Senior Buying Manager
KotnJob Title: Senior Buying Manager
Reporting To: Senior Director, Merchandising & Planning
Department: Merchandising, Buying, & Planning
Direct Reports: Buyer
We are seeking a Senior Buying Manager who is a strong commercial operator — highly analytical, deeply skilled in in-season trading, and experienced at translating sales data into precise buy decisions across styles, channels, and stores.
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The ideal candidate excels at driving business KPIs, leading and developing a buying team, and ensuring that strategic direction is executed with rigour and consistency across the business.
Reporting to the Senior Director of Merchandising & Planning, you will own the day-to-day buying function — providing oversight of all seasonal buys, driving performance and markdown strategy across the full assortment, and executing the category and assortment plan set by the Senior Director with precision. You will lead and develop the buying team (Buyer and Associate Buyer) and partner closely with the Senior Planning Manager, Supply Chain, Marketing, and consumer channel leads.
What you'll be working on:
Buy Oversight, Assortment Execution & OTB Management (45%)
• Provide strategic oversight of all seasonal buys — reviewing, challenging, and approving the buying team's assortment depth, unit investments, and style mix before escalation to the Senior Director, ensuring every buy is grounded in sales data, OTB parameters, and the assortment plan set by the Senior Director.
• Execute the seasonal category and assortment plan as defined by the Senior Director, translating strategic direction into precise buy decisions at the style, channel, and store level; act as the primary accountability point for plan execution within the buying team.
• Use granular sales data — by style, channel, and store — to determine the right units and assortment needed by door and channel, ensuring depth decisions are driven by localized performance and demand signals rather than blended averages.
• Act as the primary checkpoint between the Buyer and Senior Director; own the quality and rigour of all buys before sign-off, ensuring depth calls are well-supported by data and aligned with both the assortment strategy and financial targets.
• Guide and coach the Buyer through investment decisions — depth calls, reorder opportunities, and risk mitigation — providing a clear strategic lens and ensuring the team builds sound, data-backed buying rationale.
• Own OTB management in close partnership with the Senior Planning Manager, ensuring disciplined budget control, accurate PO commitment tracking, and alignment with financial plans and inventory strategies across all categories.
• Oversee all PO management — ex-factory dates, costs, and quantities — ensuring accuracy and data integrity across all systems throughout the product lifecycle.
• Collaborate with Supply Chain to ensure timely product delivery; surface and resolve delivery risks proactively before they impact sell-through, margin, or launch timelines.
• Reconcile monthly receipts against OTB and communicate PO commitments clearly to key stakeholders, including Finance, the Senior Director, and leadership.
Performance Analysis, KPI Management & In-Season Trading (40%)
• Own all buying KPIs across the business — sell-through, gross margin, GMROI, AUR, inventory productivity, and markdown rate — driving in-season actions across the team to meet and exceed targets.
• Conduct ongoing sales analysis by style, channel, and store to identify performance trends, flag outliers, and surface clear recommendations for in-season action — reorders, depth shifts, price moves, or exit strategies.
• Lead promotional strategy and execution: determine the timing, depth, and scope of markdowns across the full assortment, balancing inventory clearance with margin protection and brand positioning.
• Monitor performance weekly across all categories, identifying risks and opportunities early and ensuring the buying team is taking the right ac