Buying Manager - Ready Meals
Tesco UK · Welwyn Garden City
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Why this role matters
How close this job is to real sourcing and menu decisions.
Ready meals is a category where meat, poultry, fish and dairy ingredients make up a large share of what's on the shelf, and this role owns the sourcing plan, supplier selection and commercial terms for it. Whoever holds this seat decides which suppliers Tesco works with, what quality and compliance standards those suppliers must meet, and how commodity risk and cost pressure get balanced against product specification. Those decisions shape the standards suppliers are held to across that part of the supply chain, including the conditions animals are farmed under where meat, poultry and dairy are involved. It's also a seat with real commercial weight: Tesco's ready meals volumes are large enough that supplier requirements set here ripple through an entire part of the UK meat and dairy supply chain, with knock-on effects for supply chain resilience and the standards other retailers come to expect. Beyond the immediate lever, this is a genuine route into senior category and sourcing leadership at one of the UK's largest food retailers, building the supplier relationships, negotiation experience and commercial credibility that senior buying and sourcing strategy roles require.
Where this role can take you
What this job teaches you, and the jobs it can lead to.
What you'd build
- Category sourcing plan ownership
- Supplier negotiation at national retail scale
- Commodity and currency risk management
- Team leadership of buyers
- GSCOP compliance and governance
Where it can lead
- Senior Buying Manager
- Head of Trading
- Category Director
These roles set category-wide sourcing and supplier standards across multiple product lines, giving broader reach over the quality and welfare requirements suppliers of meat, dairy and seafood must meet.
About the role
Tesco is hiring a Buying Manager for its Ready Meals category, based in Welwyn Garden City on a hybrid basis (60% of the week at office or local sites). The role sources and buys ready meals products to deliver range, price and quality for customers, and leads a team of Assistant Buyers and Trainee Buyers. Core responsibilities include building a long-term sourcing plan aligned to the Sell and Move plan that uses Tesco's scale competitively; finding, developing and managing suppliers to meet customer propositions and joint business targets while maintaining product quality; managing commodity and currency risk and negotiating a sustainable, market-leading commercial position; supporting the department's trade, promotions and events plan and exceeding KPI forecasts; forecasting and managing budgets and delivering quantum profit targets; supporting the Move Plan so products reach stores efficiently and on time; developing and leading a high-performing team; and ensuring compliance with Tesco policies, storage and hand-over protocols, with zero GSCOP breaches, recording agreements in writing and reporting GSCOP complaints to Legal within 48 hours. Requirements include commercial buying experience including buying management and supplier economics, strong influencing, negotiation and stakeholder management skills, supplier management and relationship building, data analysis, reporting and insight generation, advanced Microsoft Excel skills, range planning and trade planning expertise, and experience leading, developing and coaching teams. The role is full-time, permanent, 36 hours per week, employed by Tesco Stores Limited. Benefits include an annual bonus scheme of up to 20% of base salary, 25 days holiday plus a personal day and bank holidays, private medical insurance, 26 weeks maternity/adoption leave at full pay (with 12 months service) followed by statutory pay, 6 weeks fully paid paternity leave, a free 24/7 virtual GP service and an Employee Assistance Programme. Applications close 18-Nov-2026.
We added this one ourselves, from the employer's own advert.
Key terms to include in your CV and cover letter
What this employer is asking for, in their words. Applications are often screened by software looking for exact phrases, so if these describe your experience, use their wording.
- commercial buying experience
- buying management
- supplier economics
- stakeholder management
- commercial negotiation
- supplier relationship management
- commodity risk management
- currency risk management
- data analysis
- report preparation
- advanced Excel
- range planning
- trade planning
- team leadership and coaching
- GSCOP compliance
- budget forecasting
How to position yourself
The language that works with hiring managers for this kind of job.
Frame your interest around supply chain resilience and commercial risk management: sourcing plans that build in supplier quality and compliance reduce commodity and reputational risk as much as they manage cost. Emphasise any experience with supplier relationship management, negotiation and commercial terms, and be ready to speak to range and trade planning as these are explicitly required. Building commodity knowledge and ethical-audit or supplier-standards familiarity (Sedex/SMETA-style literacy, even if not named here) will strengthen your case for this track.
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