Lead Demand Planner & Buyer – Activewear

Thrivin; Nottingham; On-site; GBP 42,000 - 64,000; Full time

Job summary

Thrivin, a fast-growing UK-based activewear brand, seeks an experienced Demand Planner & Buyer to own planning, buying and inventory for our rapidly scaling ecommerce business. This hands-on role requires commercial sharpness, strong analytics and the ability to take full ownership of OTB, replenishment and stock health.

You will work with product, operations and commercial teams to forecast demand, place POs, manage open-to-buy, and optimise sell-through while balancing availability and margin.

Qualifications

• 5+ years' experience within apparel planning, merchandising, buying or closely related field.
• Hands-on experience creating and placing purchase orders.
• Strong understanding of planning fundamentals: weeks of cover, sell-through, size curves, in-stock rate, gross margin, discount rate.

Responsibilities

• Own open-to-buy (OTB) by category, including sales forecasts and monthly plan vs. actual.
• Run the bi-weekly replenishment cycle end-to-end, from demand analysis to PO submission.
• Determine newness buy quantities at style, colour and size level aligned with launches and targets.
• Own full purchase order lifecycle: PO creation, submission, amendments, invoice reconciliation, ETA tracking.
• Maintain healthy stock levels and strong size availability and in-stock rates across categories.
• Monitor inventory performance and identify stock risks, shortages and excess.
• Lead markdown and overstock actions to optimise sell-through and inventory health.
• Analyze weeks of cover, sell-through, gross margin, discount rate and stock health.

Skills

Planning & buying

Forecasting

Excel

Data analysis

Stakeholder management

Tools

Claude Code

Claude Cowork

Job description

Thrivin, a fast-growing UK-based activewear brand, seeks an experienced Demand Planner & Buyer to own planning, buying and inventory for our rapidly scaling ecommerce business. This hands-on role requires commercial sharpness, strong analytics and the ability to take full ownership of OTB, replenishment and stock health.

You will work with product, operations and commercial teams to forecast demand, place POs, manage open-to-buy, and optimise sell-through while balancing availability and margin.