Food Buying Manager
Senior Commercial Buying Opportunity
Salary: £70,000 – £90,000 DOE + Benefits
Are you an experienced commercial buyer with a passion for building market-leading product ranges, negotiating with suppliers and driving category performance?
We’re partnering with a well-established national retailer to recruit an experienced Buying Manager to take ownership of a significant and high-profile food category. This is a fantastic opportunity for someone who enjoys combining strategic thinking with hands-on trading and wants to play a key role in shaping a growing retail business.
The Role
Reporting to the Commercial Director, you’ll have full responsibility for developing and delivering the category strategy, creating commercially compelling product ranges and driving sales, margin and profitability.
Working closely with merchandising, operations, marketing and suppliers, you’ll influence the full commercial lifecycle—from sourcing and supplier negotiations through to trading performance and future range development.
Key Responsibilities
- Develop and deliver the overall category strategy.
- Build commercially successful product ranges that excite customers.
- Lead supplier negotiations, contracts and joint business planning.
- Drive sales, margin, stock and profitability performance.
- Identify market trends and competitor activity to shape future ranges.
- Build strong relationships with key suppliers and source new opportunities.
- Work cross-functionally to ensure excellent execution across stores.
- Analyse trading performance and make commercially driven decisions.
- Lead, coach and develop members of the buying team.
About You
You’ll be a proven commercial buying professional who can demonstrate:
- Significant buying/category management experience within retail.
- Strong commercial acumen with excellent negotiation skills.
- Experience managing supplier relationships at a senior level.
- A track record of delivering profitable category growth.
- Confidence using customer insight and trading data to influence decisions.
- Excellent stakeholder management and communication skills.
- Experience leading and developing people is desirable.
Travel
This is a field-based commercial role where collaboration across the business is essential. You’ll typically stay away two nights per week (Monday and Tuesday) visiting sites, suppliers and colleagues. All travel, accommodation and expenses are fully paid, giving you the opportunity to build strong relationships across the business while maintaining a structured weekly travel pattern.
What’s on Offer
- Salary of £70,000 – £90,000 DOE.
- Senior commercial buying role with genuine ownership.
- Opportunity to influence strategy and shape future product ranges.
- Collaborative and supportive leadership team.
- Excellent autonomy and career development.
- Competitive benefits package.
If you’re an ambitious commercial buying professional looking for your next challenge, we’d love to hear from you.
Apply today or get in touch for a confidential discussion.
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