Our Head Office department is in the heart of Piccadilly and occupies the 5th & 6th floor of our beautiful flagship store. This central London location offers so much to explore including restaurants, bars, cultural sites, shopping and more, and only a short walk from the Green Park Tube Station and plenty of bus stops.

The Buyer is accountable for overall management of the confectionery category. You will support in developing and implementing the category plan, in line with our overarching business strategy, ensuring product quality, customer experience, innovation, and sustainability are at the heart of the offering. You will also be accountable for the delivery of the sales and profit targets for this category so strong commercial acumen is key.

The individual will demonstrate strong product skills, industry knowledge with an ability to identify and create market & product trends, realising new opportunities. Working as part of a team is essential in this highly collaborative category, working alongside different colleagues across the business to deliver a strong performance across both seasonal and all year round confectionery products.

Key Accountabilities:

*       Lead the development of the product offer for the confectionery category, ensuring that clear strategies and commercial plans are developed, implemented, and executed to drive strong sales growth, profit and excellent quality standards, as well as supporting our sustainability agenda.

*       Manage relationships across the supply base, and work to further develop the supply base to ensure we have the right mix of artisanal quality to underpin our food excellence ambitions, as well as suppliers with the scale to support our growth ambitions.

*       An effective people manager the with the ability to train, develop and retain team members. Inspire, manage and coach the team in line with good industry practices, and ensuring our teams are valued, respected and empowered.

*       Drive sales and profit growth through analysis of sales and stock performance (supported by merchandising). Actively trade the product area liaising with all relevant stakeholders for both seasonal campaigns, and our core AYR offering.

*       Lead negotiations of business terms and commercial / pricing agreements with multiple suppliers, demonstrating strong negotiation and supplier management skills.

*       Maintain your knowledge of market trends and competitor intelligence, and benchmark appropriately.

*       Lead the management of the critical paths and plans to deliver on time deliveries in accordance with the buying calendar, and ensure accuracy of information.

*       Demonstrate an understanding of the customer profile and be able to anticipate customer needs and expectations in a multichannel environment. And demonstrate an authentic and passionate understanding of the brand and our value.

*       Strong presentation skills are key for sharing campaigns and new launches across the business.

*       Delivery of CSR goals and strategy for the category

*       Be able to influence, persuade and manage multiple internal and external stakeholders. 

We expect the successful candidate to have the following skills and experience:

*       Experience within confectionery is preferable

*       Experience in highly seasonal buying strategies

*       Experience within a multichannel luxury retail environment

*       Own Brand product development experience with demonstrated results

*       Exceptionally high level of verbal and written communication skills

*       Ability to lead, take action, and make decisions

*       Ability to coach and nurture the development of the team

*       Ability to work as part of a team, whilst also undertake duties autonomously

*       Ability to work in a fast-paced and demanding category

*       Ability to influence, effectively, with all team members at all levels including Senior Management

Why Work For Us:

• Competitive salary

• A generous store and restaurant discount of up to 40%

• 25 days holidays (excluded bank holidays) and an extra day off for your birthday

• A fantastic subsidised staff restaurant which uses Fortnum’s ingredients

• A range of opportunities to develop and grow personally and professionally

• Excellent pension scheme

We are committed to developing your career and nurturing your talent, regardless of age; disability; gender reassignment; marriage and civil partnership; pregnancy and maternity; race; religion or belief; sex; sexual orientation. We respect and embrace each other's differences, to create a truly inclusive environment.

In the last year alone, our people have been recognised and celebrated, winning awards for their outstanding contributions to Retail, Technology, Global Hospitality & Tourism, Visual Merchandising & Display, Customer Service and Local Community Awards