Buyer: Beauty

Beauty is one of the most dynamic, trend driven, and high visibility categories at the John Lewis Partnership. We are looking for an experienced Buyer to lead and shape our Beauty assortment.

In this high impact role, you’ll take ownership of a commercially critical and strategic Beauty portfolio, blending sharp market insight with deep supplier and Brand relationships to bring world-class brands to our customers. Working side by side with your Merchandiser and leading a talented team of Buying Assistants and Junior Buyers, you’ll balance long term strategy, complex negotiations, and fast paced in-season trading to maximise sales, margin, and market share.

If you're a highly experienced, trend savvy Buyer with a passion for beauty and wellness, a track record of commercial delivery, and a talent for coaching teams, this is your opportunity to drive competitive advantage for an iconic retail brand.

• Salary: £55,600.00 - £84,100.00 per annum dependant on skill and experience 

• Contract type: This is a fixed term contract opportunity until October 2027 

• Hours and location of the role:

  • 35 hours per week

  • Your home location will be our London, Pimlico Head Office

  • This is a hybrid working role. The expectation is a minimum of 3 days per week in the office as team collaboration is critical in this role. Core days are Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday however flexibility is required for team and brand meetings outside of these core days 

Key responsibilities:

• Highly experienced buyer who uses their expert knowledge to plan and buy the best range for customers within your category. Your remit will be to deliver agreed KPIs including; sales, gross margin and stock target and achieving required customer metrics and hit rates

• Buying an assortment of high strategic importance and/or complexity within your category’s commercial product assortment that optimises market trends and creates a competitive advantage

• Experienced negotiator adept at independently managing supplier/Brand relationships and conducting supplier terms negotiations

• Working with your merchandiser, you will analyse commercial input and market data from all channels to bring to market branded and ownbrand ranges, working alongside all relevant specialist functions to deliver a category assortment with a competitive pricing architecture

• You will maximise opportunities as they arise and lead the in-season trading to potentialise the outcome for both customers and your category

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

• You will work at pace and agility within a collaborative environment with your Category Lead. Externally you will hold a strong relationship with your suppliers/Brands and external teams

• Ensure up to date expert market knowledge for the category and can predict future market dynamics

• Accountable for building and maintaining strong supplier/Brand 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

• Speciality areas, such as Beauty, will be responsible for additional activities within physical estate planning, marketing, events & retail media sales

• Collaborate with Merchandiser to prepare and share Standardised Range Plan, in line with critical path, to hand over to the Central Operations Team. Sign off product ranges and branch grading with Category Lead when required, using reporting from Product Operations

• Propose Balance To Achieve across commercial KPIs for the assortment each month in collaboration with the Merchandiser. Work with Merchandisers in your team to ensure Buying office negotiated rebates targets are achieved

• Work with and comply with all critical path requirements as necessary

Essential skills and/or experience you’ll need: 

• Extensive experience in the retail industry, with a focus on buying, category management, or product management within the designated category. Direct experience in buying practices for both branded and ownbrand, merchandising strategies, and supplier negotiations 

• Proven brand experience required, ideally in Beauty and/or Wellness

• Management of critical path for both branded and ownbrand product

• Strong negotiation skills and experience in leading strategic commercial negotiations with suppliers and Brands to secure favourable terms and agreements, maximising value and profitability for the category

• In-depth knowledge and expertise within the designated category, including an understanding of product trends, customer preferences, and industry dynamics. Direct experience in range planning, product assortment development, and brand management within the category

• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills, both written and verbal, with the ability to effectively communicate ideas, negotiate agreements, and build relationships with internal and external stakeholders

• Proven management experience (minimum of 2 direct reports)

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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 at retail. We 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 somewhere we belong. Embracing our differences and creating an environment where we’re free to be ourselves and can THRIVE. Growing ourselves individually, and as a collective. 

As Partners, we make all the difference. And, we all own it.  

Important points to note:  

It’s important to note that some of our roles are subject to pre-employment vetting (which may include DBS checks for successful candidates). If required, you’ll be informed and provided with information about vetting during the recruitment process and we encourage you to complete any vetting documents quickly to avoid delays. Any DBS checks required will be carried out by a third-party registered body and financial probity checks may also be required for some of our roles.  

We occasionally close vacancies early in the event we receive a high volume of applications, and therefore, we recommend you apply early. If you require a reasonable adjustment due to a disability which means you may need longer to complete your application please contact us as soon as possible.

We want all of our Partners to have a good work-life balance and we support flexible working. This might mean flexible or compressed hours, job sharing or shorter hour contracts, where possible. Please discuss this further with the hiring manager during your interview.