Lead Buyer

As a Lead Buyer at Master of Malt, your main responsibilities include developing and implementing category strategy to meet commercial targets, building strong relationships with suppliers, leading and developing a high-performing buying team, analyzing market data to identify growth opportunities, and ensuring P&L management for sustainable profitability.

For the Lead Buyer role at Master of Malt, it's essential to have proven experience in a senior buying role, strong P&L management skills, and excellent people management abilities. A background in the drinks industry is preferable, particularly experience with spirits, along with a focus on customer obsession and commercial awareness.

The Lead Buyer plays a crucial role in enhancing customer experience at Master of Malt by ensuring that product offerings, pricing strategies, and propositions align with customer needs and expectations. By fostering strong supplier relationships, you help to secure exclusive and high-quality products that delight our customers.

Success as a Lead Buyer at Master of Malt requires strong analytical skills to interpret market data, excellent relationship management skills to build partnerships with suppliers, effective leadership qualities to manage and inspire your team, and a customer-centric mindset to drive decisions that benefit our clientele.

As a Lead Buyer at Master of Malt, you'll thrive in a fast-paced, creative, and entrepreneurial work environment. We embrace ambiguity and encourage innovative ideas, allowing you to make a tangible impact on our rapidly growing company.

When answering this question, highlight specific instances where you've successfully managed a P&L statement. Discuss how you tracked performance metrics, made strategic decisions to impact profitability, and your approach to ensuring your product range aligns with revenue goals.

Share examples of how you initiate and maintain relationships with suppliers, emphasizing your communication skills and strategies for collaboration. Discuss how trust and open dialogue lead to long-term partnerships that benefit both parties.

Outline your process for developing a category strategy, including market research, competitor analysis, and consumer insights. Discuss how you set commercial targets and measure success against these goals.

Elaborate on your organizational skills and strategies to manage multiple priorities. Describe tools you use, like project management software, and how you ensure that each supplier receives attention while maintaining overall efficiency.

Detail your experience in the drinks industry, specifically any roles dealing directly with spirits. Showcase your understanding of the market landscape, trends, and customer preferences related to spirits.

Discuss how you foster collaboration within your team by encouraging open communication, setting shared goals, and providing opportunities for professional development. Your ability to motivate team members can significantly influence team success.

Provide a specific situation where your actions led to increased profitability—this could include launching a new product, optimizing pricing strategies, or successfully negotiating supplier contracts.

Explain your criteria for product selection, which should include quality, supplier reliability, market demand, and alignment with customer preferences. Give examples that reflect your commercial mindset and customer-centric approach.

Talk about the resources you use to stay informed, such as industry publications, networking events, and competitor analysis. Emphasize the importance of ongoing education and awareness of changing consumer preferences.

Discuss how you incorporate customer feedback into your buying process. Whether through surveys or direct communications, demonstrate your commitment to putting the customer first in all decisions, leading to a more tailored product offering.