Buyer - Retail FMCG - Food

We're looking for a highly credible Buyer with strong experience of leading an FMCG retail category to join our Commercial team. Based at our Customer Support Centre in Walsall, this is a hybrid role, offering a mix of office and home working.

As a Buyer, you'll work closely with our Senior Buyer to deliver strong commercial performance across a food FMCG retail category. You'll ensured our customers can find the right products at the right price.

You will take ownership of your category, developing and delivering category strategies that drive sales, profitability, and customer satisfaction. From supplier negotiations and relationship management to sales analysis, range planning, budgeting, and critical path management, you'll play a key role throughout the product lifecycle.

This is a fantastic opportunity to make a real commercial impact. Your decisions will shape the ranges our customers love, ensuring they're always stocked with great products that offer quality and value.

With autonomy and trust to make an impact from day one, key responsibilities will include:

For this role we need someone who is an experienced Buyer from a Retail background, is an expert negotiator, builds great working relationships and knows their way around a spreadsheet. Along with:

We offer rewards that go beyond the payslip, including:

Bring your leadership, energy, and positive approach — and we’ll help you build your career with us!

We’re committed and proud to our inclusive culture, and that starts with the recruitment and selection process. If you require a reasonable adjustment during the recruitment process, please do share this with us on your application form and we’ll make every effort to meet your needs.

• Maximising the success of the category performance, driving growth, maximizing margins and ensuring availability.

• Working collaboratively with the wider commercial team, retail operations and supplier to ensure critical path deadlines are achieved.

• Identifying, creating, and developing new range opportunities, taking the lead on constructing a robust and successful plan.

• Seeking out category range and promotional opportunities, resolving supply issues and making recommendations for action for any threats identified.

• Understanding and interpreting key customer insights and data to identify and react to market trends and shopping habits.

• Meeting suppliers and attending trade fairs to build relationships, negotiate the cost of goods, and explore new opportunities.

• Leading the development of category strategies, including research and analysis (spend analysis, cost benchmarking, etc).

• Previous experience of leading an FMCG based category is preferred but not essential.

• Keeps one step ahead of the market, through calculated risks.

• Experience of delivering strategies and plans with associated targets, KPIs and performance monitoring, along with reporting, budgeting and forecasting.

• Comfortable with being agile to changing priorities.

• Strong understanding of the sector and competitors.

• Thorough understanding of the Supply Chain Process.

• 10% employee discount card with increased discount events over the year.

• Celebrate your birthday, you’ll get an extra day off for your birthday.

• Holidays, 33 days a year inc banks.

• Single private medical cover.

• Annual bonus scheme, with the opportunity to earn up to 15% of your base salary.

• Car allowance of £500 per month.

• Free parking onsite.

• Pension scheme for your future, with up to 5% employer matched contributions.

• We put wellbeing first through our partnership with Retail Trust which gives you and your family access to a fantastic range of resources.

• My Staff Shop, giving you an amazing number of discounts and shopping vouchers.

• For those unexpected moments, our partnership with stream enables you to access up to 50% of your monthly earned wages early, along with savings and financial advice.

• Training and development opportunities, we want you to grow your career with us, be that through one of the qualifications we offer or internal programmes, this role can be just the first step.

• Plus, life assurance, loyalty service awards and more