Sainsbury’s launches new graduate scheme including focus on AI skills

The decision to focus on key skills including digital and AI followed ‘extensive research’ into the future needs of the business, the firm said.

The FutureMaker programme would take on nearly 50 graduates and would last for two years (Alamy/PA) (Alamy/PA)

Sainsbury’s has announced it is launching a new graduate programme including a focus on developing skills in artificial intelligence.

The FutureMaker programme, which will take on nearly 50 graduates in the firm’s store support centre, will last for two years and aims to help graduates develop key skills, such as those in digital and artificial intelligence (AI), which the retailer views as vital for supporting future business growth.

The decision to focus the new graduate programme on these skills was informed by research into the future needs of the business, the company said.

Graduates on the scheme will also develop skills in data and analytics, change and transformation as well as business decision-making.

After the programme, they will then be able to apply for relevant roles within the business.

Roles will include buying, commercial operations, digital retail, merchandising, data science and analytics, food technology, logistics and fulfilment, supply chain, transformation, property and procurement, and product and innovation.

It comes after warnings earlier this year that UK graduates were facing the toughest job market in years, according to job search site Indeed.

The number of roles advertised for graduates was down 33% on the previous year, its lowest level in seven years.

By focusing its programme on these skills, Sainsbury’s hopes to open more accessible pathways for graduates, improving their digital confidence by demystifying AI and machine learning and enabling more responsible use of these tools.

A Sainsbury’s spokesperson said: “As a proud people-first business, our colleagues are at the heart of everything we do.

“We’re committed to investing in early careers and have spent time identifying the skills our future leaders will need to help us build a sustainable retail talent pipeline.”

In 2024, the retailer announced a partnership with Microsoft to enhance customer and colleague experience with AI, including “upskilling programmes for Sainsbury’s colleagues, helping them learn and grow in the new AI-driven economy”.

Clodagh Moriarty, Sainsbury’s chief retail and technology officer, said of the partnership at the time: “It’s one of the key ways we’re investing in transforming our capabilities over the next three years, enabling us to take another big leap forward in efficiency and productivity.”

But the supermarket stressed that the new graduate programme was not specifically connected to that partnership.

Applications for the graduate scheme open on January 9.

Over the past two years, Sainsbury’s has announced two rounds of job cuts, axing 1,500 jobs in February 2024 and 3,000 jobs in January 2025, as part of plans to simplify its business and cut £1 billion in costs in a challenging economic environment.

Part of its overhaul has also included increasing investment in automation and AI.