Location
London

Hours
Full Time (hours to be confirmed)

Salary
Negotiable, dependent on experience, store size, complexity and location

About the Role
As a Lead Food Manager at Sainsbury's, you will lead a small team of food managers to oversee the grocery shop floor in one of our supermarkets. You will execute exciting trading events by collaborating closely with the store leadership team, ensuring success during key periods such as Christmas and Easter. You will regularly take full accountability for the store in the absence of the store manager, role modelling and coaching for high standards and efficiency across the food hall.

Your responsibilities include managing compliance with processes and safety standards while bringing passion and flair for excellent shopkeeping and creating fantastic shopping experiences. You will be responsible for a large team of colleagues, ensuring they perform at their best, are present on the shop floor when needed, and that all people matters are handled appropriately—whether celebrating successes or managing difficult situations.

Our management teams don’t just run stores—they are the driving force behind our business. With bold leadership, a passion for service, and an eye for opportunity, you will empower teams to raise the bar every day for our customers. Whether it’s product availability, safety standards, or delivering seamless daily operations, you will be a hands-on, sleeves-rolled-up changemaker, making work more rewarding for colleagues and shopping a next-level experience for customers. This is how we bring our purpose to life, one powerful action at a time.

Experience
- Proven experience leading large teams in a fast-paced, customer-focused environment, developing leaders and building high-performing teams.
- Track record of delivering exceptional customer experiences across complex operations through your team.
- Demonstrated success in delivering and improving KPIs, including sales, stock availability, customer satisfaction, and colleague engagement.
- Experience managing sensitive and complex people matters such as performance, absence, disciplinaries, and formal employee relations with confidence, fairness, and sound judgement.
- Leadership experience in an operational environment such as retail, hospitality, or food service, with ownership of departmental performance and ability to lead the store in the absence of senior leadership.
- Proven ability to lead change by rolling out new ways of working, embedding new systems, or shifting team mindsets and making change stick.

About you
- A passionate leader who is consistently ambitious for customers and colleagues, inspiring your team to do the same.
- Comfortable managing alone in the absence of more senior management.
- Driven to deliver high performance with a focus on efficiency and engagement.
- Confident in using data and interpreting KPIs or other performance indicators to transform insights into meaningful actions.
- A champion of inclusivity who builds an inclusive team and working environment.
- Skilled in managing complex people matters including disciplinaries, performance issues, and employee relations.

Qualifications
Relevant leadership experience in operational environments is essential. Specific formal qualifications are not stated but experience managing teams and operations in retail or similar sectors is required.