Head of Transformation & Operational Development
Salary: Competitive Plus Benefits
Location: London Store Support Centre and Home, London, EC1M 6HA
Contract type: Permanent
Business area: Retail
Closing date: 24 September 2025
Requisition ID: 400017141
We’d all like amazing work to do, and real work-life balance. That’s waiting for you at Sainsbury’s. As the link between sellers and buyers, retail and head office, our retail operations team is the cog that keeps things running. With teams focused on store facing, labour, transformation, online, delivery and contact centre work, we touch almost every part of the business. It’s an incredibly fast-paced environment where you need to pivot not just daily, but often hourly. So while we plan all we can, it’s vital that we all think outside our job descriptions and look to optimise and improve how we do everything. There’s also a real team ethos. After all, it’s people like you who are going to truly transform this part of the business.
About the team
Join our Retail & Digital Division, a dynamic hub shaping the next generation of our customer experience. Our team transforms strategy into action, delivering innovative programmes that grow our business and evolve our ways of working.
We thrive in a collaborative environment, committed to continuous improvement and empowering colleagues to deliver outstanding results.
Here, you’ll work alongside passionate professionals, using insight-driven approaches to drive positive change for our customers and teams.
More about the role
As Head of Transformation & Operational Development, you will lead change and transformation initiatives across the Retail & Digital Division, taking ownership from initial idea through to delivery. Each day brings the opportunity to work cross-functionally and partner with senior leaders, subject matter experts, and external stakeholders.
You’ll shape and deliver key projects—whether developing new processes, implementing the latest technology, or optimising customer and colleague experiences. You’ll play a pivotal role in identifying opportunities, building business cases, securing resources, and ensuring successful execution.
Your remit will include managing a matrix team, overseeing project budgets, and facilitating innovation by applying leading methodologies like Lean Six Sigma and Agile. Expect a fast-paced environment where you’ll prioritise and plan resources for multiple initiatives, foster collaborative partnerships, and champion end-to-end thinking.
You’ll also drive the measurement and storytelling of our transformation journey, ensuring we celebrate learnings and achieve our strategic ambitions.
More about you
To be successful, you’ll bring proven experience in leading complex transformation and operational change in a multi-functional environment. You are analytical, commercially minded, and comfortable making data-driven decisions.
Your ability to inspire, influence, and motivate cross-functional teams sets you apart, as does your curiosity and growth mindset. You thrive in ambiguity, manage competing priorities, and are known for delivering measurable results.
You’ll demonstrate collaborative leadership, challenge the status quo constructively, and build strong relationships across all levels. Your communication skills—both written and verbal—are exceptional, allowing you to present recommendations clearly and influence key stakeholders. You’re passionate about continuous improvement and eager to draw on internal and market insights to inform your thinking.
Essential criteria
- Extensive experience leading transformation and operational development initiatives within complex, cross-functional organisations
- Proven ability to use data and insight to inform decision-making and drive business performance
- Ability to think strategically, joining dots across multiple programmes
- Able to demonstrate previous experience of landing large scale operating model change, ideally within a retail environment
- Exceptional relationship-building skills, with the ability to engage, influence, and communicate effectively with senior stakeholders and diverse teams
- Ability to lead team, driving great engagement and building capability
- Brilliant influencing, stakeholder management and storytelling capabilities
Desirable
- Experience applying methodologies such as Lean Six Sigma or Agile (in non-software contexts)
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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 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 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, 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. 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. 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).
