Lead Production Merchandiser in Cheltenham

You will lead the UK Central Purchasing team, overseeing and enabling accurate buy placements and on‑time deliveries aligned with the company’s strategic objectives. This role is ideal for an experienced production professional from the apparel industry, with a deep understanding of critical path management. You should have proven experience in negotiating with overseas suppliers, along with strong communication skills and the ability to challenge lead times constructively.

You Will

• Lead and manage a team to ensure all lead times and ex‑factory dates are reviewed, challenged, and negotiated where necessary.
• Oversee a global supply network, building and maintaining strong relationships with key partners.
• Take full accountability for your team’s timely and efficient execution of tasks, ensuring adherence to the buying calendar and alignment across global sourcing offices.
• Proactively manage factory performance to meet order specifications and delivery timelines through accurate critical path management and supplier communications.
• Work closely with the planning team to monitor supplier orders in line with capacity plans to ensure production caps are not breached.
• Create and lead supplier action plans to support the recovery of delays and ensure minimal impact to the intake schedule.
• Handle supplier delays autonomously, including negotiating penalties where appropriate and escalating key intake risks to senior management with proactive solutions.
• Ratio orders at size level when required to meet specific order requirements and optimise stock flow.
• Monitor team performance through clear KPIs and ensure appropriate supplier actions are taken to maintain delivery standards.
• Lead the weekly buy process, driving agility by challenging repeat lead times and working closely with Sourcing and Quality teams to resolve outstanding actions.
• Support the business in managing supplier contracts, including payment terms, debits, and discounts.
• Support the Head of Purchasing and Head of Sourcing in delivering key sourcing and planning strategies and proactively lead cross‑functional projects to drive operational excellence and system optimisation.
• Ensure adherence to buying calendar deadlines through strong stakeholder engagement.
• Foster strong relationships with internal departments, serving as a dependable and collaborative team member.
• Identify and implement opportunities for process improvements and system enhancements.
• Manage and develop others, provide leadership to direct reports, ensuring delivery of team priorities and supporting their professional growth.
• Support continuous improvement by contributing to wider business projects and initiatives, adapting quickly to support the needs of a fast‑paced, evolving environment.

You Are

• Ideally Degree Educated, preferably in Fashion or Supply Chain.
• Ideally someone with a minimum of 6 years industry experience – retail/brand or supplier.
• Experienced in production processes within the fashion sector.
• Knowledgeable in the fashion buying cycle and critical path.
• Experienced working with a global supply base across multi‑categories.
• Previously experienced in leading others to success.
• Advanced in Excel with the ability to analyse and manipulate data to provide clear reporting updates.
• Confident working with high volumes of data.
• Highly accurate with good attention to detail.
• An excellent communicator with an enthusiastic and engaging manner.
• Proactive in your approach to resolving issues in a timely and effective manner.
• Highly organized with the ability to prioritise workload effectively.
• Self‑motivated with a willingness to learn new skills and demonstrate a can‑do approach.
• Experienced in the use of PLM / Siv or Looker would be desirable.

Benefits

• 25 days annual leave, plus bank holidays, and a holiday buying scheme.
• An additional day off to celebrate your birthday.
• Family‑friendly working policies, including enhanced maternity, paternity, and adoption leave.
• Company pension scheme.
• Life assurance policy covering all employees.
• 50% staff discount in store and online.
• Access to a staff‑only store offering heavily discounted sample stock.
• Health cash plan available to all employees.
• Flexible working with core hours between 10am – 4pm.
• Access to onsite parking and electric car parking points.
• Learning and development materials to help your career growth.
• Paid time off for volunteering work.
• Global employee assistance plan, free and confidential.
• A Cycle To Work Scheme.
• Local business discounts across Gloucestershire.