Head of Merchandising

Head of Merchandising 

Because your perspective shapes trends. Innovate, your way.

As Head of Merchandising, you will lead your Merchandising teams in providing support and direction to the Buying teams on strategic, commercial and analytical decision-making. The Head of Merchandising will act as a leader and role model for best practice in Merchandising at Primark.

You will build a culture of commerciality and innovation within your teams, while providing a clear vision and sense of direction in working towards a common goal. You will develop and empower your teams; fostering a high-performing culture through target-setting, performance evaluation and employee engagement.

You will ensure that we continue to support trend-led ranges to surprise and delight our customers, while remaining commercially competitive and fulfilling Primark’s value proposition. You will ensure our strategy is adaptable and maintain flexibility to deliver customer needs. As a leader in Primark, you will be responsible for developing and executing department strategies that will support and help to evolve the key Primark strategic pillars.

As part of this role, you will work alongside Buying and Design leadership teams and will represent your product areas at senior leadership level. You will build strategic partnerships with your key stakeholders, and influence decision-making on Product.

As Head of Merchandising, you will continually seek to identify new opportunities to enhance our value proposition, while driving the departmental delivery of sales, markdown, stock turn and contribution budgets.

What you’ll do:

Commercial Awareness

• Responsible for developing a strong level of commercial awareness within the Merchandising team; encourages teams to analyse and react to regional differences, patterns, competitors and changes in the market
• Focuses the team on the needs of the customer in all activities
• Coaches and develops teams in applying range development and store offering insights throughout the business

Forecasting & Trading

• Oversees and reviews tools and reporting outcomes and leads the team to ensure accuracy of all reporting carried out, including strategy, sign-off and range presentations.
• Provides direction, guidance and coaching to team in making data-based decisions, including:
• Conducting regular trading reviews with the Merchandiser and Buying teams to maximise sales and manage stock levels
• Regularly reviewing WSSI's with the Merchandiser ensuring appropriate action has been taken

Strategy & Planning

• Gives a clear strategic message to the team that focuses on trend and sales growth opportunities. Communicates strategies and plans to department and senior management and takes accountability and ownership for strategies

Product Knowledge

• Coaches teams on developing product knowledge, competitor insight and commercial acumen to maximise sales
• Challenges range developments to strike a balance between newness and continuity of products
• Identifies larger social and cultural trends that will have a commercial impact

Leadership

• Build, manage and mentor a high performing team focused on delivering the Merchandising strategy across departments. Shares an engaging and inspiring vision with the team and provides clarity and a sense of direction to enable working towards common goals. Generates enthusiasm and commitment within the team and across Primark to shared outcomes.

Collaboration

• Builds trust and credibility across Primark and develops strong internal networks and partnerships to achieve strategic objectives. Facilitates learning, ideas and information sharing across teams.
• Collaborate with and influence stakeholders in all relevant business areas to deliver commercially successful product ranges for Primark.

What you’ll bring:

Here are some of the experiences and skills you’ll need for the role:

• 10+ years of experience in a Merchandising role, with at least 5 years in a senior management position
• Relevant qualification in a fashion-related or commerce-related subject, or equivalent experience
• Demonstrated experience in the implementation and execution of Merchandising strategies and plans
• Experience in creating a high-performance culture through target setting, performance evaluation, and employee engagement. Strong leadership skills, with the ability to effectively coach, guide and mentor while ensure the team achieves its goals
• Demonstrated experience creating effective relationships across the business, with prior experience of relationship management at Executive levels. 
• Demonstrated ability in developing a culture that embraces innovation, and challenges existing paradigms without compromising business performance
• Highly skilled negotiator with demonstrated experience in supplier management

What you’ll get:

People are at the heart of what we do here, so it’s essential we provide you with the right environment to perform at your very best. Let’s talk lifestyle:

• 27 days of leave, plus bank holidays and if you want, you can buy 5 more.
• Flexible Working, opportunity for an early Friday finish, and a subsidised cafeteria.
• Healthcare, pension, and potential bonus

Does this sound like you? Great, because we can’t wait to see what you’ll bring. You’ll be supported within a team of equally capable people, celebrating who you are and aiding you reach your potential. At Primark, we’re excited about our future - and we’re excited to develop yours.

At Primark, people matter. They’re the beating heart of our business and the reason we’ve grown from our first store in Dublin in 1969 to a £9bn+ turnover business a over 80,000 colleagues and over 440 stores in 17 countries today. Our values run through everything we do. In essence, we're Caring and always strive to put people first. We're also Dynamic, bravely pushing the boundaries to stay ahead. And finally, we succeed Together.

If you need any reasonable adjustments or have an accessibility requests, during your recruitment journey, such as extended time or breaks between online assessments, a sign language interpreter, mobility access, or assistive technology please contact your talent acquisition specialist.