Sainsbury's Asia Ltd

J Sainsbury Plc is one of the UK’s leading Grocery and Non Food retailers. Sainsbury’s was founded in 1869 and our heritage defines the way we operate. Our vision is to be the most trusted retailer where customers and colleagues love to work and shop, and our 160,000 colleagues put this into practice every day across our 1,200 multi format stores in the UK. We put our customers and their values at the heart of everything do, and apply industry leading ethical trading practices underpinned by a firm commitment to sustainable sourcing.

Sainsbury’s Asia is the direct sourcing function for Sainsbury’s. We source great products from suppliers at the best quality and the right cost in order to provide our customers with the products they love. To support the ongoing growth of our strategic sourcing from the region we are now looking for confident and passionate candidates to join our team in challenging and enjoyable roles.

Find out more about us at http://www.j-sainsbury.co.uk/ and http://www.sainsburys.co.uk

Merchandise Manager

Responsibilities:

  • Drive your category forward  through proactive sourcing of new products and new suppliers
  • Establish excellent communication channels with key UK stakeholders to identify profit opportunities through direct sourcing and meet their product priorities
  • Source a robust supply base combining regional manufacturing strengths whilst maximizing the potential returns from new & emerging markets
  • Lead and coach your team in negotiating costs, lead times and MOQs to deliver savings and operating efficiencies
  • Implement an effective vendor management strategy to deliver continuous improvement in supplier performance –  big lines bigger, leverage scale, introduce terms, eliminate underperformance
  • Drive your team to project manage the end to end critical path, leading SAL cross functional colleagues in ensuring key milestones are met by UK customers and regional suppliers
  • Ensure your team fully implement our Standard Operating Procedures  following best practice to manage risk in the project cycle from factory visit through to inspection
  • Ensure your team has adequate resources to efficiently fulfill their objectives, with adequate systems and processes in place to meet expectations
  • Manage your team’s performance against key targets including cost savings, shipments and operating costs against budget as well as range of operational metrics (OTD, inspection pass rate, customer returns)
  • Manage the development of your team’s core sourcing and merchandising skills, including their understanding of production processes, and the impacts of cost components & raw material on final product quality & cost.

Requirements:

  • Strong leadership potential in improving performance in your own team and in your supply base
  • Strong attention to detail when required, ability to engage in the detail to resolve a challenge or issue
  • High level of commercial acumen, excellent negotiation skills, ability to think on your feet, good tactical operator
  • Clear and confident communicator with sound judgement under pressure
  • Excellent knowledge of UK market trends, competition, pricing and brands
  • Relationship builder – ability to identify & engage key stakeholders in both the UK and in Asia
  • First class knowledge of production processes, techniques, and product components
  • Robust understanding technical standards, packaging processes & logistics initiatives
  • Good project management skills
  • Extensive (10 years+) sourcing and merchandising experience across different product categories across the region

We offer plenty of work variety and a great team atmosphere. Interested candidates please send a full resume, availability date, present and expected salary to hrbd@sainsburys.com.hk by 3rd April 2015.