Assistant Merchandiser - Brands - 12 Month FTC - London, Greater London

Everyone is welcome at M&S. No exceptions. It’s your background, abilities and differences that make you, uniquely you. And when you’re part of M&S, that individuality has the potential to make waves.

Our collaborations with some of the world's biggest brand names are helping us to reach an even broader audience. From exclusive collaborations with Adidas to brands we own like Jaegar, join our expanding team of fashion curators, and shape the future of M&S Fashion, Home & Beauty.

As we accelerate the transformation of our business to suit the changing needs of our customer, we need results-orientated colleagues that not only have a passion for our product, but a strong team working ethos, creativity and a healthy commercial aim to join us on our journey. 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. Please note this is a 12 Month Fixed Term Contract.

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.

As the Assistant Merchandiser for Third Party Brands your key accountabilities will include:

• Playing a pivotal role in the delivery of the M&S strategic ambition to introduce and grow the third-party Brands online.
• Deliver Sales / Stock / GSM and Markdown to plan, providing detailed analysis to highlight risks & opportunities on a weekly, monthly and seasonal basis.
• Formulating a detailed plan on the products to be offered each month across all channels to meet our customer requirements, taking full responsibility for a range or department where necessary.
• Working collaboratively with Buying counterparts to build and maintain product ranges that grow & improve M&S style credentials.
• Booking quantities of products to meet launch and respond to in season variables for all channels. Build and maintain strong availability of continuity product including regular size reviews, forecasting for a multitude of brands.
• Building & maintaining strong relationships with our brands. Constantly monitor sales and range offering to ensure commercial and customer aspirations are potentialised, liaising with brands to react and amend accordingly.
• Delivering in-season actions that maximise sales and profit opportunities and meet agreed targets. Preparing and presenting regular business reviews, alongside the wider team, to successfully drive performance rate.
• Working flexibly across different branded models, e.g. dropship, consignment and wholesale.
• Coaching and guiding Merchandising Admin Assistants within the team.

Your skills & experience will include:

• You will already be working to Senior Merchandise Admin Assistant or Assistant Merchandiser level in a fast-paced retailer.
• Strong Merchandising skills including development of Department Plan, stock/commitment management, creating sales estimates and managing GSM. Knowledge of the end to end buy to channel process.
• Strong numerical, analytical and interpretive skills.
• Strong relationship building and communication skills to foster collaborative and effective engagement with brand partners.
• Experience managing and setting direction for a team. Motivating & developing reports, deputising responsibilities and leading through change.
• Ability to initiate and build strong relationships with key stakeholders, enabling you to influence where needed.
• Resilience and being open to change.

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.