Assistant Buyer - Nike

Internal use only - Grade H

About us

We’re the team behind digital retailer Very.

Our purpose, helping families get more out of life, powers everything we do.

And we want our people to get more out of life too! If you’re high-performing, ambitious and make the most of every opportunity, we want to hear from you. In return, you’ll enjoy heaps of flexibility, great perks and benefits, and the freedom to be yourself, keep learning and take your career wherever you want it to go.

If you love making a difference, you’ll love making it sparkle for millions of Very customers.

About the team

We’re looking for trend aware sports enthusiasts to join our dedicated Nike buying & merchandising team. This is a unique opportunity to work closely with one of the world’s biggest brands, which will be across multiple sports disciplines as well as sport-style fashion.

As part of The Very Sports Team, you will deliver a product offer that our customers will love - while also considering the overall department strategy.

Relationship building is essential in this role to ensure you are working closely with your immediate team, the wider Sports Category Team, the Marketing Team and of course - Nike.

About the role

We have an exciting opportunity for an Assistant Buyer who already has experience at this level or someone who is ready to progress. You’ll report directly into the Buyer for the area so lots of opportunity to further develop your skills.

Day to day you will be selecting commercial range-plans suited to our customer, producing and presenting reports at trade meetings on trends, forecasts and opportunities.

The skills and behaviours imperative to being a successful AB candidate are; methodical, passionate, strong communication skills, can demonstrate initiative, has a strong eye for product, understand the current market/competition and you must have excellent attention to detail.

Key Responsibilities:

• Relationship management: both internally and externally will be important, building strong relationships to maximise commercial opportunities - Key relationships day to day email management with supply chain.

• Commercial awareness: Awareness of the market is key, keeping track of competitor activity, market trends and price positioning.

• Maintaining relationships with brands in line with our values.

• Able to deputise for the Buyer in key meetings.

• Able to delegate or take lead and make decisions under pressure.

• Formulating Range Frameworks/Brand Plans alongside merchandising functions

About you

• You will be highly organised with great communication skills.

• You know how to analyse performance and apply lessons learnt to future range building.

• You can pre-empt potential challenges that may impact team or trading and take steps to minimise them before they arise.

• You will build and maintain strong relationships with internal and external stakeholders.

• Liaison with SMT and can clearly articulate sign offs and category performance.

• Trading actions - identifying how to maximise best sellers and identifying worst sellers and minimising risk.

• Able to delegate/ take lead.

Some of our benefits

• Flexible, hybrid working model

• Inclusive culture and environment, check out our Glassdoor reviews

• £250 flexible benefits allowance to suit your needs

• 27 days holiday + bank holidays

• LinkedIn Learning access

• Bonus potential (performance and business-related)

• Up to 25% discount on Very.co.uk

• Matched pension up to 6%

• More benefits can be found on our career site

How to apply

Please note that the talent acquisition team are managing this vacancy directly, and if successful in securing this role, you will be required to undertake a credit, CIFAS, Right to Work checks and if a specific requirement of your role a DBS (criminal records) check. Should your application progress we require you to let the team know if there is anything you need to disclose in relation to any of these checks prior to them being undertaken, including any unspent criminal convictions.

What happens next?

Our talent acquisition team will be in touch if you’re successful so keep an eye on your emails! We’ll arrange a short call to learn more about you, as well as answer any questions you have. If it feels like we’re a good match, we’ll share your CV with the hiring manager to review. Our interview process is tailored to each role and can be in-person or held remotely.

You can expect a two-stage interview process for this position:

1st stage - A 30-minute video call with the hiring team to discuss your skills and relevant experience. This is a great opportunity to find out more about the role and to ask any questions you may have.

2nd Stage - A one-hour formal interview where you can expect both competency and technical questions as well as a task where you will have the opportunity to showcase analytical and commercial skills relevant to the role. This can be held either in-person or remotely.

As an inclusive employer please do let us know if you require any reasonable adjustments.

If you'd like to know more about our interviews, you can find out here.

Diversity, inclusion and equal opportunities

We’re building a culture of everyday inclusion, and welcome applications from anyone who believes they can do the job. We don’t discriminate based on age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage or civil partnership, pregnancy or maternity, race, religion or belief, sex, or sexual orientation.

We want our recruitment process to be accessible to everyone. If you need reasonable adjustments to apply, interview, or perform a role, let us know via [email protected]. We’ll be happy to support you.

We’re proud to be a Disability Confident Committed Employer and have nine brilliant colleague networks - including DAWN (Disability Awareness at Very) and Think (Neurodiversity at Very) - that are helping us make Very an even more inclusive place to work.