Vacancy NameSenior Buyer - Cook & Dine Vacancy NoVN976 Job TypePermanent LocationHatfield Job Details
Senior Buyer - Cook & Dine
Contract type: Permanent
Location: Hatfield/ (Hybrid working - 3 days in the office)
Working hours per week: 40 hours
Level: Manager
Application closing date: 3rd July 2025
About us
Our mission is to deliver joy in every shop, through unbeatable choice, unrivaled service, and reassuringly good value.
We’re Ocado Retail, a market-leading, joint venture between Ocado Group and M&S and the world’s largest dedicated online supermarket. Not only is Ocado.com the only place to shop a full range of M&S food online, but it’s also the home to the widest online supermarket range in the UK and champion of small, independent brands. We’re also the brains behind, our same-day grocery delivery service.
About the team and the role
As a Senior Buyer, you will have accountability for a specified category within the commercial buying team. You will be responsible for Buying ensuring your supply base and the product range is optimised, proactively using data and analysis to maximise performance to and drive sales, profitability and share growth to support the growth to to support the overall Ocado Retail strategy and goals.
Cook and Dine are our largest categories, and we’re looking for a Senior Buyer to raise the bar even further. The buying area includes great brands with loads of room to innovate and be at the forefront of trends– be that looking after water filters or sourcing beautiful glassware. We also select from the M&S ranges, offering great choice to our customers. This role sits in our Your Home team – a fast paced & dynamic team where there is a fun and collaborative culture.
What you’ll do
1. Manage the category P&L and deliver against KPIs
2. Complete category reviews to refine range and align to the business and category strategy, and support L2s and Commercial Associates in delivering their category reviews
3. Plan and deliver trade, promotions and events plans
4. Identify opportunities to drive customer penetration
5. Identify opportunities to improve all-in margin, negotiate with suppliers to deliver savings
6. Negotiate with suppliers to agree and deliver market-leading plans aligned to the customer plan and category strategy.
7. Analyse and assess performance issues and opportunities using data and reporting tools, devise and implement solutions
8. Identify, analyse and source first-to-market / Ocado exclusive product innovation using customer, market and supplier insights to guide decision making
9. Ensure range changes are aligned to the category and business strategy
10. Work closely with merchandise planning and the supplier base to ensure best in class availability
11. Identify and create plans to mitigate potential issues / events that may impact supply
12. Work closely with suppliers and the quality team to ensure product quality meets Ocado requirements
13. Adhering to all Ocado policies, storage and handover protocols and successfully completing all of your training so that you have zero GSCOP breaches. Ensuring all agreements are recorded in writing, reporting GSCOP complaints to Legal within 48 hours of receipt
14. Following our Business Code of Conduct and always acting with integrity and due diligence
Who you are
15. Significant retail buying experience and existing senior buyer experience required
16. Strong experience in managing a team
17. Excited about working in retail and homewares
18. Proficient in Excel, with prior experience working with customer, transactional or financial data
19. Leadership capability/people management
20. Influencing and stakeholder management
21. Very strong negotiation skills and commercial acumen
22. Project management capability
23. Able to analyse complex sets of data
At Ocado Retail we're passionate about building careers and skills by giving people access to new and diverse opportunities. If you don't tick all the boxes above but have a curious mindset, a passion for learning and adaptable skills to bring to the role, we still want to hear from you.
What’s in it for you
By joining Ocado Retail you’ll have the chance to experience life at the world’s largest online retailer, work with an amazing bunch of people who challenge what’s possible each day, and grow your skills and career in online retail.
If that’s not enough to tempt you, you’ll also get access to loads of great benefits to sweeten the deal. Here’s a taste of what we offer:
Health & Wellbeing: Private medical insurance with the option to add your family, Digital GP appointments, market-leading family policies, mental health support, discounted gym memberships, dental insurance, and more.
Spend & Save: Annual bonus scheme split between personal and business objectives, recognition with reward platform, up to 7% matched pension contributions, 15% Ocado discount, 20% M&S discount, free breakfast every day in the office, electric vehicle leasing scheme and free shuttle bus from Hatfield station to the office.
Never miss the moments that matter: Blended/Hybrid working, 26 days holiday plus 8 flexible bank holidays, options to buy an extra holiday, 2 weeks work from anywhere, and lifestyle break opportunities.
Our Hiring Process
Lucky for us, we get loads of great applications and we really appreciate that so many people put the time and effort in to apply. To recognise that, we treat all applications respectfully and fairly. So, if yours stands out, you’ll follow our standard hiring process - one of our Talent Partners will talk you through this in an initial call.
Everyone’s welcome
We’re an equal opportunities employer. That means that we make sure all potential colleagues are treated fairly and equally. If you require reasonable adjustments during the recruitment process, please let us know on the application form.