Assistant Buyer - Imaginative Play & Games (8 month FTC)

Sainsbury's is hiring an Assistant Buyer - Imaginative Play & Games (8 month FTC) in London, United Kingdom. Level rates it ; you can apply on Sainsbury's.

Level's read on this job

On Level's scale, this role is Little AI ●○○○: aI is not part of the work.
Level lists 414 other open roles at Sainsbury's.
The role was posted within the past two weeks.

AI in this role

About the team

Our Toys Buying teams bring together commercial thinking, customer insight and a passion for product to create ranges customers love. Within Imaginative Play and Games, you could work across areas such as dolls, games, pushchairs and prams, partnering with well-known branded suppliers as well as supporting selected own-brand development. It is a close, collaborative team split across London and Ansty, working with colleagues throughout Commercial, Digital, Marketing, Product Development and Global Sourcing.

More about the role

As an Assistant Buyer, you will support the Buyer and Senior Buyer in delivering category sales, margin and supplier-funding targets. You will take ownership of an allocated subcategory from end to end, contributing to product selection, range strategy, pricing and promotional planning while maintaining accurate product and trading information across our channels.

Day to day, you will review performance and competitor activity, build productive supplier relationships, support negotiations and develop compelling promotional plans. You will work to critical-path milestones with Merchandising, Product Development, Global Sourcing, Digital and Marketing colleagues to deliver accurate, compliant and customer-focused ranges and launches. The exact product area will be confirmed based on business needs when the successful candidate joins.

More about you

You will bring practical buying experience and be comfortable working with branded suppliers, commercial terms and supplier funding. You can use sales, margin, customer and competitor information to form clear recommendations, and you understand how range, price, promotion and product placement influence commercial performance.

You will be organised and accurate, able to manage multiple milestones and keep stakeholders informed in a fast-moving environment. Strong working relationships matter in this role, as you will collaborate across several functions and balance customer, commercial, quality and compliance requirements. Experience in Toys is welcome but not essential where you can demonstrate transferable buying capability.

Essential criteria

Experience supporting or delivering buying activity, including range selection, pricing, promotions or trading decisions
Experience working with branded suppliers, including commercial terms, negotiation or supplier funding
Evidence of using sales, margin, market, customer or competitor data to make commercial recommendations
Experience managing multiple deadlines and maintaining accurate product, promotional or supplier information through a critical path
Evidence of working cross-functionally to deliver a range, launch, promotion or trading outcome

Location: Coventry or London Store Support Centre and Home

#ArgosCommercialandDigital

#ACDBuying

#LI-MB1

At Argos, we’re a digital-led UK retailer that keeps pushing boundaries to meet every generation with what they want, how and when they want it. As a market leader in general merchandise, serving millions of customers through our website, app, same-day delivery and Click & Collect services, we offer real opportunities to learn, grow and shape your career. With roles spanning Commercial, Buying, Merchandising, Design and Supply Chain, through to Digital, Operations, Customer Experience, Marketing, and People and Transformation , you will work with brilliant colleagues and directly shape how we serve our customers every day. From enabling inspiring choice across our owned brands, including Habitat, Chad Valley and Bush, alongside the world’s biggest brands like Apple, Lego, Xbox and Samsung, to making shopping effortlessly convenient, championing trusted value and accelerating our strategy - Argos is an exciting place to build your future. 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 5% 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).Please note, due to the volume of applications we receive, our roles may close early.

How we rate this

Assistant Buyer - Imaginative Play & Games (8 month FTC) at Sainsbury's rates 38 out of 100 for how much of the daily work is AI. That makes it Little AI (AI Level 1 of 4). The level is about AI in the job, not seniority.

Classification

Little AI. AI is not part of the work.

●●●● Builds AI80 to 100
●●●○ Works on AI60 to 79
●●○○ Uses AI40 to 59
●○○○ Little AI0 to 39

Levels come from how often the tools, models and workflows of the role are named in the posting itself. Read the description and count the AI tools, models and workflows it names.

Key facts

Assistant Buyer - Imaginative Play & Games (8 month FTC) is an open job at Sainsbury's.
Level rates this role AI Level 1 of 4: Little AI.
The role is based in London, London, United Kingdom.
The job was posted on October 21, 2026.
Applications are handled by Sainsbury's. Apply on Sainsbury's