BUYING MANAGER
A leadership opportunity has opened for an experienced Buying Manager to join one of Australia’s most loved and fast-growing fashion brands. This is a pivotal, high-impact role for a commercially sharp buyer who thrives in fast-paced environments, loves owning category performance, and is passionate about building strong, capable teams.
What the Role Involves
As Buying Manager, you’ll lead product performance across your categories while coaching and developing a high-performing team of Buyers and Designers. You’ll own trading outcomes, guide margin and range strategy, and actively contribute to cross-functional delivery across Planning, Creative, Production, and Marketing.
This is a hands-on leadership role; you’ll directly buy and trade your own categories while setting the standard for commercial excellence, trend relevance, and execution quality across the wider team.
Interested? Email your CV to serian@whointhezoo.com.au or apply via the link for a confidential discussion in the new year.
*Only suitable candidates will be contacted in relation to their application.
Hiring Consultant: Sei
Job Code: 1399441
Please note that only those applicants who fit the brief will be contacted in relation to their application.
RESPONSIBILITIES +
Product Strategy & Execution
- Own category range strategy, trading decisions, and lifecycle management to deliver strong sales, margin, and sell-through
- Balance trend relevance, core winners, and commercial performance when selecting, repeating, and exiting styles
- Partner with Planning to ensure buys align with budget, margin targets, and phasing requirements
Team Leadership & Capability Building
- Build capability across trend forecasting, margin strategy, product execution, and commercial ownership
- Support each team member’s growth toward greater ownership and future leadership roles
- Step in as a player-coach when needed to model high-performance trade execution
- Role model BB values, strategic thinking, and commercially-led decision-making
Cross-Functional Delivery
- Collaborate with Planning, Creative, Production, and Marketing to deliver campaign-ready, on-time product execution
- Ensure key product inputs are delivered on time, including hero styles, samples, and category priorities
- Present clear category performance updates, insights, and actions in trade and review forums
Category Growth & Innovation
- Identify range gaps, trend opportunities, and new capsules to drive category growth and newness
- Translate customer, returns, and performance data into improved future range build
- Support regional and global expansion through scalable category and range strategies global expansion.
Commercial & Leadership Accountability
- Own category KPIs including sales, margin, markdowns, hit rate, and return rate
- Track performance weekly, acting decisively to resolve risks and underperformance
- Deliver strategic initiatives that improve category performance, systems, or team capability
REQUIREMENTS +
What You’ll Bring
- 6–10 years’ buying experience in fashion retail or wholesale
- Degree in Fashion Design or similar
- Experience working with a diverse range of stakeholders, with highly developed negotiation skills
- Effective verbal and written communication, relationships
- building skills and a clear customer focus