Buyer - Cosmetics and Bodycare
Salary: Competitive Plus Benefits
Location: London Store Support Centre and Home, London, EC1M 6HA
Contract type: Permanent
Business area: Food Commercial
Closing date: 30 April 2026
Requisition ID: 400057910
Why join us
Joining Sainsbury’s Health, Beauty and Wellness Buying Team means becoming part of a passionate, collaborative team dedicated to helping customers feel confident, cared for, and inspired in their everyday routines. As the Buyer for Cosmetics & Bodycare, you will have the opportunity to own, deliver, and optimise the buying and selling strategy within the category, contributing to the sustainable growth of market share and cash profit. Collaborating across functions, you will leverage your commercial acumen and analytical skills to drive product improvement, develop new offerings, and identify cost savings. With a focus on customer-centricity, you will play a pivotal role in shaping the product range, influencing stakeholders, and making key decisions to enhance our customers' experience. Join us and be part of a team committed to delivering quality and value, while enjoying a flexible work-life balance and a culture that fosters continuous learning and growth.
What you'll do
As the Cosmetics and Bodycare Buyer at Sainsbury’s, you will play a vital role in ensuring that we secure the most exciting, high quality beauty products at the best prices to deliver exceptional offer and great value for our customers.
You will make key decisions across both the Buying Strategy and Selling Strategy, influencing stakeholders and using financial, market, and customer insight to shape a compelling, market‑leading beauty range that reflects the latest innovations in the market. Additionally, you will optimise the supply base, manage supplier relationships, and lead cross‑functional projects to deliver successful outcomes. With your strong commercial acumen, category expertise, and effective communication, you will contribute to the overall success of the team and help bring inspiring, high‑performing beauty solutions to our customers.
Who you are
You bring solid commercial experience and a strong understanding of how customers shop beauty and personal care within a grocery environment. You’re confident managing product ranges that balance everyday essentials with relevant innovation, ensuring customers can trust us for quality, value, and convenience across Cosmetics and Bodycare.
You have a proven ability to build effective supplier relationships, working collaboratively to deliver reliable availability, competitive costs, and products that meet high standards of performance and compliance. You’re comfortable using data to understand customer behaviour, identify opportunities, and make clear, commercially sound decisions that support category growth.
You work well cross‑functionally, bringing structure and clarity to projects and ensuring plans land smoothly in a fast‑paced retail setting. Your communication style is engaging and influential, helping you align stakeholders and champion the category with confidence.
Practical, adaptable, and customer‑focused, you’re motivated by delivering a Cosmetics and Bodycare offer that feels relevant, trustworthy, and great value for customers shopping their weekly essentials.
Essential Criteria:
- Demonstrable experience in Buying and the ability to deliver results quickly in a fast-paced environment.
- Experience managing relationships & Proven negotiation skills, with a track record of leveraging commercial terms and driving value in supplier agreements.
- Ability to handle complex stakeholder interactions, demonstrating resilience and confidence in challenging conversations and decision-making.
- Evidence of continuous improvement mindset and problem solving, including solving complex problems creatively and challenging existing processes to deliver innovative solutions.
- Numerical capability, including proficiency with data analysis, storytelling, and Excel.
- Cross-Functional Collaboration: Proven ability to work across teams and departments, both with our intern teams and external suppliers.
- Demonstrable commercial and market awareness, including understanding of market trends and their impact on commercial decision-making.
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: 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.
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 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 additional holiday. 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, 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, you will also be eligible for private healthcare too.
Please see www.sainsburys.jobs for a range of our benefits (note, length of service and eligibility criteria may apply).
