Buying & Merchandising Director.

The role

Based in Kuwait and reporting to the Vice President, the Director of Buying and Merchandising will have a joint responsibility for the delivery of the divisional business plan, the strategic direction & management and compilation of the profit and loss statement for the division. S/he will be responsible for merchandise planning, OTB, forward planning, stock management and maximizing sales & profit margins.

The company is looking for someone with experience in the UK, Europe, South Africa or Australia.

The responsibilities

• To influence and develop host brand relations/communications from a “product” perspective thus building a base for long term relations; a key part of the process involves redesigning the buying process with the host brand
• To ensure margin targets are achieved through timely management of OTB, stock allocation and replenishment, terminal stock management and retail price architecture
• To negotiate the positioning of brand, including product ranges, development, pricing and
competitiveness;
• To be responsible for analysing, re-forecasting and reporting the financial performance of the brand through the monthly/quarterly presentation of P&L
• To maintain strong internal and external relationships where necessary to benefit the business (third party concessions & inhouse concessions)
• To coach, develop & mentor a team of multi category Senior Brand/ Merchandise & Planning Managers to achieve “high performance”
• Work with the marketing manager to plan marketing and promotional strategies aligned to business strategy and execute.

The requirements

• Extensive experience in apparel retail ideally within a large format store environment (departmental stores/super markets)
• Excellent knowledge of merchandising and assortment management tools
• Experience in budget preparation, sales, purchase and stock forecasting, margin management
• Experience of developing the price architecture of a multi category proposition to achieve brand goals
• Clear evidence of medium to long term financial planning/budgeting to achieve category goals
• Supplier knowledge, relationship building and effective negotiation skills to drive sales/profit
• Strong leadership capabilities with experience of managing a diverse & large team of brand,
merchandise and planning managers

If this sounds like the right role for you, please get in touch.