Dairy sits at the heart of our Sainsbury's First Choice for Food strategy, and as Head of Buying you will be responsible for the commercial success of one of our most substantial areas within our Food business. We look for people who can develop and deliver a compelling offer for our customers, manage suppliers to deliver the right product, cost and sustainability, and consistently achieve our market share and commercial objectives. It is through your thinking and leadership that we will continue to step on our commercial offer, challenge ourselves to continually improve, and land change to ensure Dairy remains a winning category for Sainsbury's for now and the future. Managing our Milk, Eggs, Butter, Spreads & Margarines and Yoghurts (NB Exact Category Scope may be subject to change) business with a combined Sales value of £1.4bn, the successful candidate will have a strong commercial background, top calibre strategic thinking and ability to find innovative commercial ways to create value for Dairy and Fresh Food. Added to that, your positive energy and team-driven mind-set will make your team a high performing team that colleagues want to be part of. This category encompasses some of Sainsbury's most important customer essentials, supplied through our closest supply partnerships from field to fridge. In this role you will be accountable for ensuring the longevity, sustainability (both environmentally and economically) and availability of these essentials for the short, medium and long term. You will work with all levels of the supply chain including farmers, processors and packers as well as traditional suppliers (both branded and own brand) and play an active part in delivering our objective to be First Choice for Food and having a positive impact on the UK Food System. You will be a proven leader, able to recruit, coach and develop a high-performing team. You will lead the team through long-term vision, short-term annual goals, and tactical strategies. The role has line management responsibility for 4 colleagues, directly and indirectly. It is both a multi-functional and a cross-functional leadership role. What I need to do Manage the relationships with our key partnership suppliers- overseeing and coaching the performance and strategic direction of those relationships to ensure the desired outcomes are achieved. Lead a team of Buyers to effectively deliver our First Choice for Food strategy- coaching and supporting their development to drive success in their areas through: Working in collaboration with cross functional team to define and execute a successful category strategy for the buying area Defining the sourcing strategy for the area, selecting the suppliers that will best support the strategy and leading through supplier business plans to deliver right product ranges at the best cost and quality, while ensuring surety of supply, availability and sustainability outcomes Developing and implementing a customer-led selling strategy that grows market share and delivers our internal commercial targets Develop and implement a successful value and promotional strategy within the category framework Identify new product opportunities and develop and launch products that bring in new customers to the category and that are commercially viable Building relationships, negotiating and establishing supplier plans with branded and own brand suppliers that deliver competitive advantage Work with the Category Planning, Convenience, PFS, FTO and Online teams to optimise ranges and effectively market these across all our channels Develop a highly effectively cross functional team, leading a team of buyers while also building close and strong relationships with colleagues in Agriculture, Supply Chain, Category Planning, Technical and Development and working together to deliver the category objectives. Become the centre of excellence and knowledge on the Dairy market- understanding full end to end value chain dynamics, providing intelligence to support our strategy. Operate as a central member of the Dairy Leadership Team- actively shaping the strategy, vision and direction of the Dairy category to deliver success. Proactively participate in strategic developments that impact the category by managing and/or leading elements of the total Dairy category plan Recognising the impact of the dairy category, work with relevant teams to support the delivery of our Plan for Better objectives and wider goals to positively impact the UK food system. Stay connected with other Heads of Buying across all BUs to share best practice and learning and play active role in the wider BU. How I will succeed Alongside category and business metrics, key success measures will be: Successful leadership of the category team ascertained through feedback Clearly recognised as a valuable member of the team with ability to drive forward at pace Robust commercial outcomes with measurable deliverables Status of relationships with key partner suppliers Ownership of relevant projects across the category Positive feedback from stakeholders at all levels What I need to know and show Highly effective supplier relationship management- ability to build fruitful relationships in formal and informal modes Strong instincts and ability to identify and act on risks and opportunities in the short, medium and long term Understanding of total cost of ownership - ability to understand how the relevant supply chain works, appreciate economics and drivers of each layer and use that knowledge in decision-making. Strong commercial acumen and confident negotiator Effective stakeholder management both internally and externally- confident in operating in high profile, emotive and political category area. Interest and passion for agricultural categories, willingness to immerse self in the subject area and passion to optimize relationship outcomes with partner suppliers Experience of building a broad network (externally and internally) to engage and influence others across an organisation to deliver your objectives - at senior and more junior levels, within your team, elsewhere in the business and with wider supply market. Strong leadership skill set- able to set vision and direction Previous experience of leading teams and demonstrate positive leadership and coaching style Experience of developing and delivering effective strategies in complex and ambiguous environments with minimal guidance - the right approach is often hard to identify and you need to be comfortable leading your team to find a solution in these circumstances Sound judgement (including knowing when to escalate or seek other input), strong analytical skills, broad business and industry knowledge, and the ability to take a longer-term perspective. Ability to operate and make decisions at all levels of detail- comfort in working and choosing when to work both with and without data Ability to set clear objectives for your team and support and coach them in delivering these objectives, and to build strong relationships across other functions to create a single high-performing team Ability to prioritise across multiple competing objectives, plan effectively, and manage workload for your team Clear sense of ownership and an ability to follow through tenaciously to resolve issues Resilience in the face of pressure and setbacks - this is a challenging role and you need to be able to bounce back and continue to motivate yourself and your team when things don't go as expected Ideally, a good understanding of our trading processes, and the ability to manage your team within these processes Ideally, experience of Supplier Relationship Management/ operating in long term supplier relationships to deliver value. Ideally experience of operating open book cost models Ideally experience in hands on value chain management in complex own brand supply chains. Ideally experience in branded supplier management Supermarket retail knowledge desirable, but commercial background more important