Head of Buying
Hunkemöller is hiring a Head of Buying in Hilversum, NL. It's a part-time, senior · manager · director role with competitive pay.
Hunkemöller — Buying & Merchandising — Hilversum, NLPart-time
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About the role
At Hunkemöller, we create moments that matter, together. As Europe's leading lingerie brand, we combine heritage, innovation, and a deep understanding of our customer to build inspiring products and experiences. We are transforming the way we work across product creation, sourcing, and go-to-market, and this role will be central to that journey.
We are looking for a strategic and commercial Buying leader who can bring vision, pace, and excellence to our product organisation while creating customer-focused ranges that drive growth across channels. If you are energised by pace, product, and people leadership, this is an opportunity to make a real impact.
Reporting to the Director of Buying and Technical, you will work as a senior leader within the Product organisation, partnering closely with Design, Merchandising, Technical, Operations, Marketing, IT, Logistics, CSR, suppliers, and channel teams to align product vision, sourcing decisions, and go-to-market execution.
What you'll do
- Lead Product Excellence
- Lead and inspire the Buying team to deliver aspirational, brand-right, and commercially strong product ranges.
- Embed deep customer understanding into assortment decisions, ensuring relevance across categories, channels, and seasons.
- Partner cross-functionally with Design, Merchandising, Technical, Marketing, and Operations to deliver ranges that are both exciting and executable.
- Drive excellence in product build up, buy readiness, and launch execution.
- Own Sourcing, Costing, and Value Creation
- Lead a proactive and data driven approach to costing, supplier planning, and forecast accuracy.
- Use open costing and smart negotiation to improve margin while protecting product quality and brand standards.
- Drive consolidation strategies across categories, components, and materials to simplify the product landscape and unlock scale benefits.
- Build strong supplier partnerships and increase transparency across the value chain to create long term commercial advantage.
- Deliver End-to-End Execution
- Own end-to-end Buying execution, ensuring strong governance, clear prioritisation, and on-time delivery across the critical path.
- Act as a senior gatekeeper for key milestones, ensuring product development moves forward with pace and discipline.
- Lead go to market execution with cross-functional partners so launches are trade-ready and aligned to commercial goals.
- Strengthen ways of working, data quality, and operational discipline across the product lifecycle.
- Drive Commercial Performance
- Work in close partnership with Merchandising on seasonal trade, range architecture, and in season performance.
- Shape line plans, option depth, and price architecture that reflect customer needs, channel strategy, and brand direction.
- Create a strong trading culture that drives productivity, agility, and proactive decision making.
- Make commercial decisions that balance product ambition, margin, speed, risk, and production feasibility.
- Lead People and Transformation
- Coach and develop a high performing Buying team with clear accountability, strong capability building, and succession planning.
- Act as a transformation leader, embedding new ways of working, governance, and operating discipline across the Product organisation.
- Bring energy, clarity, and leadership to senior discussions, helping shape business planning and strategic direction.
What you'll bring
- Proven senior Buying leadership experience within fashion retail, with deep end to end ownership from concept through to production and trade.
- Strong, hands on experience in open costing, including cost-breakdown analysis, margin engineering, and supplier negotiations.
- Demonstrated ability to drive material and component consolidation strategies across categories to improve margin, speed, and operational efficiency.
- Solid experience in production planning, including capacity considerations, lead-time optimisation, and alignment of buy decisions to go-to-market calendars.
- Experience influencing upstream value-chain cost drivers, including engagement with second and third tier suppliers and nominated sub-suppliers covering raw materials, components, and processing/finishing.
- Deep understanding of product build-up, including option depth, buy quantities, phasing, and readiness for on-time, trade-ready launches.
- Deep understanding of the lingerie, apparel, and swim market, with proven end-to-end business acumen and commercial instinct.
- Strategic and analytical thinking, with the ability to translate insight into clear execution and prioritisation.
- Strong communication, influencing, and relationship-building skills.
- Ability to manage ambiguity, set priorities, and deliver under pressure.
- Proficiency in Buying systems (PLM, SAP) and critical-path management.
- Comfortable operating at pace, making prioritisation and trade-off decisions in complex, fast-moving environments.
- Collaborative, confident in constructive challenge, and acts with integrity.
What we offer
25 days holiday per year, based on a full-time role, with the option to buy or sell additional vacation days each April.
Hybrid working with a 60:40 policy based on your working hours, giving you flexibility to work from home.
Work from abroad for up to 2 weeks per year.
Hunkemöller Academy offering continuous learning opportunities, training programmes, and workshops to support your professional growth.
Generous staff discount of 25% on all Hunkemöller products, with additional discounts of 25 to 35% available on selected Mondays, bringing the total potential discount to 55%.
A role at the heart of an ambitious transformation within Europe's leading lingerie brand, with real scope to shape the future of the product organisation.
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