Buying Admin Assistant - Third Party Brands 12 Month FTC

Summary

Join a fast-paced, dynamic Brands team as a Buying Admin Assistant (BAA), supporting some of the leading names on the high street. This is a fantastic entry-level opportunity within the branded buying team at M&S, perfect for someone detail-oriented, organised, and confident in a fast-moving, transformational environment.

In this role, you\’ll provide vital administrative support across multiple product areas, owning the critical path and ensuring accurate, on‑time product set‑up. You\’ll also help maintain key data and support the team in delivering against the buying cycle.

There\’s also the opportunity to support the Assistant Buyer by attending branded appointments and contributing to buying decisions. Success in this role requires strong attention to detail, excellent time management, effective communication, and the ability to build relationships with both internal teams and external brand partners.

Please note this is a 12 month FTC.

All the details

We’re an inclusive, dynamic, exciting, and ever evolving business built on doing the right thing and bringing exceptional quality, value, service to every customer, whenever, wherever and however they want to shop with us.

To stay close to customers, our support teams are in the office three days a week as we believe that skills are developed through collaboration, and that spending time together makes us more creative and connected.

Here are some of the benefits we offer that make working for M&S just that little bit more special

• After completing your probationary period, you\’ll receive 20% colleague discount across all M&S products and many of our third‑party brands for you and a member of your household.
• Competitive holiday entitlement with the potential to buy extra holiday days!
• Discretionary bonus schemes awarded based on how you achieve your personal objectives and our performance as a business.
• A generous Defined Contribution Pension Scheme and Life Assurance.
• A dedicated welcome to our teams with a tailored induction and a wide range of training programmes to develop your skills.
• Amazing perks and discounts via our M&S Choices portal to maximise your financial and personal wellbeing.
• Industry-leading parental, adoption and neonatal policies, providing support and flexibility for your family.
• Access to a fantastic range of wellbeing support for all colleagues including access to our 24/7 Virtual GP and PAM Assist to support you and your family.
• A charity volunteer day to support a charity or cause you\’re passionate about through a dedicated day away from work.

What you’ll do

Your key responsibilities will include

• Manage product set‑up via the M&S buying portal by liaising with brands and offshore teams to ensure accurate pricing, product attribution, and timely receipt of brand assets, while monitoring and leading critical path meetings to identify risks and drive solutions that keep all stages on schedule.
• Prepare Sign‑Off and Trading Packs to support key meetings.
• Manage sample requests and sign‑offs.
• Build strong relationships with internal teams (Merchandising, .com) and external partners to support product delivery and launches.
• Stay informed on product trends and competitors while developing a strong understanding of key brand partners and the M&S customer, providing valuable feedback to the team.

Who you are

Your skills and experience will include

• Experience in buying or retail environment, ideally working at BAA level, with a strong passion for fashion brands as well as a solid understanding or desire to learn the end‑to‑end buying process and critical path management.
• Highly organised with excellent attention to detail, able to anticipate and manage problems, prioritise tasks and elevate when necessary.
• Proficient in Microsoft Office (Excel, Outlook) and quick to learn new systems, with a solid understanding or desire to learn the end‑to‑end buying process and critical path management.
• Good communication skills; communicating clearly using phone, email, VC etc.
• Comfortable working in a fast paced, agile workplace.

We are ambitious about the future of retail. We\’re disrupting, innovating and leading the industry into a more conscientious, inspiring digital era. We\’re transforming how we work together and offering our most exciting opportunities yet. Marks & Spencer strives to be an inclusive organisation, trusted and admired by our colleagues, customers and suppliers. Join us and make change happen.

We are committed to building diverse and representative teams, where everyone can bring their whole selves to work and be at their best. We support each other and work together to win together.

If you feel you\’d benefit from any support or reasonable adjustments during any stage of the recruitment process, please don\’t hesitate to let us know when completing your application. This information will be picked up by our team, so we can try and put steps in place to help you be at your best through this process.

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