Head of Merchandising

**Head of Merchandising - Menswear & Kids**
- 230001HY)

**Role: Head of Merchandising - Menswear and Kidswear**

**Location: Ansty Park (Coventry) & Home (Holborn, London will also be considered)**

As our Head of Merchandising you will execute the Multichannel merchandising strategy for our Mens & Kids wear product ranges. By working in partnership with the Buying and Design Manager you will plan and execute commercial and profitable range plans that are aligned to strategic direction and budgets, and that are customer, channel and market focused. You will lead the Merchandising team to achieve sales, profit, availability and stock targets through effective range building and merchandising planning, sales and stock management, and responding to the departmental trading performance, within all Sainsbury’s Argos channels Store and Online.

**What you need to do**
- Work collaboratively with team and Buying Manager to manage and support the selection process to deliver merchandising analysis ensuring the delivery of a compelling and balanced offer to the customer in line with the agreed strategy, across all channels.
- Work in conjunction with other divisional Merchandise Managers, Buying Managers, and Design Managers to deliver a consistent and joined up approach across the Non-Food divisional strategy.
- Provide the teams with the framework to enter new markets and selling channels to maximise profitability and EBITDA of the Division.
- Ensure all selling channels are planned in terms of range construction, buy levels and stock flow by all Merchandising teams and that these plans are executed cross-functionally in a customer-centric way.
- Lead the team to manage stock to target: manage the divisional / departmental WSSI planning, OTB management process, Purchase orders, Markdown plan, clearance plan for dormant, obsolete and slow moving stock, Total / DC & store stock levels, replenishment parameters in line with trading performance, ordering parameters to deliver depot and Supplier service targets, manage risk on out of tolerance POs/ stock commitments, availability, reviewing forecasts on a weekly basis
- Together with the Buying Manager, coach the team to deliver the strategic sourcing / supplier direction, supporting the team to review supplier performance against KPIs, and setting tactical actions or strategic approach to optimise supplier performance.
- Provide the Buying and Merchandising teams with clear direction that supports the growth of direct sourcing and profitability by leading the cross-functional teams in capacity/production planning, fabric consolidation and effective critical path management.
- Coach and develop the team to review space performance on a phase by phase basis versus budgeted performance and support the optimisation of overall divisional space against the divisional strategy.
- Coach the team to work in conjunction with the SRT, CRT, Demand Forecasting, Supply chain and Online teams to review the replenishment parameters for all product and stores to ensure these deliver target levels of sales, stock and availability.
- Work strategically across all functions that deliver the sales and operational plan including Distribution, Stores and Supply Chain to optimise flow and maximise customer availability by channel.

**What I need to know and show**
- Recent relevant experience in a comparable senior merchandising role of merchandise planning including multi-channel experience with excellent technical knowledge of merchandising & planning systems
- Clear ability to work under pressure, in a fast moving constantly changing retail environment, to high standard.
- Exceptional Product & Market knowledge & Customer focus
- Excellent commercial, analytical, problem solving & presentation skills
- Demonstrate credibility with a range of stakeholders, displaying a broad range of influencing styles
- Ability to plan and deliver departmental seasonal strategies to plan, budget and forecast for 12-18 month timescale
- The ability to inspire, lead and coach a large team of Senior Merchandisers, Merchandisers, AM's and MAA's, identifying and managing talent across multiple locations ensuring their performance and motivation is in line with divisional objectives.
- Ability to work & problem solve cross-functionally in a complex organisational structure, prioritising and managing multiple tasks, and driving change.
- Address difficult issues in an open and constructive way. Asking appropriate questions about performance rather than telling an answer.
- Looks outside of Sainsbury’s to improve the way that we do things.

**Why Sainsbury’s?**

Work-life balance is important to us, so we offer our colleagues as much flexibility as possible in line with the needs of their role. We trust them to decide how, where and when they work, combining remote and collaborative working with a flexible approach to hours, giving them plenty of time and space for life outside of work whilst delivering ag