Assistant Buyer

We are recruiting for an experienced Assistant Buyer to join our Buying team based at our Pep and Co Head Office in Watford.

Reporting into the Senior Buyer, the Assistant Buyer will be responsible for product development, negotiating & sourcing ensuring timescales are met.

This is a diverse role working in a fast-paced environment. Budget retail is a sector like no other. You will be responsible for representing our business both in brand and culture through the products you select.

As the Assistant Buyer, you will be responsible for.

• Understanding clothing and fashion trends and communicating this with Buyers to meet customer demands
• Supporting the buyer to deliver the strategy for the department
• Understand the market including who the customer is and who our key competitors are
• Undertake regular comp shops
• Present in trade meetings and sign offs to directors
• Responsible for the management and development of the Buyers admin assistant
• Chasing samples from Suppliers to ensure everything is available for sign off in-line with the Critical Path
• Setting up and managing the Critical Path from order confirmation through to handover date, flagging any issues with possible solutions to the Buyer
• Developing a clear understanding of the manufacturing process for each supplier and product type
• Making suggestions to Suppliers to improve the sample process
• Working closely with Buyer & QA to understand fit requirements

To be successful, you will need

• Experience in an Assistant Buyer role
• Experience of working with multiple product options and a variety of lead times
• Previous experience buying own buy product
• Previous experience in coaching and leading a team
• Experience in product development and negotiating with suppliers
• Strong communication skills with the ability to develop critical relationships with designers, merchandisers and suppliers
• Confident in working out cost price, margins and recommend selling prices
• Excellent presentation skills with the ability to present to suppliers and senior management
• Excellent organisation, priorisation and time management skills
• Ability to work on own initiative and independently
• Team player

• Competitive salary
• Long service awards
• Additional holiday purchase - (once a year window to apply)
• Pension
• Life Assurance
• Employee Assistance Programme (EAP)
• The ability to study towards an level 4 Buying and Merch Assistant or a degree (level 6) in Assistant Buying through an apprenticeship

Since opening our first store in Burton-upon-Trent in 1990, Poundland, has built a network of over 850 stores in the UK and the Republic of Ireland, offering top brands and great quality own brand products that provide customers with amazing value every day!

Poundland offers thousands of quality products in store with over 1,000 well-known brands in 17 shopping categories including food and drink, health and beauty, household, gardening, DIY, pet, stationery, books, DVDs and toys. We are now on a journey from a single price to a simple price point retailer.

Now part of Pepco Group with over 2,500 stores across Europe, you will see Poundland also trades internationally in the Republic of Ireland through its Dealz brand. Dealz has a growing store base in both Poland and Spain.

Within the UK Poundland has also rolled out its fashion brand PEP&CO to approximately 300 of our larger stores. PEP&CO, launched in 2015 as a stand-alone brand, offers customers a full range of women's, men's and kids' fashion and is now bringing new style to Poundland with simple low pricing on family fashion that's hard to find on local high streets.

PEP&CO was also nominated in the 2019 Retail Week Awards as Private Label of The Year.

If this sounds like you and you can make a real difference, apply today!