Job Summary:
The Head of Buying is responsible for leading the strategic development and delivery of product assortments across the business, ensuring alignment with customer preferences and market trends.
This role will lead and inspire a high-performing team that attracts and retains top talent, building a culture that fosters collaboration, innovation, and excellence.
Main Responsibilities:
* Develop and deliver buying strategies that align with financial targets and brand pillars.
* Align design direction and customer needs by developing product assortments that balance creativity, innovation, customer preferences, and market trends.
* Take overall responsibility for intake margin, working closely with design, planning, and sourcing teams to align product development objectives with budget KPIs.
* Provide product strategy inputs to planning to develop effective and commercial divisional and channel budgets and strategies.
* Agility and proactivity to course-correct product plans based on in-season trading/actions, and to take advantage of emerging trade or trend opportunities.
* Lead buying team to coordinate and drive seasonal reviews, SWOTs, and post-seasonal product review meetings, collaborating with HO planning, HO design.
* Collaborate with other departments such as planning, production, retail, VM, and marketing to ensure brand alignment throughout various channels.
Key Skills and Qualifications:
* Bachelor's degree in business, fashion merchandising, buying, retail management, or a related field; a master's degree is preferred.
* Professional certifications in buying, merchandising, or supply chain management (e.g., CIPS, CPSM) are advantageous.
* Extensive experience in buying with a proven track record of delivering successful buying strategies in a fast-paced retail or omnichannel environment.
* Demonstrated experience in leading and developing teams, fostering a collaborative and high-performance culture.
* Strategic thinking with the ability to develop and execute buying strategies that align with business goals and market trends.
* Strong understanding of financial metrics, including revenue, margin, and inventory management, to drive profitable buying decisions.
* Strong understanding of customer preferences, leveraging data-driven insights to create product assortments that resonate with target audiences.
* Proven expertise in costing, margin analysis, and trading to set profitable annual and seasonal assortments.