Core Responsibilities
- Strategic Financial Planning: Own the Open-to-Buy (OTB) budget, margin targets, and sales forecasting to build profitable seasonal and annual trade plans.
- Assortment Strategy: Drive range development and stock depth strategies, ensuring product selection aligns with financial targets and brand positioning.
- High-Stakes Vendor Management: Lead major negotiations with global suppliers on product costing, minimum order quantities (MOQs), and lead times.
- Stock & Margin Optimization: Implement data-driven markdown strategies and promotional pricing to clear slow-moving inventory while protecting gross margins.
- Team Leadership & Mentorship: Manage, train, and develop junior team members, including Assistant Merchandisers and Allocators.
Senior Qualifications & Requirements
- Experience: 5+ years of retail buying, merchandising, or inventory planning experience, with a proven track record of growing sales revenue.
- Technical Mastery: Expert proficiency in advanced retail analytics software, ERP systems (e.g., SAP, Oracle), and complex financial modeling in Excel.
- Leadership Skills: Proven ability to influence stakeholders, present seasonal commercial strategies to executive leadership, and manage cross-functional teams.
