Merchandise Planning Manager - UK and ROI - 7 Month Secondment / Fixed Term Contract

Tesco UK • Shire Park, Welwyn Garden City, Hertfordshire • Temporary • Apply by 24-Feb-2026

As the Merchandise Planning Manager, you'll take the lead in shaping insight‑driven, accurate merchandise planning for our Central Commercial team across Home & Clothing. In this role, you'll bring together budgeting, forecasting, stock management and trade insight to create truly connected, end‑to‑end planning across multiple regions and channels. You'll also develop and inspire a high‑performing team of Assistant Merchandise Planners, championing best practice, strong governance and simplified, scalable ways of working across all central planning tools and processes.

What is in it for you

We're all about the little helps. That's why we make sure our Tesco colleague benefits package takes care of you - both in and out of work. Click Here to find out more!

• Annual bonus scheme of up to 20% of base salary
• Holiday starting at 25 days plus a personal day (plus Bank holidays)
• Private medical insurance
• 26 weeks maternity and adoption leave (after 1 years' service) at full pay, followed by 13 weeks of Statutory Maternity Pay or Statutory Adoption Pay, we also offer 6 weeks fully paid paternity leave
• Free 24/7 virtual GP service, Employee Assistance Programme (EAP) for you and your family, free access to a range of experts to support your mental wellbeing

You will be responsible for

Topline Planning & Forecasting

• Building and managing centralised country, region and channel budgets.
• Leading top-down financial planning and delivering periodic financial review (PFR) forecasts.
• Reviewing and aligning central WSSI across divisions, channels and markets, ensuring consistency between top-down and bottom-up planning.
• Identifying, quantifying and communicating risks & opportunities for sales, margin, stock and intake.

Stock, OTB & Option Planning

• Owning OTB governance for central planning areas, ensuring accuracy, compliance and transparency of decisions.
• Setting and reconciling stock budgets across regions/channels, supporting divisional targets.
• Managing commitment, intake, markdown and clearance forecasting to optimise sales and profitability.
• Supporting cross‑channel stock alignment to meet customer needs in stores, online and franchise channels.

Trading & Commercial Insight

• Leading weekly trade reviews with robust insight, commentary and forward‑looking recommendations.
• Driving actionable analysis for leadership and commercial teams, including divisional, country and attribute‑level reviews.
• Supporting the development and execution of trade plans, promotions and events.
• Enhancing forecasting and scenario planning capability through data‑driven modelling.

Range & Capacity Planning

• Working with buying and product merchandising teams to build insight-led ranges aligned with central commercial strategy.
• Ensuring accurate ranging, forecasting and stock flow through effective processes.
• Collaborating with buying and SSP to confirm capacity and critical path alignment.

Team Leadership & Ways of Working

• Leading, coaching and developing a high-performing team.
• Embedding governance, simplification and consistency in planning tools and processes.
• Acting as a super user for merchandise planning tools, supporting system and process evolution.

Governance & Code of Conduct

• Acting with integrity and due diligence in line with the Tesco Business Code of Conduct.
• Ensuring planning accuracy, process compliance and robust data governance.

You will need

Experience relevant for this job:

• Commercial merchandising experience across multi‑channel and multi‑country environments

• Strong WSSI and OTB management capability

• Experience with country/region‑level planning and forecasting preferred

• Proven leadership of teams and ability to develop talent

• Experience navigating cross-functional environments (Finance, Retail Ops, Supply Chain, Insight)

• Track record of process simplification and governance improvement

Operational skills relevant for this job:

• Influencing and stakeholder management

• Strategic & tactical merchandise planning

• Range and trade planning

• Data analysis, scenario modelling and numeracy

• Advanced Excel, BI tools, planning systems

• WSSI ownership and multi‑level forecasting

• Range planning tools & central planning databases

About us

You might know us as a supermarket, technology company or even for our award-winning mobile network. Truth is, we're all of those things, and much more. Our colleagues work with one goal in mind, helping to make every day a little better for our customers, colleagues and communities all over the world. No two customers are the same, neither are our colleagues.

At Tesco, we champion a balance that lets you thrive both in and out of work. Spend 60% of your week collaborating with colleagues at our office locations or local sites and the rest remotely. Whether you're just kicking off your career, juggling passions, or navigating big life events, we're here to support you. We always welcome a conversation about flexible working, so talk to us throughout your application about how we can support.

We're proud to be an accredited Disability Confident Leader, where everyone's welcome. That's why we commit to providing a fully inclusive and accessible recruitment process. If you need support with your application, click here for more information. And if you're interested in joining our team but don't tick every box, don't let that hold you back from applying.