wellbeing is important to us too. You'll receive an annual holiday allowance, and you can buy additional 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, pay 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. You'll also receive a company car cash allowance unless you are going to travel 10,000 business miles in your role, then you'll be able to choose a car. And if you ever need it there is also an employee assistance programme, you will also be eligible for private healthcare too.
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).