About this role
What you’ll be doing:
Deputy Store Managers are pivotal leaders in our largest stores. Working side by side with our Store Managers, they play a key role in shaping the day-to-day success of the operation. They lead from the front—driving performance, inspiring teams, and ensuring we deliver brilliant service and shopping experiences for our customers. They are accountable for the store’s performance, bringing energy and focus to every shift. They lead large teams of colleagues and managers, creating a culture where everyone can do their best work and where our purpose—to make good food joyful, accessible, and affordable for everyone, every day—comes to life.
What makes a brilliant Deputy Store Manager:
- Our best Deputy Store Managers are focussed on our customers and our operations. Ensuring they deliver brilliant customer experiences and are constantly striving to improve the customer journey.
- Significant experience leading an operation with accountabilities for delivering customer, financial and organisational outcomes.
- A leader who role models excellent service and business values through teams of managers and colleagues.
- Uses data and insight to inform longer term planning, improve performance or customer experience and/or KPI’s.
- Experience managing ER cases including dismissals, confident in understanding and interpreting HR policies.
- Can lead change, delivering engagement on purpose whilst managing team wellbeing.
Essential Criteria
- You put the customer at the heart of what you do and can show it. Demonstrating a focus on customer experiences and improving them.
- You’ve managed a fast-paced operation, delivering results across service, sales, and team performance.
- You’re comfortable using data to plan ahead and make improvements that matter.
- You’ve handled employee relations cases, including dismissals, with a solid understanding of HR policies.
- You’ve helped build leadership capability — supporting managers and colleagues to grow and succeed.
- You’ve helped lead change, keeping your team engaged and focused.
- You consistently role-model what great looks like — living values and inspiring others to do the same.
Other facts
About Sainsbury's
Over 150 years old and still going strong, we’re the UK’s second-biggest retailer. Every day, the nation shops with us because they know they’ll get affordable, good food and excellent service.
We focus on great value and convenient shopping across our family of brands, from Argos, Nectar and Habitat to Sainsbury’s Bank, Smart Charge and Tu.
What’s next for Sainsbury’s?
We've put food back at the heart of our business and we’re taking Sainsbury’s to the next level. We’re investing in technology and people and we’re thinking bigger about how we attract and connect with our customers, while doing everything we can to create a more resilient UK food system.
What you'll do
- Deputy Store Managers lead large teams and are accountable for the store's performance, driving performance and ensuring excellent service. They work closely with Store Managers to shape the day-to-day success of the operation.
Ready to join Sainsbury's?
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