Junior Buyer Womens Own Brand Dresses and Soft Wovens

About the roleOpportunity to join the Women's Own Brand team as a Junior Buyer to deliver elevated, relevant and modern product ranges to delight and excite our customers within the dresses and soft woven categories.

Unique - product development, react with pace to changes in customer trends and market conditions, driving sales and profitability for the Partnership, building relationships with key stakeholders (within team and the wider supply chain), attention to detail, experience within own brand product development.

• Full Partnership Salary Range - £32,600 - £50,500 per annum

• Expected Salary - up to £45,000 (depending on experience) 

• Contract type - This position is a Permanent contract.

• Working pattern/flexible working - The Partnership has adopted a hybrid working approach, meaning you'll be able to work a mixture between the office and home based upon your personal needs whilst balancing the needs of the business. 

• Location - This is a hybrid working role. The normal place of work for this role is our London Central Office in Pimlico. The expectation is a minimum of 3 days per week in the office as team collaboration is critical in this role - core days will vary across teams.

• FYI Next Steps - Assessments will take place from Wednesday 8th October. 

Key responsibilities

• Working with your Merchandiser, you will analyse commercial input and market data from all channels to develop a category assortment that appeals to the John Lewis & Partners customer base.

• Monitor Partner NPS and customer satisfaction metrics to gauge the impact of assortment decisions on overall satisfaction, while driving sales revenue growth through effective assortment planning and promotional strategies.

• You will work collaboratively with all relevant specialist functions such as Marketing, Online and Store Design to deliver a compelling brand portfolio.

• Be accountable for making decisions on the product assortment: development, sourcing, brand positioning, price structure and margins. These will be in line with category and customer strategy.

• Presenting your product categories to Buying Manager, Merch Manager, Design Cat Lead along with the Fashion leadership team.

• In collaboration with merchandising, you will need to make season trading and volume decisions along with the commercial terms and product lifecycle with the suppliers.

• Working with the Technologist on your category to focus on innovation, fit and quality to deliver the right product for our customers.

Essential skills/experience you’ll need

• Tangible experience in buying, product development, range building, supplier negotiation and critical path.

• Experience of managing team relationships across a variety of commercial terms, demonstration of a collaborative approach.

• A positive approach to continuous development of yourself and other partners within the team, sharing knowledge to junior members. 

• Minimum 12 months buying experience working within women's own brand on dresses and/or soft wovens.

• Passion for product development, fashion and trends.

• Solution orientated to problem solve and react.

Desirable skills/experience you may have 

• Great communication skills.

• Strong negotiation skills to drive sales, profit and on time launch

• Be product focused to deliver newness and exciting ranges for our customer.

• Customer centric and react to changes in trade and market conditions at pace to maximise sales.

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About The Partnership

We’re the largest employee owned business in the UK and home of our cherished brands, John Lewis and Waitrose. We’re not just employees, we’re Partners, driven by our purpose to build a happier world. As we look to our future, there’s never been a more exciting time to join us.  

We’re ruthlessly focused on being brilliant at retail. We continue to innovate, adapt and diversify. Never Knowingly Undersold on price, quality and service in John Lewis and passionately serving food-lovers in Waitrose.   

As Partners we all share the responsibility of ownership and in its rewards. We use our voices to contribute to our success, working together through the good and challenging times, holding true to our behaviours and treating everyone with kindness and respect. 

We all own making the Partnership somewhere we belong. Embracing our differences and creating an environment where we’re free to be ourselves and can THRIVE. Growing ourselves individually, and as a collective. 

As Partners, we make all the difference. And, we all own it.  

Important points to note:  

It’s important to note that some of our roles are subject to pre-employment vetting (which may include DBS checks for successful candidates). If required, you’ll be informed and provided with information about vetting during the recruitment process and we encourage you to complete any vetting documents quickly to avoid delays. Any DBS checks required will be carried out by a third-party registered body and financial probity checks may also be required for some of our roles.  

We also recommend that you apply as soon as possible as vacancies can close early if we see a high number of applicants.  

We want all of our Partners to have a good work-life balance and we support flexible working. This might mean flexible or compressed hours, job sharing or shorter hour contracts, where possible. Please discuss this further with the hiring manager during your interview.