Head of BU Space Planning

This is a great opportunity to join M&S on a 12-month fixed-term maternity cover contract, leading the Food, Hospitality & Business (FH&B) BU Space Planning function. You'll shape customer-led store propositions, grading frameworks and space allocation strategies, ensuring the right products are in the right space to deliver commercial success and an outstanding customer experience. Working closely with Buying/Merch, VM, Retail, and Finance teams, you'll drive the integration of Space Planning in the new FHB critical path, lead business-critical transformation through RELEX, drive data-led decision making, and evolve proposition architecture to better meet local customer needs. Managing a high-performing team, you'll play a key role in delivering innovative, scalable and commercially effective space planning solutions across the estate.

Due to high interest, this role may close earlier than advertised. We recommend applying as soon as possible.

What you’ll do

Your key accountabilities will include

• Define, develop and deliver the space strategy across all BUs, aligned to the overall FH&B strategy and agreed with the Head of FH&B Space. Lead the strategy through development, planning and in-store delivery.
• Own relationships with BU Directors and assortment SMEs across all BUs, as well as key partners in Retail, Store Planning and Design, VM and Supply Chain. Build a matrix network across BU space activity and establish clear ways of working.
• Lead and embed the space planning transformation process, aligned to the FH&B transformation.
• Simplify FH&B grading and proposition architecture by establishing proposition building blocks, customer-led decision rules and the foundations for future clustering, assortment planning and demographic-led space decisions.
• Own the integration of Space Planning and Buying through Option Planning and Display Principles, developing governance, launch and display quantity principles and ways of working that improve availability, stock productivity and customer presentation.

Who you are

Your skills and experience will include

• Business-level leadership and influencing skills, operating confidently up to BU Director and MD level.
• Ability to build and maintain strong cross-functional relationships across BUs, Retail, VM, Supply Chain, Property and Stores.
• Strong numerical, analytical and interpretive capability, using insight to drive commercial decision-making.
• Drive, ownership and resilience to lead complex change and deliver transformation at pace.
• Deep expertise in Space Planning, Merchandising and grading processes, including the end-to-end connection between customer proposition, assortment, space and stock.

What’s in it for you?

Working at M&S means being part of something bigger - helping to deliver quality, value and service to millions of customers every day. We’re inclusive, fast-moving and always evolving, with a strong sense of purpose and a focus on doing the right thing.

Here are just a few of the benefits that make working here even more rewarding:

• 20% colleague discount on all M&S products and many third-party brands for you and someone in your household, available once you’ve completed your probation
• Competitive holiday allowance with the option to buy more
• Discretionary bonus schemes linked to your performance and ours
• Strong pension and life assurance to help plan for the future
• Tailored induction and training to support your development from day one
• Exclusive perks and savings through our M&S Choices portal
• Market-leading family policies, including parental, adoption and neonatal leave
• 24/7 wellbeing support, including virtual GP access and mental health services
• One paid volunteer day a year to support a cause that matters to you

Everyone’s welcome

We are ambitious about the future of retail. We are disrupting, innovating and leading the industry into a more conscientious, inspiring digital era. We are transforming how we work together and offering our most exciting opportunities yet. Marks & Spencer strives to be an inclusive organisation, trusted and admired by our colleagues, customers and suppliers. Join us and make change happen.

We are committed to building diverse and representative teams, where everyone can bring their whole selves to work and be at their best. We support each other and work together to win together.

If you feel you'd benefit from any support or reasonable adjustments during any stage of the recruitment process, please don’t hesitate to let us know when completing your application. This information will be picked up by our team, so we can try and put steps in place to help you be at your best through this process.

To stay close to customers, our support teams are in the office three days a week as we believe that skills are developed through collaboration, and that spending time together makes us more creative and connected.

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