Career Opportunities: Head of Category

Currys London Campus at Waterloo
Fixed Term Contract - 12 Months
Full Time
Grade 6

At Currys we're united by one passion: to help everyone enjoy amazing technology. As the UK's best-known retailer of tech, we're proud of the service our customers receive – and it's all down to our team of 25,000 caring and committed colleagues. Working as one team, we learn and grow together, celebrating the big and small moments that make every day amazing.

The Head of Category will possess exceptional negotiation and leadership skills to manage a senior team of buyers and lead go-to-market strategies that close out the current financial year successfully whilst setting robust plans for continued success in the next. We're looking for an established senior leader to take on a pivotal role in driving the biggest commercial margin contributor for Currys.

The role will focus on:
Commercial Impact - Delivering strong financial outcomes through strategic negotiations and market execution
Leadership Excellence - Inspiring and guiding a senior team, driving improvements in colleague engagement and customer satisfaction

• Leads and owns development of the category strategy, in accordance with company defined guiderails for customer promises and financial deliverables. Ensures a balanced delivery of KPIs across colleague and customer satisfaction, and financial metrics
• Fully owns the performance of the squad, anticipating risk and opportunity, decisively resolving issues and setting a framework to enable self-sufficiency and high levels of accountability within each of the roles
• Leads and develops the squad to engender a culture of collaborative working, rounded thinking, and support. Maximises engagement in the company and its strategy and enables the team to deliver excellently. Quality checks the use of accurate data in decision making
• Drives a mentality of growth within the squad, seeking opportunities to exceed KPIs and gain further competitive advantage
• Deeply understands the end of end profitability of their category and the levers available to maximise EBIT return. Works closely with finance and within the squad to identify opportunities and develops and executes plans to improve performance
• With the support of the central management function, develops and leads a robust supplier strategy, engaging key partners in our plan and company vision ensuring we minimise costs and maximise investment to support our customer and financial objectives
• Obsesses about customer experience through all elements of their shopping journey within the category. Insists on the use of insight and data in making robust decisions regarding the customer journey & proposition and works tightly with all customer facing channels to deliver excellently
• Support the central planning function by ensuring the category squad delivers in line with the critical path for all major processes, with a high focus on quality and 'right first time' delivery
• Develops a highly engaged team ensuring an ongoing focus of making a clearer, simpler, faster place to work
• Builds effective recruitment, development and succession plans to support the talent pipeline, respecting and embracing diversity within the team

Required Skills & Experience:

• Extensive buying experience working within a FMCG/Fashion or Hard Goods fast paced retailer
• Advanced negotiation skills and ability to manage all supplier partnerships at differing levels of seniority
• Strong judgment and decision-making skills to enable the right actions for the category
• Customer champion with excellent commercial awareness and understanding of customer needs
• Excellent numerical and analytical skills to review data and provide recommendations/actions plans to improve the customer experience, sales and EBIT
• Experience of working to deadlines, managing critical paths and making decisions at pace when required
• Drives change, recruits advocates from across the business to support new initiatives/improvements
• Excellent inter-personal and communication skills, capable of presenting to senior stakeholders and delegating for category director
• Management/leadership experience of senior buyers and buyers. Creating a spirit of inclusion and empowerment in the team

We know our people are the secret to our success. That's why we're always looking for ways to reward great work. You'll find a host of benefits designed to work for you, including:

• 25 days of annual leave (plus bank holiday entitlement) and a competitive pension scheme
• Private Medical Insurance
• Life Assurance
• Fantastic colleague discounts on Tech with Currys and iD Mobile
• Access to Champion Health (Wellbeing App)
• Hybrid working (with an expectation to meet in person 2-4 times per month)

Join our team and we'll be with you every step of the way, helping you develop the career you want with new opportunities, on-going training and skills for life.

Not only can you shape your own future, but you can help take charge of ours too. As the biggest recycler and repairer of tech in the UK, we're in a position to make a real impact on people and the planet. 

Every voice has a space at our table and we're committed to making inclusion and diversity part of everything we do, including how we strengthen our workforce. We want to make sure you have a fair opportunity to show us your talents during our application process, so if you need any additional assistance with your application please email and we'll do our best to help.