Transformation Manager - Cost Transformation
Salary: Competitive Plus Benefits
Location: London Store Support Centre and Home, London, EC1M 6HA
Contract type: Permanent
Business area: Finance & Business Development
Closing date: 30 September 2025
Requisition ID: 400014029
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.
There are two available positions: one permanent and one fixed term for 12 months. The roles are based at either the London or Coventry Store Support Centre, as well as remotely from home.
Why join us
Joining Sainsbury's as a Transformation Manager in Cost Transformation means being part of a team dedicated to enabling change and growth across the business through strategic cost base reduction.
With a focus on delivering exceptional outcomes and shaping the future of our organisation, you will have the opportunity to shape complex and impactful programmes that reduce the cost of operating our business and drive sustainable profitability.
As part of a Central Transformation team, you'll have the space to showcase your strategic thinking, drive end-to-end solutions, and champion a transformation mindset that accelerates change at pace, all while being supported by a network of experts and access to cutting-edge tools and resources.
What you'll do
You will play a crucial role in overseeing our business’ cost reduction strategy within Save & Invest to Win, both in ensuring that the existing plan delivers as expected as well as supporting in building a new pipeline of opportunities. Working closely with Transformation peers, Finance partners, and cross-functional stakeholders at all levels, your role involves driving end-to-end thinking, accelerating change at pace, and championing a cost transformation mindset to ensure cost reduction is being planned and delivered in support of strategic goals.
Your accountabilities include understanding from key business stakeholders how they plan to reduce their cost base, driving clarity in the impact on the P&L, surfacing risks, dependencies, and prioritisation, and identifying new opportunity areas for cost reduction in which to challenge stakeholders to commit and mobilise new cost initiatives.
Your ability to navigate ambiguity, connect the dots across various projects and parts of the business, and facilitate collaborative ways of working will be essential in driving the company's transformation journey.
Who you are
You are an experienced professional who understands the cost challenges facing a bricks & mortar business and how to address them, having shaped and led projects resulting in a sustainable reduction in the business’ operating cost.
Excelling in driving end-to-end strategic thinking, with a proven track record in successful cross-functional working on large-scale projects and programmes, you possess the ability to navigate through ambiguity, identify strategic issues, and drive solutions with a focus on delivering sustainable cost transformation.
Your strong communication skills, curiosity, resilience and drive enable you to foster a collaborative and agile working environment within a cost-conscious industry, championing a transformation mindset and driving change at pace while building strong relationships across all levels of the organisation. You are comfortable to act as a “critical friend” to the business, to ensure that we are objectively planning, delivering, and communicating cost transformation initiatives.
Essential Criteria
- Demonstrable experience in shaping and implementing major cost transformation projects at scale
- Proven track record of cross-functional collaboration across multiple business areas over a sustained period, as well as stakeholder engagement and influencing at all levels
- Ability to use data, insights, and external innovation to inform and drive complex decision-making impacting the business cost base
- Ability to understand and use cost data to identify opportunities
- Capability to synthesise strategic issues and present structured recommendations with clarity in both written and verbal formats
- Evidence of applying end-to-end strategic thinking that is outcome-focused and hypothesis-led
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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 save 10% on your shopping online and instore at Sainsbury's, Argos, TU and Habitat, and we regularly increase the discount to 15% at points during the year. 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 20% of salary, depending on how we perform. Your wellbeing is important to us too. You'll receive an annual holiday allowance, and you can buy up to an additional week's holiday, and we provide private healthcare. We also offer other benefits that will help your money go further such as season ticket loans, interest free car loan of up to £10k, cycle to work scheme, health cash plans, salary 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. And if you ever need it there is also an Employee Assistance Programme. 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).
