Buying Assistant, Categories

ABOUT THE ROLE

Are you passionate about a career in Buying? Do you want to work for an iconic brand across a range of categories? Are you great at building relationships with suppliers and internal teams? If so, this may be just the job for you.

We are recruiting a number of permanent Buying Assistants across various categories including:

• Home
• Fashion:
• Beauty

In addition to your contractual pay, any time worked between 22:00 - 06:00 will attract Night Premium at a rate of £4.25 per hour. This will also apply to existing Partners who have enrolled onto Enhanced Hours Premium arrangements.

Salary up to: £31,000 per annum depending on skill and experience

Contract type:
Permanent positions

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

• Managing milestones and adhering to standard processes
• Supporting, buying and executing the administrative tasks required across critical path management, pricing, range building, marketing, and trading activities for your assigned category
• Taking responsibility for the complete competitor and assortment analysis - working with supplier and internal teams to collate and deliver - events, marketing activities, samples (range building and assortment reviews)
• You will take pride in executing work in a right first time and accurate manner.
• You will be able to flex to the ebb and flow of seasonal demands, including supporting additional categories as the need arises
• Externally you will maintain operational relationships with our Suppliers
• You will propose actions to your category group and execute their decisions within their critical path, assortment, marketing and range plans templates.
• You will manage exceptions to these processes with the relevant stakeholders

• Strong working knowledge of product development processes in respective category areas;
  Home, Fashion & Beauty
• Communicating, influencing and negotiating with a wide range of stakeholders
• Excellent time management/prioritisation skills and approach to tasks in a project/milestone outlook - planning and reviewing work regularly and adapting to change
• Experience of working with range plans, critical path and assortment review and marketing nomination processes
• Demonstrates an innate passion for and understanding of Retail

• Experience in a Buying office or a Buying qualification would be an advantage
• Experience of using JL systems/tools - Range plan, Product Hub, Step, Google Suite

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  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…