At a Glance
- Tasks: Lead commercial planning and optimise performance for strategic partnerships in retail.
- Company: Dynamic fashion retailer focused on innovation and growth.
- Benefits: Competitive salary, flexible working options, and opportunities for professional development.
- Other info: Join a supportive environment that values diversity and encourages personal growth.
- Why this job: Drive impactful strategies and collaborate with diverse teams to shape the future of retail.
- Qualifications: Extensive merchandising leadership experience and strong commercial acumen required.
The predicted salary is between 59576 - 70089 £ per year.
Department: Merchandising
Employment Type: Permanent - Full Time
Location: Head Office, Chelsea House
Reporting To: Sarah Eldridge
Lead the commercial planning, trading performance, and operational execution of the Strategic Partnerships business across wholesale, marketplace, licence, and future franchise models. Responsible for building and delivering the financial strategy, optimising business performance, and creating scalable operational frameworks that enable profitable growth. This role connects strategy with execution - ensuring the right plans, processes, and trading actions are in place to deliver partner growth, commercial targets, and long term business ambitions.
Key Responsibilities
- Commercial Planning & Strategy: Own and deliver the Strategic Partnerships commercial planning framework across sales, margin, stock, intake, and profitability. Build annual, seasonal, and in-season plans aligned to partner strategies and business objectives. Lead forecasting, budgeting, and commercial scenario planning to maximise opportunities and manage risk. Create & track clear KPIs and performance measures across all partnership channels.
- Trading & Business Performance: Lead the weekly/monthly trading rhythm, identifying risks, opportunities, and actions to optimise performance. Own trading decisions across sales, stock, availability, margin, and partner performance. Drive insight led recommendations using data, customer trends, and commercial analysis. Influence cross functional teams to deliver trading actions at pace.
- Operations & Business Enablement: Own operational excellence across Strategic Partnerships, ensuring processes are simple, scalable, and efficient. Lead the development of tools, reporting, governance, and ways of working to support growth. Remove operational barriers and improve speed, accuracy, and delivery. Ensure readiness for future growth models including marketplace, licence, and franchise.
- Leadership & Collaboration: Partner closely with Head of Buying to align assortment, partner plans, and commercial execution. Influence wider teams including Supply Chain, Finance, Digital, B&M. Lead, coach, and develop a high performing team with clear ownership and accountability.
Success Measures: Delivery of revenue, margin, and profit targets. Forecast accuracy and trading performance. Stock efficiency and availability. Operational improvements and scalability. Successful execution of strategic partner plans.
Experience Required: Extensive merchandising leadership experience within a fast paced retail or fashion environment, with deep expertise across commercial planning, forecasting, trading, stock management, and performance optimisation. Proven experience working across marketplace, wholesale, digital, or strategic partnership models, with the ability to maximise growth through external partner relationships. Strong commercial acumen with a proven track record of delivering revenue, margin, and profitability growth at pace across multiple channels or markets. Experience building scalable processes, operating frameworks, and ways of working that enable rapid growth and future business expansion. Strong leadership and influencing skills, with the ability to use data and insight to drive decisions while engaging teams, stakeholders, and partners through change.
Equal Opportunity Statement: We are committed to equality of opportunity and welcome applications from individuals regardless of age, gender, ethnicity, disability, sexual orientation, gender identity, socio economic background, religion and/or belief. We will consider flexible working requests for all roles unless operational requirements prevent otherwise.
Head of Merchandising - Strategic Partnerships employer: River Island Clothing Co., Ltd.
Join a dynamic team at our Chelsea House head office, where we prioritise collaboration and innovation in the ecommerce space. As an Ecommerce Enrichment Executive, you'll benefit from a supportive work culture that values employee growth, offering opportunities for professional development and flexible work arrangements. With a focus on quality and creativity, we empower our employees to make a meaningful impact in the fashion industry while enjoying a vibrant and inclusive workplace.
Contact Details:
River Island Clothing Co., Ltd. Recruitment Team
