Merchandise Manager (Projects and Transformation) - 12 Month Ftc

If you love beauty, you’re in the right place. As the ultimate curator of over 100 of the most in-demand, highly innovative and boundary-pushing beauty brands, we are the go-to destination for worldwide beauty discovery. Together through our neighbourhood stores, online presence and loyalty scheme, Space NK has built a flourishing community in which to discover beauty. The customer is at the heart of everything we do, and we will always endeavour to offer everything they need to help them explore, experiment, and enjoy our brands. Merchandise Manager (Projects and Transformation) - 12month FTC Location: London (Hybrid) Department: Planning, Branch Merchandising & Inventory Position Reports to: Planning Director Role Overview A senior commercially focused project and transformation lead with strong buying and merchandising experience, responsible for leading commercial-led initiatives deriving from and impacting the transformation programmes for our buying, merchandising and commercial functions. This role operates at the intersection of Buying, Merchandising, Inventory, Tech and wider business change, ensuring future systems, processes and ways of working are grounded in practical retail, trading and operational needs. Success in this role will be interdependent on deep commercial knowledge, strong judgement and the ability to ask the right questions, challenge assumptions and influence stakeholders at all levels of the organisation. It will be complimented by strong organisational and project management. Success comes from ensuring business change is shaped by commercial reality, balancing strategic ambition with practical operational delivery for internal customers and partner brands.. Commercial Projects & Business Transformation • Lead Commercial-led projects that improve processes, ways of working, reporting, planning capability and operational effectiveness across the Commercial function. • Represent the wider Merchandising functions within major business transformation programmes, ensuring Buying, Merchandising, Inventory and trading requirements are understood, prioritised and effectively translated into project outcomes. • Bring practical commercial expertise to identify opportunities, requirements gathering, solution design, testing, implementation and adoption. • Influence decisions on major business initiatives by providing clear recommendations, highlighting risks, identifying opportunities and challenging assumptions where required. • Establish appropriate governance, stakeholder engagement and decision-making processes to support successful project delivery. • Provide regular visibility of progress, risks, dependencies and benefits to leadership teams. Systems, Processes & Ways of Working • Act as a key Commercial partner for system implementations and business transformation activity. • Ensure new systems, tools and processes support effective commercial decision-making and are practical for the end user. • Define and embed standardised commercial processes that improve consistency, efficiency and operational control. • Champion technology-enabled improvements that enhance forecasting, inventory management, reporting and trading performance. • Identify opportunities to simplify ways of working and strengthen alignment between Commercial, Tech, Finance, Retail and Inventory teams. • Support change management activity, including communication, training, user adoption and benefit realisation. Inventory & Forecasting Capability • Partner with Inventory, Merchandising and Tech teams to improve forecast accuracy, stock availability and inventory stock turn. • Drive the inclusion of key demand drivers into forecasting, including promotional activity, channel performance, store expansion and evolving customer trends. • Influence strategies that improve stock allocation, reduce excess inventory and optimise channel availability. • Define and monitor KPIs that demonstrate the impact of forecasting, inventory and operational improvements. • Provide direction to any future project support, assistant or administrative resource as required. Skills & Experience Required • Broad Buying and/or Merchandising experience within a retail environment, with strong understanding of commercial planning, trading priorities and operational execution. • Proven track record of delivering projects and change initiatives through cross-functional teams, with experience representing business requirements within wider transformation and process improvement programmes. • Strong commercial judgement with the ability to connect operational detail to broader business strategy and customer outcomes. • Strong stakeholder management and influencing skills, with credibility across both commercial and technical teams. • Ability to identify the right questions, delve into operational detail and translate commercial requirements into practical solutions. • Strong analytical capability and confidence using data to support decision-making and measure outcomes. • Formal project management qualifications are not essential. Preferred: • Familiarity with merchandising systems, forecasting tools, or retail tech platforms. Key Competencies • Strong buying, merchandising and commercial acumen. • Naturally curious, with the confidence to challenge constructively and ask insightful questions. • Builds alignment and momentum across diverse stakeholder groups. • Balances strategic thinking with practical execution. • Comfortable navigating ambiguity and driving progress through change. • Highly organised, structured and outcome-focused. • Strong communicator and relationship builder across all levels of the organisation. Please note that only successful candidates will be contacted. All applicants must have the right to live and work in the UK. If you want to find out more about us, what it is like to work for us, all about our benefits, and our pledges on Diversity, Inclusion and Belonging, please visit our website. Space NK are an equal opportunities employer. 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