Buyer - Childrenswear

Buyer - Childrenswear

With a customer-first, innovative, creative and commercial approach, the passionate and energetic Buyer will play a pivotal role in developing and delivering the strategy for the future of Childrenswear at David Jones.

The Role

As a Buyer you'll focus on building strong and effective relationships with external brand partners and internal key stakeholders to define and drive the delivery of customer initiatives and commercial results that support the overarching David Jones strategy.  You will leverage upon proven people management experience to lead and coach direct reports and will play a critical role in bringing to life the aspirations of the team. 

This role will suit a passionate customer focused Buyer who thrives in a high paced and commercially evolving environment.

What does the role involve?

• Develop and nurture strong and trusting relationships with vendors and brand partners
• Drive merchandise assortment and space allocation decisions by brand by store that align with the David Jones Customer and Childrenswear strategies to achieve category targets
• Drive performance of the brand portfolio in partnership with the Planner to achieve agreed stock health and commercial metrics
• Build a campaign and promotions calendar of activity that delivers an exceptional customer experience whilst meeting brand expectations and commercial aspirations
• Collaborate with stakeholders across the David Jones business to define and deliver initiatives that support the achievement of the David Jones and Childrenswear strategies
• Champion the development and delivery of customer first innovation within Childrenswear, keeping abreast of industry trends and opportunities
• Lead and coach direct reports to achieve performance metrics whilst developing capabilities to support career succession and to ensure engagement

What are we looking for?

• Demonstrated experience in Buying, Category Management or related role, within similar Fashion categories, with a passion for Childrenswear and Luxury Retail  
• A strong understanding of local and international Childrenswear and Retail trends
• Commercially minded, analytical and outcomes orientated, with a customer-first mindset
• Excellent communication skills with the ability to lead discussions and confidence working with senior stakeholders
• Excellent negotiation skills and proven experience in developing strong working relationships with suppliers   
• Proven working capabilities across the entire MS Office suite, with advanced level skills in Excel and PowerPoint
• Critical thinking and problem-solving capabilities  
• Demonstrated ability working in fast paced environments and balancing competing priorities
• A passion for motivating team members with demonstrated mentoring capabilities