Job Description

Job Category: Finance & Business Development
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Please note, this role can be based out of our London or Coventry Store Support Centre & Home. Colleagues go into the office 1-2 days per week on average.
Why join us
Joining our Finance team at Sainsbury's offers a unique opportunity to play a pivotal role in shaping the financial strategy and driving business decisions within our Argos Retail division. As a Finance Analyst focusing on Retail Costs, you will have the chance to work collaboratively with Retail and Finance teams, influencing outcomes and contributing to cost reduction initiatives that enhance profitability. With a strong emphasis on providing actionable insights, building relationships, and continuous learning, this role provides a dynamic and challenging environment for qualified accountants or those studying towards a qualification, where your analytical skills and commercial acumen can make a tangible impact on business performance.
What you'll do
As a Finance Analyst - Argos Retail Costs, you will play a crucial role in supporting the Labour function and store controllable cost teams by providing accurate labour planning and forecasting aligned with strategic objectives. You will collaborate with operational and commercial teams to challenge assumptions, analyse trends, identify risks and opportunities, and recommend solutions to drive forecast accuracy and improve profitability. Building and maintaining strong relationships with internal stakeholders, you will provide clear, actionable insights to influence decision-making, drive cost reductions, and optimise store labour costs, while contributing to wider Retail cost initiatives and scenario modelling to assess the impact of labour initiatives and drive continuous improvements.
Who you are
You are a part or fully qualified accountant with a strong commercial acumen and exceptional analytical skills, capable of translating complex data into actionable insights to drive strategic decision-making. Your ability to build and maintain strong relationships, influence stakeholders, and challenge assumptions enables you to support labour planning and forecasting initiatives, while continuously seeking opportunities to optimise costs and improve profitability. With a proactive approach to problem-solving, excellent communication skills, and a high attention to detail, you thrive in a fast-paced environment and contribute effectively to cross-functional collaboration and strategic alignment within the business.
Essential Criteria

• Qualified or actively studying towards a recognised accounting qualification (CIMA, ACA, ACCA)
• Demonstrable ability to analyse and interpret data using Excel; experience with SQL is advantageous
• Proven capability to influence and challenge stakeholders to drive commercial outcomes
• Effective written and verbal communication skills for conveying financial insights to non-financial audiences
• Ability to prioritise tasks and work both independently and collaboratively in a dynamic environment

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Responsibilities:
We'd all like amazing work to do, and real work-life balance. That's waiting for you at Sainsbury's. For a FTSE business, we move incredibly fast. When we're not handling projects, we're helping all corners of the wider group with what they're trying to achieve. And around here, you can see the results of your work as soon as you walk into a store, which gives you a real sense of purpose and responsibility. Better still, the team around you will listen to your ideas and opinions, and you'll have every chance to try something new. The sheer scale and complexity of our set-up means there's always something else around the corner, and we'll help and support you every step of the way. We're trusted to get on with it. So get ready to make things happen here.
Qualifications:
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 get 10% off at Sainsbury's, Argos, TU and Habitat after 4 weeks. This increases to 15% off at Sainsbury's every Friday and Saturday and 15% off at Argos every pay day. 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 10% 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 additional 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, pay 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).

Skills Required