Store estate planner

M&S Food is changing, and fast! We are undergoing one of the biggest transformations in retailing today to build a bigger, better, fresher food business. From Percy Pig to the freshest M&S Select Farms produce, we grow, source, and develop our own products to give our customers family-ready food that's unbeatable on flavour and innovation. We need motivated people who are ready to bring their whole self to work and give it their all in a fast-paced team committed to being the best. After all, this is not just food… This is M&S Food.

This is a hugely exciting time to join the Store Estate Team. With Renewals and new stores at the heart of the business strategy, you will have the opportunity to play a critical role in delivering transformative changes to the Store Estate. In your role as a Store Estate Planner, you will be responsible for planning and managing accurate stock volumes and sales forecasts for new store openings and Renewal stores. You will continue to actively support these business-critical stores for up to a year and ensure that they are best supported with strong availability and minimal waste to deliver profitable sales.

You will work collaboratively and cross-functionally across the Support Centre and with store teams to deliver brilliant launches and use insight and data to help make recommendations to maximise profitability. You will be passionate and proactive in identifying commercial opportunities to help satisfy customer demand and deliver incremental sales. The role will also involve supporting closure stores and managing the stock run-down process in a profitable and controlled approach.

Please note that this role will require travel and overnight stays around store launch periods. We have a flexible / hybrid approach - talk to us about part time or job share opportunities in this role, if it’s meaningful to you, it’s important to us.

What’s in it for you

Being a part of M&S is exactly that – becoming a part and playing your part. We’re an inclusive, dynamic, exciting, and always evolving business built on core values. Here are some of the benefits we offer that make working for M&S just that little bit more special:

• 20% Colleague discount on most things from furniture, fashion and food.
• A first-class welcome to M&S with a tailored induction and a wide range of training schemes to help with your learning and development.
• Having options to progress is something we’re proud of at M&S.
• Attractive annual bonus, based on company performance and personal objectives.
• Competitive holiday entitlement with the potential to buy extra holiday days!
• Amazing perks and discounts via our M&S Choices website, including GymSave – that offers up to 25% off Gym Memberships and the option to become an M&S Shareholder using our ShareSave & ShareBuy Schemes.
• Charity Volunteer Day – A paid day away from work to support your chosen charity.
• A very generous Defined Contribution Pension Scheme and Life Assurance.
• Every colleague at M&S has access to a fantastic range of wellbeing support – this includes access to our 24/7 Virtual GP, PAM Assist to support you & your family as well as many other schemes.

What you’ll do

Your key accountabilities will include:

• Plan and deliver accurate stock volumes and sales forecasts in new store openings and Renewal launches.
• Proactively identify commercial opportunities to improve availability and drive profitable sales in new stores and Renewals.
• Support new stores and Renewals with optimum inventory levels that deliver brilliant availability, minimal waste, and minimal stock backstage whilst working collaboratively with key stakeholders and provide on-site support to deliver brilliant launches.
• Build strong relationships with store colleagues and be the main point of contact for supply chain risks and opportunities.
• Deliver the store closure critical path and manage the profitable reduction in stockholding.
• Deliver the critical path for peak events and manage the forecast and inventory of hyper-care stores (Year 1 & 2 stores, Renewals).

Who you are

Your skills and experience will include:

• Customer-first mindset – keeping the customer’s needs at the forefront of every decision.
• Ability to communicate clearly and adapt message to different audiences.
• Ability to make decisions quickly and effectively especially during periods of ambiguity.
• Ability to build collaborative relationships within the Store Estate Team and with wider stakeholders.
• Competent in Excel and PowerBI.

Everyone’s welcome. M&S is ready to push boundaries to lead the retail industry into a greener, speedier, more inspiring digital era. That’s why we’re revolutionising how we work and offering our most exciting opportunities yet. There’s never been a better time to be part of our team. Marks & Spencer aims to be an inclusive organisation, trusted and admired by our colleagues, customers and suppliers. Join us and make an immediate impact. We are committed to an active Inclusion, Diversity and Equal Opportunities Policy, which starts with our recruitment and selection process, and we are happy to talk flexible working. If you consider yourself to require reasonable adjustments to any part of our recruitment process, we invite you to share those requirements with us when completing your application. We will make every effort to ensure your needs are met to provide a fair and transparent process of assessment.