Assistant Buyer - 12 month Fixed Term Contract
Our Clothing Buying team is at the heart of delivering our business strategy. Joining this passionate and collaborative team means stepping into a fast-paced environment where you’ll help shape an exciting product range.
As an Assistant Buyer, you’ll get hands-on experience with product development, working closely with design and sourcing teams to bring new ideas to life. You’ll also have the unique opportunity to work with live models during fit sessions, ensuring our products meet the highest standards for quality and comfort. If you have previous buying experience and a love for product, this secondment is a great opportunity to showcase your analytical skills, negotiation ability, and commercial awareness.
What you’ll do
1. Support the development of promotional strategies
2. Maintain pricing accuracy across all channels
3. Optimise the clothing product range and ensure a great in-store experience
4. Collaborate with Product Development and global sourcing to set quality standards
5. Build strong relationships with UK suppliers and manage sample processes
6. Participate in fit sessions with live models to ensure product quality and fit
7. Handle administrative tasks and sample management in a fast-paced environment
Who you are
You have experience in buying, ideally within retail, and understand product ranges, market trends, and the importance of commercial thinking. Strong analytical and numerical skills are essential, along with excellent communication and organisational ability. You’re confident negotiating with suppliers and collaborating across teams. With a proactive mindset and ability to thrive under pressure, you’ll help deliver quality products and drive sales.
Essential criteria
8. Commercial Awareness – an established Assistant Buyer on clothing, preferred ladieswear experience with an understanding of key commercial KPI’s sales and profit.
9. Excel Proficiency – intermediate skills required including vlookups and pivots
10. High degree of accuracy - will thrive in a busy environment and maintain data accuracy
11. Strong organisational skills – be able to demonstrate ability to prioritise workload
12. Collaboration – strong team player who can work with multiple stakeholders.
13. Problem-Solving Mindset – ability to adapt and find creative solutions.
14. Communication skills - ability to contribute to meetings, update team on progress and outstanding actions.
We’d all like amazing work to do, and real work-life balance. That’s waiting for you at Sainsbury’s. Here, everything in our stores starts out in Food Commercial. Whether it’s the product, proposition, packaging or price, or the fact that something tastes great, our team is responsible for all food items available in store, digitally and on demand. You’ll discover it’s incredibly fast-paced. People here are in it together and not afraid to take risks. They’re enthusiastic too, and their amazing leadership team is right behind them. The knowledge and experience you gain here could set you up for career moves, anywhere else in the business. So, if you’re passionate about food and just as hungry to learn, you’ll fit in perfectly.
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 5% 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. 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. 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 for a range of our benefits (note, length of service and eligibility criteria may apply).