Senior Buyer

**Vacancy No**
- VN533

**Job Type**
- Permanent

**Location**
- Hatfield

**Job Details**

We’re an exceptional and mighty bunch of colleagues who are inspired by our three awesome values**:Always be curious**, **Bring your best self,** and **Challenge what's possible**.

We have ambitious plans and vision to never-stop making our customers' lives better, by delivering the supermarket of tomorrow, today.

**About the role**

This is a exciting role, right at the heart of our fresh foods offer. We're looking for an ambitious foodie with the ability to curate and evolve the range whilst constantly seeking out innovation to ultimately strengthen our restaurant experience at home offer.

This is our vision for the category:

- Walk through our global food scene, be inspired by a menu of wonderfully delicious meals to try at home. From Restaurant quality to nostalgic convenience, ready made for everyone.
- Be the Online retailer of choice for Ready meals, sustaining #1 in Online Value Market Share

**What you'll do**
- Manage the category P&L and deliver against KPIs
- Complete category reviews to refine range and align to the business and category strategy, and support L1 Buyers in delivering their category reviews
- Plan and deliver trade, promotions, and events plan
- Identify opportunities to drive customer penetration
- Identify opportunities to improve all-in margin, negotiate with suppliers to deliver savings
- Negotiate with suppliers to agree and deliver market-leading plans aligned to the customer plan and category strategy
- Analyse and assess performance issues and opportunities using data and reporting tools, devise and implement solutions
- Identify, analyse and source first-to-market / Ocado exclusive product innovation using customer, market and supplier insights to guide decision making
- Develop category strategy, with support from Trading Manager
- Ensure range changes are aligned with the category and business strategy
- Manage and review the performance of a complex supplier base through communicating and developing relationships with suppliers to drive engagement and performance
- Work closely with merchandise planning and the supplier base to ensure best-in-class availability
- Identify and create plans to mitigate potential issues/events that may impact the supply
- Work closely with suppliers and the quality team to ensure product quality meets Ocado requirements
- Manage and provide day-to-day coaching and feedback to category assistants to ensure they exceed their targets

**Who you are**
- Significant (5 years+) retail buying experience and some management experience required
- Excited about working in retail and food
- Proficient in Excel, with prior experience working with customer, transactional or financial data
- Leadership capability/people management
- Influencing and stakeholder management
- Very strong negotiation skills
- Project management capability
- Able to analyse complex sets of data

**What's in it for you**

We want our colleagues to feel supported and secure here at Ocado Retail, which is why we have a great range of useful benefits for them to scoop up - and they’re now available to easily learn about using our new platform ‘Pick ‘n’ Mix’. Our flexible benefits range from tasty lifestyle discounts to trusty private medical insurance.

These benefits can also be customised so you can pick and choose to best suit your lifestyle.

**Core Rewards**
- Annual bonus scheme - maximum opportunity dependent on the role
- 26 Days Annual Leave plus bank holidays
- Up to 7% matched pension contributions (e.g. 7% from you, 7% from us)
- 50% income protection
- 4x salary life insurance
- 20% Marks and Spencer discount
- Company-paid private medical insurance for colleagues with the opportunity to add partners/children at corporate rates and Digital GP service
- Hybrid Working (2-3 days a week connecting, collaborating, and learning together with our colleagues)

**Health & Wellbeing**
- Private Medical Insurance
- Critical Illness
- DigiCare+
- Healthcare Cashplan
- Health Assessment
- Dental Insurance
- Eyecare Vouchers
- Digital GP
- Mental Health

**Flexible Benefits**
- Tax-efficient electric vehicle leasing scheme
- Access to a retail discount platform, providing discounts and cashback

**On-site at Apollo**
- Free onsite parking and free shuttle service from Hatfield station
- Regular socials, including Town Halls and Mixers & our ORL Summer Party
- ‘The Fig’ (serving breakfast, snacks, and lunch), coffee cart, as well as small kitchens (with unlimited refreshments and fresh fruit available every day) and vending machines on each floor.
- As part of our inclusive nature, help make change within the business and join any of our Networks

**Travel to Apollo**

We have free onsite parking at Apollo Court, as well as a free shuttle bus service that runs frequently from Hatfield Station - just remember to tell the driver ‘Apollo Court’ as the shuttle also dr