Senior Buyer Home - 12 Month FTC

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Job Description

To stay close to customers, our support teams are in the office three days a week as we believe that skills are developed through collaboration, and that spending time together makes us more creative and connected.

Please note this is a 12 month FTC

What's in it for you...

Being a part of M&S is exactly that - playing your part to bring the magic of M&S to our customers every day. We're an inclusive, dynamic, exciting, and ever evolving business built on doing the right thing and bringing exceptional quality, value, service to every customer, whenever, wherever and however they want to shop with us.

Here are some of the benefits we offer that make working for M&S just that little bit more special...

• After completing your probationary period, you'll receive 20% colleague discount across all M&S products and many of our third-party brands for you and a member of your household.
• Competitive holiday entitlement with the potential to buy extra holiday days!
• Discretionary bonus schemes awarded based on how you achieve your personal objectives and our performance as a business.
• A generous Defined Contribution Pension Scheme and Life Assurance.
• A dedicated welcome to our teams with a tailored induction and a wide range of training programmes to develop your skills.
• Amazing perks and discounts via our M&S Choices portal to maximise your financial and personal wellbeing.
• Industry-leading parental, adoption and neonatal policies, providing support and flexibility for your family.
• Access to a fantastic range of wellbeing support for all colleagues including access to our 24/7 Virtual GP and PAM Assist to support you and your family.
• A charity volunteer day to support a charity or cause you're passionate about through a dedicated day away from work

What you'll do

An exciting 12 month FTC Senior Buyer vacancy has arisen in the Hard Good's category within our Home business area. This is a fantastic opportunity for a strong team leader who wants to be part of an exciting and creative product category, managing home decor, lighting, mirror, vases etc. Hard goods experience, including working with ceramics and metals a definite advantage but not requirement.

Your key accountabilities will include

• Comprehensively collate and track market & competitor insight and trends to inform and set the department
strategy. Input into the overall Category strategy.
• Define department global sourcing strategy and determine optimal sourcing routes and supply base with input from Sourcing Team and Technologists
• Lead new supplier onboarding and contractual negotiations for direct supplier and brands and manage ongoing performance tracking against agreed terms
• Define and deliver the optimal range proposition for the department, aligned to the overall business unit
strategy, and based on a clear understanding of customer needs
• Own bought in margin (BIM) and all price levers and set planned promos. Set a clear range framework including pricing architecture and recommend option counts with input from Merchandising team that drives both department sales and profitability
• Identify opportunities and new product development ideas and feed these ideas into the seasonal design
product strategy. Lead on new product ranking alongside customer proposition by grade. Own, set and track overall adherence to the seasonal Critical Path, ensuring optimal launch availability
• Brief and collaborate with marketing, dotcom, VM, space and retail teams to ensure strong customer execution of the product proposition, key campaigns & planned promotions.
• Provide leadership and direction to the team, identify, and develop talent and build a high performing team

Who you are

Your skills and experience will include

• Experienced Established Buyer with a passion for home. Strong category and customer focus and robust commercial acumen, with the ability to build a balanced, customer led product range and make decisions to deliver on the Hard Goods category strategy
• Experience working with metals and ceramics a plus!
• Ability to lead, coach and manage people to support personal development and drive success
• In depth knowledge and proven track record of driving performance through ownership of commercial
  product ranges that exceed sales and profit targets. Organised, able to drive delivery and in line with the critical path and manage ambiguity effectively by providing clear guidance and plans
• Good knowledge of cost price negotiations and global sourcing models to decide on optimal supply routes and supplier commercials
• An ability to interpret data and understand commercials to shape top line market share ambitions
• Excellent communication skills and ability to build positive collaborative relationship
• A digital and global mindset that supports the growth of international and online
• Experience of working cross-functionally with marketing dotcom and other teams to deliver a leading
  customer execution of the category

Everyone's welcome

We are ambitious about the future of retail. We're disrupting, innovating and leading the industry into a more conscientious, inspiring digital era. We're transforming how we work together and offering our most exciting opportunities yet. Marks & Spencer strives to be an inclusive organisation, trusted and admired by our colleagues, customers and suppliers. Join us and make change happen. We are committed to building diverse and representative teams, where everyone can bring their whole selves to work and be at their best. We support each other and work together to win together. If you feel you'd benefit from any support or reasonable adjustments during any stage of the recruitment process, please don't hesitate to let us know when completing your application. This information will be picked up by our team, so we can try and put steps in place to help you be at your best through this process.

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About Us

M&S is ready to push boundaries to lead the industry into a greener, speedier, more inspiring digital era. That's why we're revolutionising how we work and offering our most exciting opportunities yet. There's never been a better time to be part of our team.

Marks & Spencer aims to be an inclusive organisation, trusted and admired by our colleagues, customers and suppliers. Join us and make an immediate impact. We are committed to an active Inclusion, Diversity and Equal Opportunities Policy, which starts with our recruitment and selection process and we are happy to talk smart/flexible working.

About the Team

From Merchandising and Marketing - Product Development and Design, through to Supply Chain and Space Planning - our mission is to bring stylish wardrobe, home and beauty essentials to our customers via an easy, inspiring shopping experience online and in store that will delight them every time.

As we accelerate the transformation of our business to suit the changing needs of our customer, we need results-driven colleagues that not only have a passion for our product, but a strong team working ethos, creativity and a healthy commercial drive to join us on our journey.