Role: Head of Buying, EU
Contract: Full-Time
Basis: Permanent
Hours: 40 per week
Overview
This is a fantastic opportunity for an experienced retail buyer to join Rough Trade, a well established, independently owned retailer with a great reputation to lead our buying strategy & product offer across all categories in Europe.
Working with senior teams in the UK & DE, the Head of Buying is responsible for purchasing across all stores, categories and departments. The success of the role is measured on sales, stock turn and margin across categories and suppliers.
For over 40 years, Rough Trade has been trusted by customers and the music industry to shine a spotlight on the best new music from all over the world. This has afforded Rough Trade a unique role and scope of opportunity within the UK and Global music retail industry. There is no other music retail shopping experience quite like that offered by Rough Trade. This role is a unique chance to be part of something truly special within the music retail landscape, and for the right candidate to truly make their mark.
Strong data analysis, excellent product knowledge, and great leadership skills are essential for this position. We seek a strategic, commercial and creative person who can work well in a dynamic, fast paced environment.
You will report directly to the EU Managing Director.
Key Responsibilities
- Manage & develop the buying process across suppliers and categories.
- Full accountability for all aspects of the buying operations at Rough Tradfe EU.
- Work closely with colleagues in operations to ensure we maintain efficient processes to manage a large number of SKUs.
- Maintain & develop excellent relationships with suppliers to ensure we are achieving the best possible terms.
- Maintain a consistent and professional line of communication to stores & other departments through intra-company communications.
- Report on the performance of key metrics and underlying trends, challenges and opportunities to the Managing
- Director and other colleagues.
- Work with the E-Commerce & Marketing teams to plan and strategize upcoming promotions & sales incentives with the aim of growing sales & margin.
- Ensure that all product data is maintained to a high standard and that the metadata is being effectively used to maximize online sales opportunities.
- Own the company’s stock and purchasing budget with a keen eye on achieving stock turn and margin goals.
- Own the company’s co-op marketing sales and budget.
Experience & Skills
- 3+ years of experience in a senior buying position in a relevant category.
- Fluent in German and English
- Great relationship building and communication skills.
- Excellent with excel / google sheets. Able to extract, analyze and summarize large datasets efficiently and effectively.
- High level of understanding and experience of using Content Management, Inventory Management & Data
- Analysis systems.
- Extremely commercial with the ability to cut through large swathes of data to find opportunities.
- Thrives in a high paced environment.
- An excellent understanding of what Rough Trade is, who our customers are & what we can sell.
You will be the in-house expert for all things Retail Buying. Experience working at a senior level in a product-buying setting is essential.
You will be able to demonstrate a track record of developing a successful buying strategy & product offering.
Joining a people focussed business, your strong retail experience will be backed by great people skills. Your passion for retail and delivering success for the business will be self-evident, as will your commitment to develop your team.
This is a rare opportunity for a talented retail buying professional to make a significant impact on the future growth of an expanding business, and make the role your own.
Salary: competitive, and based on experience with performance bonus
Department: Product / Buying
Locations: Berlin, Germany
Remote status: Hybrid Remote
About Rough Trade
First opened in 1976, London, England, on the doorstep of punk, Rough Trade helped establish the unique role and experience of an independent music shop, being as much a hang-out for likeminded music lovers as it was a place to purchase music from the emerging DIY music scene.
Today, Rough Trade remains proudly independent, continuing to champion exciting new music, now with four stores in the UK, one in New York, plus US and UK based web stores and various pop-up activities.
