Commercial Finance Analyst - Central Trading
Salary: Competitive Plus Benefits
Location: London Store Support Centre, London, EC1M 6HA
Contract type: Permanent
Business area: Finance & Business Development
Closing date: 14 January 2026
Requisition ID: 400045122
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.
Location: London Store Support Centre & Home - colleagues go into the office 1-2 days per week on average.
Why join us
Joining the Finance team at Sainsbury's means being part of a dynamic and forward-thinking organisation committed to enhancing the lives of our customers every day. As a Finance Analyst in Central Trading, you will have the opportunity to collaborate with diverse stakeholders at all levels, influencing key strategic decisions and driving transformation within a competitive and ever-evolving industry. With a focus on maximising sales, profit, and driving performance, you will play a crucial role in shaping the future direction of the business while honing your analytical skills, fostering social integration, and contributing to the success of the team.
What you'll do
As a Finance Analyst – Central Trading you will play a critical role in supporting the Finance Manager and Head of Finance during periodic and annual planning cycles. Your responsibilities will include creating and updating financial forecast models, developing insights on sales and margin trends, and providing analysis to enhance commercial decision-making. You will collaborate across finance functions to ensure consistency in reporting, refine existing insights, and drive process efficiency. Additionally, you will be involved in creating daily sales forecasts, managing systemic uploads of planning and reporting cycles, and providing ad hoc analysis to support the wider commercial teams. Your ability to understand commercial performance, leverage analytical tools, and communicate effectively with stakeholders of varying levels will be key to your success in this role.
Who you are
You are a professionally qualified or part qualified accountant with a strong background in large FMCG, food, or retail businesses. Your expertise in financial planning and analysis, combined with your ability to turn data into actionable insights, enables you to support key stakeholders in understanding commercial performance and shaping the future direction of the business. With your strong communication skills and commercial acumen, you play a vital role in driving performance, challenging ways of working, and contributing to the overall success of the team through your proactive and collaborative approach.
Essential Criteria
- Professionally qualified accountant (ACCA, ACA, CIMA) or actively studying towards qualification
- Commercially aware with experience in a large comparable FMCG, Food or Retail business is desirable
- Demonstrable proficiency in Excel, including ability to analyse and interpret data to produce actionable insights
- Ability to work with data systems, evidenced by experience with Snowflake/SQL or a clear willingness and aptitude to learn these tools
- Proven ability to communicate and influence stakeholders at varying levels of financial and commercial understanding
- Capability to work autonomously and prioritize effectively, supported by strong problem-solving skills
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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 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 10% 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 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. 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).
