Groceries Online Delivery Planning Manager – Sainsbury’s Digital Full Time NEW

We’d all like amazing work to do, and real work-life balance. That’s waiting for you at Sainsbury’s. As the link between sellers and buyers, retail and head office, our Retail Operations team is the cog that keeps things running. With teams focused on store-facing activity, labour, transformation, online, delivery and contact centres, we touch almost every part of the business. It’s an incredibly fast-paced environment, where you need to pivot not just daily, but often hourly. So while we plan as much as we can, it’s vital that we all think beyond our job descriptions and look for ways to optimise and improve everything we do. There’s also a real team ethos here. After all, it’s people like you who will truly transform this part of the business.

This role is for a 9-12 Month Fixed Term Contract

At Sainsbury’s, customers are at the heart of everything we do, and our Digital channel plays a critical role in our vision to make good food for all of us.

With significant growth across our grocery Home Delivery and Click & Collect services, the Digital Planning Team plays a vital role as we continue to expand, innovate and respond to the evolving needs of our customers, our business and the wider online delivery market.

As Delivery Planning Manager, you will play an instrumental role in our fast‑paced, expanding operation. You will be responsible for analysing performance data, forecasting labour requirements, collaborating closely with operational teams, and supporting the rollout of new delivery initiatives, while ensuring the right balance between service levels and cost efficiency.

Your contribution will be key to ensuring we have the right people in place to deliver groceries across the UK, directly impacting customer satisfaction and supporting sustainable growth in an evolving online grocery market.

More about the role:

• Responsible for owning the budget and planning of online delivery driver labour across nationwide grocery delivery and Click & Collect operations.
• Lead, coach, and develop a team of Planning Analysts to deliver optimal driver labour schedules within agreed timescales, balancing a significant cost base with customer slot availability.
• Accountable for setting the driver labour budget, tracking performance, reporting variances, and providing updated cost forecasts.
• Work closely with Digital Operations Managers to ensure driver shift structures remain relevant and stores are set up to succeed for customers.
• Monitor key Sainsbury’s Groceries Online KPIs, including Shift Order Fill, Customer Slot Availability, and Van Utilisation, identifying opportunities and working cross‑functionally to deliver improvements.
• Represent Driver Planning in wider business workstreams, including EV rollout, store refits, and structural cost‑saving initiatives, ensuring planning implications are fully considered.
• Prioritise and deliver key analytical work through the team to support both operational performance and strategic decision‑making.
• Collaborate with wider teams to plan for key trading events such as Easter and Christmas, supporting year‑on‑year growth and operational stability.
• Produce requirements for future delivery fleet size to ensure the right number of delivery vans are available to meet customer demand.
• Build and maintain strong cross‑functional relationships across Forecasting, Retail, Finance, Property, and project teams to ensure plans are operationally robust, compliant with labour regulations, and aligned to sales, cost, and customer service targets.
• Identify, source, and develop analytical tools to drive continuous improvement in planning processes and resource optimisation.
• Analyse and interpret complex data from multiple sources to support strategic planning decisions and integrate internal business projects into labour plans.

More about you (essential experience):

• Highly numerate with advanced analytical skills including Microsoft Excel plus programming experience in one or more of the following: R, SQL, Python (or similar) and likely to have a background in mathematics, engineering, computer science or data science.
• Self-motivated, flexible with the ability to adapt to the fast-changing pace of an operational environment, using your own judgement to manage your workload and that of your team.
• Strong interpersonal and influencing skills with the ability to work cross-functionally with a variety of stakeholders.
• Ability to translate complex analysis and technical principles for non-technical audiences.
• A proactive approach to continual improvement of planning processes and systems.
• Experience of working in an operational environment or online delivery business is desirable.
• Role model the Sainsbury’s values and best practice in line management including a commitment to the development of individuals within the team.

Work-life balance is important to us, so we offer our colleagues as much flexibility as possible in line with the needs of their role. We trust them to decide how, where and when they work, combining remote and collaborative working with a flexible approach to hours, giving them plenty of time and space for life outside of work whilst delivering against our business goals.

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 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 up to an additional week’s holiday, and we provide private healthcare. 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, 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 www.sainsburys.jobs for a range of our benefits (note, length of service and eligibility criteria may apply).