Returns Investigation & Resolution Technologist

Sainsbury’s is seeking a Returns Investigation & Resolution Technologist for their Coventry Store Support Centre. The role involves managing serious product complaints for Argos, ensuring timely investigation and resolution. The technologist will analyse returns data, collaborate with various teams, and recommend improvements to product quality and customer satisfaction. Essential criteria include experience in a technical role, strong communication skills, and the ability to engage at all levels. The position offers a competitive salary, benefits such as colleague discounts and a pension scheme, and opportunities for professional development in a supportive environment.

Returns Investigation & Resolution Technologist
Salary: Competitive Plus Benefits
Location: Coventry Store Support Centre – Ansty Park and Home, Coventry, CV7 9RD
Contract type: Permanent
Business area: Non Food
Closing date: 30 May 2025
Requisition ID: 295749We’d all like amazing work to do, and real work-life balance. That’s waiting for you at Sainsbury’s. From fragrance to car care, clothing and pots and pans, our General Merchandise team delivers all the non-food items for Sainsbury’s, Habitat and Argos customers. This multi-brand environment means you get to work across most areas. You can also be a pioneer, because the team believes in being brave, iterating and learning as they go. They also develop deep connections to other departments, which opens up a lot of different career opportunities for you. What’s certain is that you’ll spend time on the shop floor to get closer to customers, and bring a broad perspective and the full support of your manager with you wherever you decide to develop next.
Division/Department
GM Commercial/ Technical & Ethical
Location
Ansty Park (Coventry) or Holborn (London) Store Support Centre and Home
Reporting to
Head of Technical
Directly or indirectly manages
No direct or indirect reports
In a nutshell
The UK Returns Investigation & Resolutions Technologist manages serious product complaints for Argos, ensuring prompt investigation and resolution per the Service Level Agreement (SLA). This role works closely with the technical operations team, they will provide detailed analysis to highlight trends and issues based on returns levels, customer reviews and complaints, you will take this information to help guide your focus towards resolving important issues. The goal is to reduce returns and build learnings into new product development.
The technologist develops recommendations to enhance product quality and customer satisfaction, such as changes in manufacturing processes and refining quality control measures. They document all findings and maintain detailed records of investigations.
Strong communication skills are vital for coordinating with various stakeholders, including product technologists, operations team, buying teams, returns technicians, and external service providers. Success requires strong problem-solving abilities, attention to detail, and collaborative capacity. Understanding product development cycles, quality assurance principles, and robust data analysis skills are essential. The technologist’s efforts ultimately reduce return rates, improve product reliability, and maintain customer trust at Argos.
What I am accountable for:
Act as the focal point for the business covering serious product complaints and returns analysis for general merchandise,
Ensure complaints are investigated and resolved within agreed SLA’s
Support Product Technologists to building learnings into product standards
Recommend stock actions based on findings from complaints and returns investigations
Document all findings and maintain detailed records of investigations
Create concise action packs to recommend corrective actions and recommendations
Support on-site inspections by suppliers or Product technologists
What I need to know – Essential Criteria:
Experience in a technical role either in the supply base, retailer or service provider
Experience in a technical role either in the supply base, retailer or service provider covering Electrical products
Ability to write reports and present actions to stakeholders
Able to engage at all levels with effective communication.
Computer literate
The role will require travel within the UK to Argos warehouses and supplier
Desirable
Ideally have experience in engineering.
Able to deliver results under pressure in a fast-paced retail environment, both individually and as part of a team
What I need to show
Our Valued Behaviours are our common DNA that every colleague should live by and provide the benchmark for how we deliver our goals/individual contribution, and how we relate to other colleagues in the organisation.
Own it
Deliver a wide range of tasks, and take ownership for solving problems that you identify – For example, if you notice a recurring issue with a specific product, take the initiative to investigate the root cause and propose a solution
Actively share your thoughts and are prepared to challenge others in a positive way – During team meetings, if you have a different perspective on a proposed solution, share your insights respectfully and constructively
Use business context and other information sources to make decisions – When deciding on corrective actions, consider customer reviews, returns data, and feedback from the technical operations team
Regularly review your goals with your line manager – Schedule regular check-ins with your line manager to discuss your progress and adjust your goals as needed
Make it better
Open minded and try new ways of doing things, making things simpler where possible – Experiment with new quality control measures to see if they can reduce product defects more effectively
Adaptable and respond positively when circumstances change – If a new issue arises with a product, quickly adapt your investigation approach to address the new challenge
Show curiosity about the business beyond your immediate role – Take the time to learn about other departments’ processes and how they impact product quality
Seek feedback from those you work with and understand your strengths and development areas – Regularly ask for feedback from colleagues and use it to improve your performance
Provide regular fair and accurate feedback to others – Offer constructive feedback to team members to help them improve their work
Be human
Ask questions to understand where others are coming from. Show care and respect for how others are feeling and provide support to those around you – When discussing a complaint with a customer, ask questions to fully understand their experience and show empathy for their situation
Listen and ask questions about the needs and motivations of others to build effective relationships – During meetings with stakeholders, actively listen to their concerns and ask questions to clarify their needs
Regularly gather customer feedback and use this insight to continuously improve the customer experience – Collect feedback from customers about their experiences with products and use this information to make improvements
Support we will provide
Dedicated team of returns technicians who examine physical returns
Support from wider Product technologists in Argos
Sainsbury’s Argos General Merchandise and Clothing support functions, such as Central Technical Operations, Packaging, Ethical teams, Legal team and customer complaints team.
Link discussions, objectives and personal development plan
My Sainsbury’s Learning- Sainsbury’s Non-Food Technical Training Courses and Store Support Centre behavioural personal development courses.
Mentoring, buddying or support from colleagues and line manager.
Sainsburys Argos General Merchandise training courses detailed on each individual training plan on the training matrix
Supplier or service provider support.
#LI-SA1
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 save 10% on your shopping online and instore at Sainsbury’s, Argos, TU and Habitat, and we regularly increase the discount to 15% at points during the year. 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 10% 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 up to an additional week’s 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, salary 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 for a range of our benefits (note, length of service and eligibility criteria may apply).