Head of Buying - Flooring

Head of Buying - Flooring

Location: Hybrid (UK)
Salary: Excellent Salary + Bonus + Benefits

The Opportunity

We're looking for an exceptional Head of Buying - Flooring to lead the commercial strategy for one of the UK's most successful retail businesses.

This is a high-profile leadership role where you'll take full ownership of the flooring category, driving commercial performance, developing market-leading ranges and building strong supplier partnerships across the UK and internationally.

Reporting into the Commercial Director, you'll lead a talented buying team while working closely with merchandising, product development, marketing, operations and supply chain to deliver profitable growth.

If you're a commercially driven buying leader who thrives on combining strategic thinking with hands-on execution, we'd love to hear from you.

The Role

• Develop and deliver the long-term buying and category strategy for flooring.

• Build commercially successful product ranges across carpets, laminate, luxury vinyl tile (LVT), engineered wood, vinyl and accessories.

• Identify emerging consumer trends and translate them into market-leading product propositions.

• Lead supplier selection, negotiations and contract management with UK and international manufacturers.

• Drive margin improvement, cost optimisation and commercial performance across the category.

• Work closely with merchandising to optimise range architecture, pricing and stock investment.

• Use customer, competitor and market insight to identify new opportunities for growth.

• Lead, coach and develop a high-performing buying team.

• Collaborate with marketing and retail teams to ensure successful product launches and promotional activity.

• Build strong relationships across the wider business, influencing stakeholders at every level.

About You

You'll be an experienced senior buying professional with a proven track record of delivering commercial success within flooring or a closely related category.

You'll ideally bring:

• Significant buying experience within flooring, home improvement, DIY, interiors or building products.

• Previous experience leading and developing buying teams.

• Strong commercial acumen with an excellent understanding of category management.

• Exceptional negotiation and supplier management skills.

• Experience sourcing products internationally.

• Strong analytical skills with the ability to use data to drive decisions.

• A customer-first mindset and passion for product.

• Excellent leadership and stakeholder management skills.

• The ability to balance strategic planning with operational execution.

Why Apply?

This is an opportunity to shape the future of a major category within a growing business. You'll have genuine influence over product strategy, supplier partnerships and commercial performance while leading a talented team and working alongside an ambitious leadership group.

If you're ready to take ownership of a significant buying function and make a real commercial impact, we'd love to hear from you.

BH36669