The Own Brand
Division at Sainsbury's
The Own Brand division are at the heart of the Sainsbury's brand as we are responsible for the integrity of every own label product that we sell. That encompasses every aspect of the product - where and how it is sourced, its packaging, how well it meets our customers' needs, the intrinsic safety and health values, and, of course, how tasty it is!
View the PlacementsWe have a very diverse team covering roles in areas such as Product Technology, Product Development, Product Quality & Safety, Agriculture, Packaging, Programme Management, Sustainability and Ethical Trade. We work with hundreds of suppliers around the world to source thousands of products; our team are involved at every step of the process from finding the next new product idea and bringing it to market to working with suppliers to set quality standards. We run step-changing projects that fully reflect the Sainsbury's corporate values in our product range. Within Sainsbury's, we work closely with our Trading, Supply Chain and Marketing colleagues to ensure the complete product offer comes together in store for our customers. Every week our products are in millions of customers' baskets so the impact we can have is truly phenomenal.
Our Product Technologists are responsible for the quality and safety of our own brand products, they work closely with our suppliers and know exactly how every product is made. They work to protect and enhance the Sainsbury's brand through driving key customer initiatives such as sustainable ingredients, animal welfare and packaging reduction.
Product Developers are always thinking about our customers and their needs. They take this insight to develop new products and work with our suppliers, Product Technologists and Packaging team to bring the products to market.
The Product Quality & Safety team work with the Product Technologists to ensure that all our products are safe and legal from a microbiological and chemical perspective. They are responsible for assessing products against set quality standards and testing new product ideas with customers. Our Nutrition experts also sit within this team working alongside our Product Technologists and Product Developers to ensure we maintain our position of 'best for food and health'.
The Graduates Own Brand Scheme
The Own Brand scheme is two years long and includes a number of different placements. You'll begin with four months in store where you'll learn the day-to-day processes of a retail operation. Then you'll return to the Store Support Centre to complete a number of different placements such as a Product Technologist or Product Developer role, or a role within one of the specialist functions such as programme management etc.
Throughout the scheme you'll be working on real projects so you'll be making an impact from day one and we'll support you with a range of technical and personal development training opportunities to make sure you have all the skills you need to succeed in the short, medium and long term.
Profiles
View Debbie's Profile View Kate's ProfileRead more about the Own Brand division in our Working Together magazine:Working together - Sept 2009 Working together - June 2010
Our Packaging Technologists use their expertise to advise Product Technologists, Product Developers and suppliers alike on new innovative packaging formats and materials. As part of cross-functional project teams they launch new products and also contribute to our stretching packaging reduction targets.
The Agriculture and Sustainability teams specialise in many diverse areas of the food industry such as animal welfare, aquaculture, ethical trade, worker welfare and sustainable raw material supply chains. Their knowledge is invaluable to help our Product Technologists and suppliers protect and enhance the Sainsbury's brand standards landing many industry-leading initiatives such as Freedom Foods, sustainable palm oil and MSC accreditation.
Our Programme Management team ensure that we are able to deliver all of our planned product launches and key projects every year. They look ahead to the next 5 years and beyond to make sure that the whole division is fit for the future.
Eligibility Criteria
We are looking for graduates with food-related degrees such as:
- Food science/technology/chemistry/marketing
- Microbiology
- Nutrition/dietetics
- Agricultural Sciences
- Other science related degrees such as
Biology/ChemistryPhysics
Graduate Scheme minimum criteria:
- At least a 2:1 degree classification
- B in GCSE Maths and English
- 1 A and 2 B's at A Level
Placements minimum criteria
Criteria for placements are identical to the criteria for our graduate schemes. We recognise you may not have graduated at this point, therefore we ask that you are on track for a 2:1.
