Junior Buyer

Join Early Excellence and become our next Junior Buyer

Early Excellence is synonymous with quality and whenever you hear about us - from a teacher, a nursery manager or childminder - you’ll know that we are passionate about young children’s education. We are an established leader of early years education and specialise in designing and equipping classrooms, as well as training practitioners and leaders across the UK and internationally.

Working closely with our Education Team, in this role you will responsible for sourcing new suppliers and buying new products, designing and creating seasonal product collections, leading the look and feel of product photography as well as managing and editing images and writing product descriptions. You will work closely with the Supply Chain Manager and Marketing Manager to support digital and print promotions.

You will have a creative mind, a good eye for quality and a passion for negotiating and buying high-quality educational products. You need to have a solid buying background and can demonstrate product development experience with key achievements and skills clearly aligned with the requirements of this fast-paced role. With no two days the same, this is a great challenge for someone looking for their next career move who wants to step-up and take responsibility for a managing projects and processes from start to finish.

Key Responsibilities

As our Junior buyer you will be responsible for:

- Working closely with the Education Team, Supply Team and Marketing Team to develop new resource ideas and new ranges

- Curating existing ranges and developing new and seasonal ways to present them

- Managing the sourcing of new suppliers and products, taking account of quality, price and continuity of supply

- Souring short term / long term replacement products through new and existing suppliers

- Undertaking product/range reviews, analysing sales, costs, margins, competitor research to assess commercial viability

- Collating and presenting data, using in-house supply systems (Orderwsie) and manipulating excel spreadsheets to determine buying & selling price, margins, etc

- Planning and managing the photography of all products for print and online marketing

- Assisting in marketing of products by agreeing titles and descriptions, writing and proofreading copy to ensure accuracy across all media

Key Experiences & Skills:

- Graduate calibre ideally with degree in Marketing, Design, Product, Brand or Communications

- A minimum of three years’ experience in a product development role - Purchasing Assistant, Marketing Executive or Junior Buyer level

- Ability to work independently, take initiative and full responsibility to meet deadlines

- Robust relationship building skills internally & externally

- Exceptionally well organised with excellent project management skills

- High level of numeracy with good analytical skills and commercial acumen

- An eye for detail and tenacity to ensure that products are sourced & launch successfully

- Competency in Microsoft Office: Word, Excel & Outlook

- Confident with IT software systems, excel and photoshop

- CAD experience desirable but not essential

- You must be eligible to work in the UK

Culture & Commitment

To be successful in your role and progress your career at Early Excellence you will need to

• Demonstrate a clear commitment to business and team objectives, and work collaboratively to achieve these
• Follow established processes and procedures, improving efficiency where possible

• Ensure positive, highly professional relationships in all work & communications internally & externally

• Take responsibility for your work load, exploiting opportunities to exceed expectations and increase your knowledge and skills within the company

Contract Type: Full Time: 8.30am - 5.30pm

Salary Bracket: £22,000 - £28,000 (DOE)

Contract Term: Permanent

Location: Elland, West Yorkshire

Benefits: 25 days holidays, plus bank holidays

To apply please email covering letter and CV