Everyone is welcome at M&S. No exceptions. It’s your background, abilities and differences that make you, uniquely you. And when you’re part of M&S, that individuality has the potential to make waves.
This section tells you all you need to know about the position and its responsibilities, outlining everything we hope to see in a successful candidate.
Ready to shape the commercial success of one of our Fashion, Home & Beauty departments? We are looking for somebody to join the Home team on a 12 month Fixed Term Contract. As a Senior Merchandiser on Home, you’ll work at the heart of the product team, partnering with Buying to shape the strategy, build commercially compelling ranges and make the decisions that drive sales, profit and availability. You’ll combine strong commercial instinct with brilliant analysis, while leading and developing a talented merchandising team.
Due to high interest, this role may close earlier than advertised. We recommend applying as soon as possible.
Whatyou’lldo
You will own the departmental merchandising strategy and sourcing plan, managing product from buy to store and taking decisive in-season action to deliver agreed commercial targets.
Yourkeyaccountabilitieswillinclude
• Partner with the Buying team to create and deliver the departmental plan and strategy across sales, total stock, gross margin, markdown, availability, market share and option count, shaping departments and ranges in line with the Integrated Planning Calendar.
• Lead business-unit sign-off, including financial plans, pricing strategy and Open to Buy decisions, using customer insight and lessons learned to inform commercial choices.
• Analyse sales and commercial performance, translating data into clear in-season trading actions that maximise sales, profit, stock performance and availability across stores, M&S.com and International.
• Partner with Buying, Sourcing Offices, suppliers, Space Planning, Allocation and Demand Forecasting to manage the critical path, capacity and production planning, deliver on-time launches and create commercially driven layouts.
• Lead, motivate and develop the Assistant Merchandiser and Merchandise Admin Assistant, embedding accurate merchandising systems, strong commercial controls and effective ways of working.
Whoyouare
You are an experienced and commercially focused merchandiser who combines strong numerical judgement with confident leadership. You can turn complex information into clear decisions, build trusted relationships across functions and keep customers at the heart of every plan.
Yourskillsandexperiencewillinclude:
• Strong core merchandising capability, including strategy and operating plans, range and production planning, stock management, sales forecasting and margin management.
• A thorough understanding of the end-to-end buy-to-store process, worldwide supply chain operations and best-practice supply chain management.
• Proven ability to manage a commercial area, control in-season costs and deliver sales, stock, margin and availability targets through excellent numerical, analytical and interpretive skills.
• Strong leadership, negotiation and influencing skills, with experience of motivating and developing teams and building effective relationships across functions and with external partners.
• Confident use of relevant merchandising and reporting systems, with a good understanding of the M&S brand and sub-brand strategy. Experience of Range Planner, SSI, Product Plans, SAS Reporting or JDA Merch Planning would be beneficial.
What’s in it for you?
Working at M&S means being part of something bigger - helping to deliver quality, value and service to millions of customers every day. We’re inclusive, fast-moving and always evolving, with a strong sense of purpose and a focus on doing the right thing.
Here are just a few of the benefits that make working here even more rewarding:
20% colleague discount on all M&S products and many third-party brands for you and someone in your household, available once you’ve completed your probation
Competitive holiday allowance with the option to buy more
Discretionary bonus schemes linked to your performance and ours
Strong pension and life assurance to help plan for the future
Tailored induction and training to support your development from day one
Exclusive perks and savings through our M&S Choices portal
Market-leading family policies, including parental, adoption and neonatal leave
24/7 wellbeing support, including virtual GP access and mental health services
One paid volunteer day a year to support a cause that matters to you
Everyone’s welcome
We are ambitious about the future of retail. We are disrupting, innovating and leading the industry into a more conscientious, inspiring digital era. We are transforming how we work together and offering our most exciting opportunities yet. Marks & Spencer strives to be an inclusive organisation, trusted and admired by our colleagues, customers and suppliers. Join us and make change happen.
We are committed to building diverse and representative teams, where everyone can bring their whole selves to work and be at their best. We support each other and work together to win together.
If you feel you'd benefit from any support or reasonable adjustments during any stage of the recruitment process, please don’t hesitate to let us know when completing your application. This information will be picked up by our team, so we can try and put steps in place to help you be at your best through this process.
Tostayclosetocustomers,oursupport teamsareintheofficethreedaysaweek aswebelievethat skillsaredevelopedthrough collaboration, and that spending time together makes us more creative and connected.
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Here’s what to expect at each stage of the application process. This can change depending on the role you’ve applied to. If you need any reasonable adjustments made at any stage, let us know and we can help.
Fill in our short application form and hit submit.
We’ll invite you to take part in an online assessment. This could be before or after your interview.
We'll invite you to join us for an interview. This could be remote or in person. Here, we'll ask you some role based technical questions and examine the behaviours we're looking for.
After we’ve decided, we’ll be in touch. If you’ve been successful, we’ll officially invite you to join the team and let you know the next steps.
