Sainsbury’s launches graduate programme with concentrate on AI

Sainsbury’s is launching a new graduate programme this year incorporating a focus on developing skills in artificial intelligence (AI).

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 skills in digital and 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 ‘extensive research’ into the future needs of the supermarket chain, Sainsbury’s said.

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

After the programme, trainees will be able to apply for relevant jobs within the business.

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Jobs up for grabs will include roles in the chain’s 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 arms.

Applications for Sainsbury’s latest graduate scheme open on 9 January. The scheme starts in September 2026. 

Last summer, jobs website Indeed said university graduates were facing the toughest job market since 2018, as employers pause hiring and use AI to cut costs.

The number of roles advertised for graduates was down 33 per cent on the previous year, its lowest level in seven years, Indeed said in June. 

In the last two years, Sainsbury’s has announced two rounds of major job cuts, axing 1,500 roles in February 2024 and 3,000 jobs in January 2025. 

The retailer shut its remaining cafés and closed its patisserie and pizza counters.

In January 2025, the group said it also planned to make a 20 per cent reduction in senior management roles, stating the business faced a ‘particularly challenging cost environment’. 

The job cuts formed part of the retailer’s plans to streamline its business, focusing on food, and cut £1billion in costs. 

Part of the chain’s overhaul has included increasing investment in automation and AI.

This week, Sainsbury’s said it hoped to open up more opportunities for graduates, improve their digital confidence by demystifying AI and machine learning and encourage responsible use of these tools.

A Sainsbury’s spokesman 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, Sainsbury’s agreed a five-year deal with Microsoft to use the software giant’s AI services as part of its cost-cutting strategy.

The strategic partnership has seen the supermarket giant employ Microsoft’s AI and machine learning tools to enhance store operations and provide a ‘more efficient and effective service’.

At the time, Sainsbury’s said customers would benefit from a ‘more interactive online shopping experience,’ while employees, it claimed, would gain access to real-time data, helping them to speed up the replenishment of shelves.

Britain’s second largest supermarket chain told of plans to introduce facial recognition across its UK shops last autmn as it launched the technology in its first stores.

It informed staff in two stores of an eight-week trial before potentially rolling out the technology nationwide.

Sainsbury’s has said the technology was part of its efforts to identify shoplifters and curb a sharp increase in retail crime in recent years.

Use of facial recognition in shops has been criticised in recent years, with rival Asda facing thousands of complaints after launching its own similar trial in early 2025. 

Bosses at Sainsbury’s, which has more than 1,400 shops across the country, said at the time plans were ‘not about monitoring colleagues’ or customers.