Retail Graduate Manager

Job Title

Retail Graduate Manager - Kent & Essex

Canterbury

Full time

Permanent Graduate (Fixed Term)

45

Competitive salary

Store Management

10 January 2026

At ASDA we re always striving for bigger and better ways to grow our reach and help our customers live better lives. New and innovative ideas are what drive us. We have big ambitions to grow our store portfolio over the next two years across a range of different store formats. The chance to have responsibility for your own store and become a retail leader of the future is better than ever before.

Our 2026 Retail Graduate Programme has been developed in partnership with the store managers of today, many of whom were on similar graduate programmes, ready for the retail leaders of tomorrow.

We are a values-led organisation. As such we, encourage everyone to be open and honest. We work creatively and collaboratively, valuing everyone s input.

Our collaborative culture, the size of our business and our belief in the empowerment of the individual means opportunities at Asda are abundant.

We conduct £300m worth of transactions every week. Our website handles over 2 million transactions a month. We have more than 145,000 dedicated Asda colleagues ensuring that our customers are at the heart of everything we do.

Alongside a competitive salary, you ll get lots of other great benefits too, including:

• Colleague discount: 15% off your shopping at Asda from day 1 for you and a nominated user
• Discounted rates and special offers on Asda services such as Mobile, Pharmacy, Opticians, Personal Loan, Pet Insurance, Travel Insurance, Travel Money, Tyres, Breakdown Cover
• Wagestream: access to flexible pay, income tracker, financial coaching, exclusive savings account and much more.
• Company pension
• Wellbeing: including 24/7 virtual GP, 24/7 EAP service, as well as access to free counselling, legal, mortgage, cancer and bereavement support
• Asda Allies Inclusion Networks – helping colleagues to make sure everybody is included and that our differences are recognised and celebrated.
• Excellent parental leave policies, including maternity & adoption leave, paternity leave, shared parental leave, neonatal care leave, and support for those doing fertility treatments.
• Colleague recognition programme
• Special offers and discounts across a range of services and activities, from airport parking to theme parks and cinemas.

Amanda Green, former Retail Graduate and Store Manager capture the experience perfectly. “I can t think of another high-profile scheme where you are given such an opportunity to build both yourself and your own business side by side.”

This is a fast-paced, two-year learning programme where you ll discover everything store management has to offer. At Asda, no two days are the same. You’ll complete a series of placements within your region, progressing at pace and taking on more accountability every 6 months. At times, you will need to deal with management issues such as disciplinary and grievances, as well as manage rota planning and holidays.

The hard work and effort you put in is repaid knowing that you ve made a difference to your colleagues, customers, and the communities we serve.

If you have the ambition to be a store manager of the future, the 2-year Retail Graduate Programme will guide you, prepare you and support you every step of the way. After two years, you’ll be on track to become either an operations manager within a large store or manager of your very own express store. That s what s possible at Asda.

Store managers are tenacious, hardworking, and determined. But they re also empathetic, caring and customer focused. The pedestrian 9-5 doesn t interest them. As part of the store management team, you ll work a rolling rota which will include weekends, evenings and sometimes, late nights.

To succeed, you ll want to get stuck in, being adaptable to change and able to work  ll be highly organised and motivated by problem solving. You ll be a natural leader, passionate about delighting customers and keeping colleagues motivated and…