Buyer – Mattresses

About the role…Are you ready to make a BIG impact as a Buyer? We have a great opportunity to join the John Lewis Partnership’s Mattress buying team. You will be a highly motivated, experienced individual who uses their expert knowledge to plan and buy the best ranges for our customer within the category.

Your remit will be to deliver agreed KPIs including; sales, profit, stock, margin and achieving required customer metrics and hit rates. You will be buying an assortment that is high in strategic importance and complexity, you will be responsible for optimising new innovations and market trends to deliver competitive advantage.

You will be an experienced negotiator adept at independently managing both own brand and branded supplier relationships.

Working with your merchandiser, you will analyse commercial input and market data from all channels to develop and bring to market, own brand and branded ranges, working alongside all relevant specialist functions to deliver a category assortment with a competitive pricing architecture.
You will maximise opportunities as they arise in-season, trading to potentialise the outcome for both customers and your category.

You will be People Manager of your category team’s Buying Assistants, creating the conditions for them to thrive, and balancing their focus and priorities as required.

• Salary up to - £58,000 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. 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.
  
  A full UK driving licence and car is beneficial for this role as you will also be required to travel nationwide to visit our suppliers.
• Location - The normal place of work for this role is our London Central Office in Pimlico.
• FYI Next Steps - Interviews will be held face to face in our London Head Office w/c 5th January 2025. The interview will consist of two parts (an individual interview, in which you will be assessed against our Partnership Behaviours and your technical ability to perform in the role you have applied for; and a task to be completed ahead of the interview and presented back to the team in person).

• You will work at pace and agility within a collaborative environment with your Buying Manager, Head of Buying, Merchandising Manager, Head of Merchandising, Product Technology and wider Marketing and Online matrix teams. Externally you will develop and hold a strong relationship with your suppliers.
• You will be accountable for the commercial success of a product range as defined and agreed with your Buying Manager and the commercial and customer success of a product range through range planning and agile in-season trading.
• You will ensure you have up to date expert market knowledge for the category and can predict future market dynamics.
• You are accountable for building and maintaining strong supplier relationships ensuring that they adhere to the required standards and agreed terms.
• You will 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. 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.
• You may need to deputise for your Buying Manager when appropriate.
• You will work alongside your merchandiser to deliver seasonal change in branches, building relationships with key Partners and undertaking a minimum of 12 branch visits within a trading year.
• You will be People Manager to your team’s Buying Assistant - Supporting their professional development and growth, providing coaching and feedback.

• A minimum of 2-5 years' experience in the retail industry with tangible proven experience within…