Buying Assistant

**Buying Assistant **(maternity cover 9-12m), Waltham Abbey (hybrid), £28k p.a. + many more benefits. Supporting our Buying team with administrative, reporting and data management duties. If you're organised, know your way around a spreadsheet and can analyse data, with some experience supporting a Buying team, please get in touch

**The Benefits**:

- Competitive salary of up to £28k p.a. pro-rata (depending on experience)
- Generous (up to) 50% colleague discount on Jollyes pet food and products, and discounts on additional services (e.g. dog grooming, community pet clinic)
- Colleague Reward Scheme (discounts and cash back on hundreds of retailers and service providers)
- Colleague Assistance Programme (discounts and cash back on various medical & mental health services)
- 25 days annual leave plus bank holidays, additional leave for weddings and civil partnerships, new pet arrivals and your birthday off (pro-rata)

**The Role: Buying Assistant (9-12m temporary contract)**

Jollyes is growing and experiencing great success, attracting awards, and receiving great customer reviews. But we are ambitious and focused on continuing our growth trajectory with some exciting plans.This role is based within our Head Office support team in Waltham Abbey, covering maternity leave for a minimum of 9 months. It is a hybrid working role requiring at least 3 office days per week, and supporting the Buying team with admin, reporting and data management duties, within our omnichannel environment. Key measurements will include retail price accuracy, master data accuracey within our systems, Invoice cost accuracy as well as sales and margin £ and %.

A full job description is available on request, but to outline your key responsiblilities as a Buying Assistant, they are as follows:

- Understanding internal customer needs, agreeing time frames for completion of work and delivering on commitments made.
- Actively contributes to the buying process and recommends ways to improve category performance.
- Ensures all data requirements for Sourcing of products are completed accurately and on time in right systems.
- Accurately maintains records of supplier terms and cost prices, identifying any discrepancies or opportunities.
- Maintains and reports on market pricing to help the buyers understand value position and make recommendations for adjustments based on pricing targets.
- Works collaboratively with other functions including but not limited to Merchandising, Supply chain, Finance, Quality and Packaging etc
- Works with the wider buying team to support daily activities include diary management / presentations
- Managing link between supplier NAM and Jollyes to improve master data accuracy within PIM
- Provides daily and weekly reporting as identified by the commercial team, validating accuracy of data where appropriate.
- Responsible for invoicing of Commercial Income as directed by the buyers and tracking key JBP.
- Reviews and reports on product returns data, identifying opportunities and risks.
- Ownership of artwork on own brands products
- Manage store communications for Category activity
- Any other reasonable tasks deemed appropriate by your line manager consistent with the operation of the Buying and Commercial function.

**The Skills**:
To be successful in this role, you’ll need the following skills, experience and qualities:

- Previous experience in a similar Buying Assistant role within a comparable retail focused business. (This is a contract covering role so you need to have previous relevant experience to be up to speed as soon as possible).
- Analytical with experience of excel & power point.
- Diligent - high attention to detail and data accuracy.
- Organised & communication skills - able to plan own workload and work to deadlines.
- Resilient - capable of working clearly and methodically when under pressure.
- Share our values of being: Wise, Focused, Genuine, Eager, Together
- Self-driven, able to work independently on their own initiative.
- Proactive - recommends ways to improve category performance based on their day to day activities.
- Solution orientated - does not let challenges become barriers.
- Data lead - Someone who actively uses data to underpin decision making where relevant.
- An animal lover whether owner or just a pet friend.
- Demonstrates integrity and diligence - will do the right thing when nobody is watching.
- Team player - collaborative approach who respects the needs of the team.
- Respectful of Diversity - Creates climate which recognises and respects individuality.

**About Jollyes - The Pet People**

Jollyes are an award-winning UK pet retailer with over 100 stores and 50 years of pet expertise between our paws. Winners of the Pet Industry Federation ‘**Best Pet Retailer 2023**’, Retail Week award for ‘**Best Retailer 2024**’ (under £250m t/o), and listed in the Sunday Times ‘**Best Places to Work**’ you really can be sure you’re joining a great brand and em