• Lead Commercial-led projects that improve processes, ways of working, reporting, planning capability and operational effectiveness across the Commercial function.

• Represent the wider Merchandising functions within major business transformation programmes, ensuring Buying, Merchandising, Inventory and trading requirements are understood, prioritised and effectively translated into project outcomes.

• Bring practical commercial expertise to identify opportunities, requirements gathering, solution design, testing, implementation and adoption.

• Influence decisions on major business initiatives by providing clear recommendations, highlighting risks, identifying opportunities and challenging assumptions where required.

• Establish appropriate governance, stakeholder engagement and decision-making processes to support successful project delivery.

• Provide regular visibility of progress, risks, dependencies and benefits to leadership teams.

Systems, Processes & Ways of Working

• Act as a key Commercial partner for system implementations and business transformation activity.

• Ensure new systems, tools and processes support effective commercial decision-making and are practical for the end user.

• Define and embed standardised commercial processes that improve consistency, efficiency and operational control.

• Champion technology-enabled improvements that enhance forecasting, inventory management, reporting and trading performance.

• Identify opportunities to simplify ways of working and strengthen alignment between Commercial, Tech, Finance, Retail and Inventory teams.

• Support change management activity, including communication, training, user adoption and benefit realisation.

Inventory & Forecasting Capability

• Partner with Inventory, Merchandising and Tech teams to improve forecast accuracy, stock availability and inventory stock turn.

• Drive the inclusion of key demand drivers into forecasting, including promotional activity, channel performance, store expansion and evolving customer trends.

• Influence strategies that improve stock allocation, reduce excess inventory and optimise channel availability.

• Define and monitor KPIs that demonstrate the impact of forecasting, inventory and operational improvements.

• Provide direction to any future project support, assistant or administrative resource as required.

Skills & Experience Required

• Broad Buying and/or Merchandising experience within a retail environment, with strong understanding of commercial planning, trading priorities and operational execution.

• Proven track record of delivering projects and change initiatives through cross-functional teams, with experience representing business requirements within wider transformation and process improvement programmes.

• Strong commercial judgement with the ability to connect operational detail to broader business strategy and customer outcomes.

• Strong stakeholder management and influencing skills, with credibility across both commercial and technical teams.

• Ability to identify the right questions, delve into operational detail and translate commercial requirements into practical solutions.

• Strong analytical capability and confidence using data to support decision-making and measure outcomes.

• Formal project management qualifications are not essential.

Preferred:

• Familiarity with merchandising systems, forecasting tools, or retail tech platforms.

Key Competencies

• Strong buying, merchandising and commercial acumen.

• Naturally curious, with the confidence to challenge constructively and ask insightful questions.

• Builds alignment and momentum across diverse stakeholder groups.

• Balances strategic thinking with practical execution.

• Comfortable navigating ambiguity and driving progress through change.

• Highly organised, structured and outcome-focused.

• Strong communicator and relationship builder across all levels of the organisation.

Please note that only successful candidates will be contacted.