Head of Technical- Seasonal & Home
Salary: Competitive Plus Benefits
Location: Coventry Store Support Centre - Ansty Park and Home, Coventry, CV7 9RD
Contract type: Permanent
Business area: Non Food
Closing date: 05 February 2025
Requisition ID: 287694
We’d all like amazing work to do, and real work-life balance. That’s waiting for you at Sainsbury’s. From fragrance to car care, clothing and pots and pans, our General Merchandise team delivers all the non-food items for Sainsbury’s, Habitat and Argos customers. This multi-brand environment means you get to work across most areas. You can also be a pioneer, because the team believes in being brave, iterating and learning as they go. They also develop deep connections to other departments, which opens up a lot of different career opportunities for you. What’s certain is that you’ll spend time on the shop floor to get closer to customers, and bring a broad perspective and the full support of your manager with you wherever you decide to develop next.
What you'll do
As the Head of Technical at Sainsbury's- Home & Seasonal, you will be responsible for leading and motivating a team of Technical Managers and Product Technologists to deliver technical excellence, ensuring the safety, integrity, ethical standards, and quality compliance of all products within the category. You will drive the technical strategy and innovation programme, working closely with stakeholders to deliver on Corporate Responsibility & Sustainability targets, while also managing the category supply base strategy to reduce product risk and ensure quality management. Your role will include building strong supplier relationships and maintaining excellence in product knowledge and industry expertise to drive continuous improvement and innovation. Leading a motivated global technical team with clear objectives, you will provide leadership, fostering a culture of inclusion and high performance.
Who you are
Possesses a background in product engineering or product development with extensive experience in technical fields and industry, specifically within retail or supply base sectors.
Demonstrated success and positive outcomes in managing supplier bases and supply chains.
Proficient in risk management, technical key performance indicators (KPIs), and governance practices.
Exhibits strong relationship-building skills with both colleagues and suppliers.
Effective communicator capable of engaging with all stakeholders and team members.
Creates an open and approachable team environment while showing appreciation for individual and team contributions.
Sets high standards and expectations for team performance, fostering a feedback-rich working environment.
Demonstrates commercial acumen and strategic thinking capabilities.
Displays inspirational leadership and visible management skills.
Strong self-awareness and understanding of its impact on others.
Capable of embracing, adapting to, and leading teams through change
Essential Criteria
Technical Expert: Demonstrable technical background, ideally within Home and Seasonal categories with proven technical expertise, in product development combined with factory-based knowledge.
Leadership Experience: Exhibits proven leadership capability with a history of fostering a high-performing team culture across multi-disciplinary teams. Shows an ability to inspire, motivate, and drive strategic objectives.
Critical Path Management: Extensive experience in managing critical paths, which is crucial for effective team leadership and project management. Identifying the sequence of tasks that determine the minimum project duration and ensuring that these tasks are completed in line with strategic priorities.
Legislative Knowledge: Strong knowledge and understanding of product legislation and regulations, essential for ensuring that all products comply with relevant laws and standards.
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).