Head of Buying

About the team  Our GM Commercial team is at the heart of shaping the ranges and customer propositions that make Argos a destination for brilliant products, value and convenience. Working across Product, Merchandising, Design, Global Sourcing and our wider support functions, the team sets the direction for market-leading categories and brings together commercial insight, customer understanding and supplier partnerships to deliver ranges that perform across our multichannel business.    More about the role  As Head of Buying, you’ll lead a large and broad commercial area, setting the long-term category strategy and translating it into compelling ranges, pricing and promotional plans that grow sales, profit and market share. You’ll work closely with the Head of Merchandising and cross-functional partners to deliver customer-led, profitable range plans aligned to business strategy, budgets and channel requirements.  You’ll lead and develop a team of buyers, create strong supplier strategies and build effective relationships with senior stakeholders across global brands and own-brand manufacturers. From range build and launch milestones through to trading, financial management and supplier negotiations, you’ll be accountable for making balanced commercial decisions that support growth, improve performance and deliver an excellent customer proposition.    More about you  You’ll bring strong commercial leadership experience from a retail buying or category environment, with the ability to create clear strategy, lead complex negotiations and use customer, market and trading data to make high-quality decisions. You’ll be comfortable influencing senior stakeholders, working across multiple functions and operating in a fast-paced multichannel environment.  You’ll also be an inclusive and effective people leader who can set direction, coach teams and create a high-performing culture. You’ll be resilient, collaborative and confident making autonomous commercial decisions, while ensuring activity remains legal, compliant and aligned to customer, brand and business priorities.    Essential criteria  * Experience developing or leading a retail buying, category or commercial strategy with measurable impact on sales, profit, margin or market share * Evidence of leading supplier negotiations, supplier business plans or sourcing decisions that improved commercial outcomes such as cost, margin, availability or supplier income * Experience using customer, market, competitor and trading data to inform range, pricing, promotional or category decisions * Experience leading, coaching or developing buying/commercial teams, including performance management, succession planning or capability building * Experience influencing senior internal and external stakeholders across cross-functional teams in a complex retail or multichannel environment * Experience of leading or contributing to change or transformation initiatives, including improving processes, product ranges or ways of working within a commercial environment * Experience working in an omni-channel or digitally led retail environment, with understanding of online customer behaviour and how this informs trading and commercial decisions * Experience leading or contributing to change or transformation initiatives, with evidence of improving processes, product ranges or ways of working in a commercial or retail environment * As a digitally native business, over 75% of our sales originate online, so understanding how customers engage across digital channels and using that insight to inform commercial decisions is key   #LI-MB1