Merchandising Manager

LM RECRUITMENT SOLUTIONS LTD; Greater London; Hybrid; GBP 60,000 - 69,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Competitive salary

25 Days Holiday plus bank holidays

Birthday Day off

Staff discount and shop access

Cycle to Work Scheme

Employee Assistance Programme

Job summary

LM Recruitment are partnering with a luxury British lifestyle brand to appoint a Merchandising Manager in Cheltenham. The role combines strategic planning with hands-on delivery, driving stock efficiency and trading decisions to support profitable growth.

You will report into the COO and guide a small team across planning, allocation, and commercial activities. The role requires commercial sharpness, analytical confidence, and ability to operate in a fast-paced founder-led environment.

Qualifications

• Proven merchandising experience in fashion retail, preferably growth or scale-up.
• Strong analytical and commercial acumen; excellent Excel and planning tool proficiency.
• Ability to influence, explain logic clearly to executives.
• Experience managing people and mentoring junior team members.

Responsibilities

• Lead seasonal and in-season planning across categories.
• Own and manage the Open-to-Buy (OTB) process.
• Drive markdown planning to optimise sell-through and margins.
• Collaborate with Buying, E-commerce, Finance, and Operations.
• Mentor and develop junior team members.

Skills

Analytical thinking

Commercial acumen

Strategic thinking

Communication

Mentoring

Team collaboration

Tools

Excel

Planning tools

ERP

Job description

Merchandising Manager - Premium Fashion BrandCheltenham - 1 day WFH per week£60k circa dependant on experience - Open to discussion for right candidateManaging team of 3Interviewing ASAP

LM Recruitment are partnering with a luxury British lifestyle brand for a Merchandising Manager to own the end-to-end merchandising function. This is a high-impact, high-visibility role that combines strategic planning with hands-on delivery. You will drive stock efficiency, lead trading decisions, build scalable processes, and work cross-functionally to support profitable growth. Reporting directly into the COO, you will be a key commercial voice in the business and a pivotal part of their next chapter. If you are commercially sharp, analytically confident, and energised by the pace and ambition of a founder-led brand, we would love to hear from you.

Key Responsibilities:

• Lead seasonal and in-season planning across categories, ensuring stock levels align with sales forecasts and brand strategy.
• Act as the key commercial lead in product and range sign-off meetings, ensuring assortment decisions are financially viable and strategically aligned.
• Develop top-level product assortment strategies, including category mix, depth, and breadth.
• Work alongside the Buying team to manage the balance of newness, continuity, price points, and category spread to support brand positioning and commercial performance.
• Own and manage the Open-to-Buy (OTB) process.
• Monitor performance in-season, leading trading discussions and recommending actions such as repeats, markdowns, or exit strategies.
• Oversee intake and phasing plans to ensure stock flow is aligned to promotional calendars, key drops, and trading moments.
• Oversee the planning, allocation, and replenishment of event stock packages and in-store inventory, ensuring optimal stock levels are maintained.
• Drive strategic markdown planning to optimise sell-through, margin, and inventory efficiency while maintaining brand integrity.
• Lead seasonal store planning and in-season trading to ensure optimal product allocation, space utilisation, and commercial performance across retail locations.
• Build and refine merchandising processes to support business growth and operational efficiency.
• Support or lead the implementation of merchandising tools and systems, including ERP and planning tools.
• Champion data accuracy and process improvement across the function.
• Work closely with Finance to align planning assumptions and margin targets.
• Instil a strong commercial mindset across the team, ensuring all decisions are grounded in data, customer insight, and business impact.
• Collaborate with Buying, E-commerce, Finance, and senior leadership to ensure merchandising is seen as a key commercial driver within the business.
• Provide mentorship, support, and development to junior team members.

Key Competencies/Behaviours:

• Commercially driven with a genuine passion for product and a deep understanding of how merchandising decisions impact the bottom line.
• Analytically confident - comfortable owning data, building frameworks, and translating numbers into clear, actionable decisions.
• Strategic thinker who can also roll their sleeves up and deliver at ground level when needed.
• Excellent communicator, able to present complex commercial information clearly and influence at senior leadership level.
• Highly collaborative, working effectively across Buying, E-commerce, Finance, and Operations to drive joined-up decisions.
• Proactive and solutions-focused, identifying problems and bringing answers rather than questions.
• Comfortable with pace and ambiguity in a fast-moving, founder-led environment where priorities can shift quickly.
• Entrepreneurial mindset, energised by building and improving rather than maintaining the status quo.

Skills & Experience

• Proven experience in merchandising within fashion retail, ideally in a growth or scale-up environment.
• Strong analytical and commercial acumen, with excellent Excel and planning tool proficiency.
• Confident in building and implementing merchandising frameworks, processes, and tools.
• Ability to influence internally, explain logic clearly, and articulate decision-making to executive leadership.
• Experience managing people and/or mentoring junior team members - able to build trust, mentor junior colleagues, and contribute positively to team culture.
• Comfortable working in a fast-paced, entrepreneurial environment.

Desired

• Experience working within a luxury, premium, or heritage fashion brand.
• Exposure to ERP or merchandising system implementation.

Benefits

• Competitive salary
• 25 Days Holiday plus bank holidays
• Have your Birthday Day off on us to celebrate you
• Increased benefits with length of service (e.g. holiday, pension contributions)
• Enhanced Maternity and Paternity pay
• Generous staff discount and staff shop available
• Fresh fruit and pastries delivered weekly
• Cycle to Work Scheme
• Employee Assistance Programme, including mental health support