Buyer, Kids Fashion Brands and Shoes

About The Role

We have a great opportunity to join our Buying team, as Buyer of Kids Fashion Brands & Shoes. As a Buyer in this area you will be a highly motivated, experienced individual who uses their expert knowledge to plan and buy the best ranges for our customer within your 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 of high strategic importance and complexity within your category’s commercial product assortment that optimises market trends and creates a competitive advantage. You will be an experienced negotiator adept at independently managing brand supplier relationships. Working with your Merchandiser, you will analyse commercial input and market data from all channels to develop a category assortment that appeals to the John Lewis & Partners customer base. You will work collaboratively with all relevant specialist functions such as Marketing, Online and Store Design to deliver a compelling brand portfolio.

Salary: £54,500 – £84,400 (up to £58,000 depending on experience). Contract type: secondment until January 2027 covering maternity leave. Working pattern: hybrid, minimum 3 days per week in the office. Location: Pimlico, London Office. Next steps: Assessments will take place in person W/C 27th October.

Key Responsibilities

• You will work at pace and agility within a collaborative environment with your Buying Manager, Head of Buying, Trade Planning, Trading & Product Operations team, Design and Product Technology. Externally you will hold a strong relationship with your suppliers, Brands and external teams.
• 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 be responsible for terms negotiation and driving commercial growth of your brands.
• You will contribute to building Kid’s Fashion Brands strategy and you will work with a matrix team to deliver this strategy.
• 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. Alongside the Buying Manager, you will build and deliver an acquisition strategy.
• You will be accountable for making decisions on the product assortment: product selection, 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 will manage and develop buying assistants on the team.
• You may need to deputise for your Buying Manager when appropriate.

Essential Skills/experience You’ll Need

• Great knowledge of the fashion industry and fashion brands.
• Proven experience in buying branded fashion at buyer/junior buyer level.
• Experience dealing with a variety of brands: global, high‑street & premium.
• Strong negotiation skills, stakeholder management and relationship building.
• Highly numerate with strong analytical skills.
• Proven commercial experience of trading in a fast‑paced and reactive environment.
• Demonstration of a collaborative approach across teams.
• Leadership skills.
• Experience developing and managing more junior team members.

Desirable Skills/experience You May Have

• Previous experience in Kids Fashion.

About The Partnership

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, continuously innovating, adapting and diversifying. Working together, we hold true to our behaviours and treat everyone with kindness and respect.

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.

Seniority level

• Mid‑Senior level

Employment type

• Full‑time

Job function

• Purchasing and Supply Chain

Industries

• Retail