Senior Buyer – Pasta & Rice (15 Month FTC)

Contract type: 15 Month Fixed-Term Contract
Location: Hatfield, Hertfordshire – 3 days a week in the office
Working hours: 40
Level: Senior
Application closing date: Wednesday 6th November


About us

Our mission is to deliver joy in every shop, through unbeatable choice, unrivalled service and reassuringly good value. 

We’re Ocado Retail, a market-leading, joint venture between Ocado Group and M&S and the world’s largest dedicated online supermarket ocado.com. Not only is Ocado.com the only place to shop a full range of M&S food online, it’s also the home to the widest online supermarket range in the UK and champion of small, independent brands. We’re also the brains behind Zoom by Ocado, our same-day grocery delivery service. 


About the role

We're looking for a Senior Buyer for Pasta & Rice. You'll be responsible for ensuring your supply base and the product range is optimised, proactively using data and analysis to maximise performance to and drive sales, profitability, and share growth to support the overall Ocado Retail strategy and goals. The role has one direct report.


What you'll do

  • Manage the category P&L and deliver against KPIs
  • Complete category reviews to refine range and align to the business and category strategy, and support L1 Buyers in delivering their category reviews
  • Plan and deliver trade, promotions, and events plan
  • Identify opportunities to drive customer penetration 
  • Identify opportunities to improve all-in margin, negotiate with suppliers to deliver savings 
  • Negotiate with suppliers to agree and deliver market-leading plans aligned to the customer plan and category strategy
  • Analyse and assess performance issues and opportunities using data and reporting tools, devise and implement solutions
  • Identify, analyse and source first-to-market / Ocado exclusive product innovation using customer, market and supplier insights to guide decision making
  • Develop category strategy, with support from Trading Manager
  • Ensure range changes are aligned with the category and business strategy
  • Manage and review the performance of a complex supplier base through communicating and developing relationships with suppliers to drive engagement and performance
  • Work closely with merchandise planning and the supplier base to ensure best-in-class availability
  • Identify and create plans to mitigate potential issues/events that may impact the supply
  • Work closely with suppliers and the quality team to ensure product quality meets Ocado requirements
  • Manage and provide day-to-day coaching and feedback to category assistants to ensure they exceed their targets


Who you are

  • Significant (5 years+) retail buying experience and some management experience required
  • Excited about working in retail and food
  • Proficient in Excel, with prior experience working with customer, transactional or financial data
  • Leadership capability/people management
  • Influencing and stakeholder management
  • Very strong negotiation skills
  • Project management capability
  • Able to analyse complex sets of data


What’s in it for you

By joining Ocado Retail you’ll have the chance to experience life at the world’s largest online retailer, work with an amazing bunch of people who challenge what’s possible each day and grow your skills and career in online retail. 

If that’s not enough to tempt you, you’ll also get access to loads of great benefits to sweeten the deal. Here’s a taste of what we offer:

Health & Wellbeing: Private medical insurance with option to add your family, Digital GP appointments, market leading family policies, mental health support, discounted gym memberships, dental insurance and more. 

Spend & Save: Recognition with reward platform, up to 7% matched pension contributions, 15% Ocado discount, 20% M&S discount, free breakfast everyday in the office, electric vehicle leasing scheme and free shuttle bus from Hatfield station to the office.  

Never miss the moments that matter: Blended/Hybrid working, 26 days holiday plus 8 flexible bank holidays, options to buy extra holiday, 2 weeks work from anywhere and lifestyle break opportunities. 


Our Hiring Process

Lucky for us, we get loads of great applications and we really appreciate that so many people put the time and effort in to apply. To recognise that, we treat all applications respectfully and fairly. So, if yours stands out, you’ll follow our standard hiring process – one of our Talent Partners will talk you through this in an initial call. 

Everyone’s welcome

We’re an equal opportunities employer. That means that we make sure all potential colleagues are treated fairly and equally. If you require reasonable adjustments during the recruitment process, please let us know on the application form.