Merchandise Planning Manager - UK and ROI - 7 Month Secondment / Fixed Term Contract

As the Merchandise Planning Manager, you'll take the lead in shaping insight‑driven, accurate merchandise planning for our Central Commercial team across Home & Clothing. In this role, you’ll bring together budgeting, forecasting, stock management and trade insight to create truly connected, end‑to‑end planning across multiple regions and channels. You’ll also develop and inspire a high‑performing team of Assistant Merchandise Planners, championing best practice, strong governance and simplified, scalable ways of working across all central planning tools and processes.

You will be responsible for:

Topline Planning & Forecasting

Building and managing centralised country, region and channel budgets.
Leading top-down financial planning and delivering periodic financial review (PFR) forecasts.
Reviewing and aligning central WSSI across divisions, channels and markets, ensuring consistency between top-down and bottom-up planning.
Identifying, quantifying and communicating risks & opportunities for sales, margin, stock and intake.

Stock, OTB & Option Planning

Owning OTB governance for central planning areas, ensuring accuracy, compliance and transparency of decisions.
Setting and reconciling stock budgets across regions/channels, supporting divisional targets.
Managing commitment, intake, markdown and clearance forecasting to optimise sales and profitability.
Supporting cross‑channel stock alignment to meet customer needs in stores, online and franchise channels.

Trading & Commercial Insight

Leading weekly trade reviews with robust insight, commentary and forward‑looking recommendations.
Driving actionable analysis for leadership and commercial teams, including divisional, country and attribute‑level reviews.
Supporting the development and execution of trade plans, promotions and events.
Enhancing forecasting and scenario planning capability through data‑driven modelling.

Range & Capacity Planning

Working with buying and product merchandising teams to build insight-led ranges aligned with central commercial strategy.
Ensuring accurate ranging, forecasting and stock flow through effective processes.
Collaborating with buying and SSP to confirm capacity and critical path alignment.

Team Leadership & Ways of Working

Leading, coaching and developing a high-performing team.
Embedding governance, simplification and consistency in planning tools and processes.
Acting as a super user for merchandise planning tools, supporting system and process evolution.

Governance & Code of Conduct

Acting with integrity and due diligence in line with the Tesco Business Code of Conduct.
Ensuring planning accuracy, process compliance and robust data governance.

You will need:

Experience relevant for this job:

• Commercial merchandising experience across multi‑channel and multi‑country environments

• Strong WSSI and OTB management capability

• Experience with country/region‑level planning and forecasting preferred

• Proven leadership of teams and ability to develop talent

• Experience navigating cross-functional environments (Finance, Retail Ops, Supply Chain, Insight)

• Track record of process simplification and governance improvement

Operational skills relevant for this job:

• Influencing and stakeholder management

• Strategic & tactical merchandise planning

• Range and trade planning

• Data analysis, scenario modelling and numeracy

• Advanced Excel, BI tools, planning systems

• WSSI ownership and multi‑level forecasting

• Range planning tools & central planning databases

What's in it for you:

We’re all about the little helps. That’s why we make sure our Tesco colleague benefits package takes care of you – both in and out of work. Click Here to find out more!

Annual bonus scheme of up to 20% of base salary
Holiday starting at 25 days plus a personal day (plus Bank holidays)
Private medical insurance
26 weeks maternity and adoption leave (after 1 years’ service) at full pay, followed by 13 weeks of Statutory Maternity Pay or Statutory Adoption Pay, we also offer 6 weeks fully paid paternity leave
Free 24/7 virtual GP service, Employee Assistance Programme (EAP) for you and your family, free access to a range of experts to support your mental wellbeing

About us:

Our vision at Tesco is to become every customer's favourite way to shop, whether they are at home or out on the move. Our core purpose is 'Serving our customers, communities and planet a little better every day'. Serving means more than a transactional relationship with our customers. It means acting as a responsible and sustainable business for all stakeholders, for the communities we are part of and for the planet.

We are proud to have an inclusive culture at Tesco where everyone truly feels able to be themselves. At Tesco, we not only celebrate diversity, but recognise the value and opportunity it brings. We're committed to creating a workplace where differences are valued, and make sure that all colleagues are given the same opportunities. We're a big business with diverse working patterns and many business areas which means that we can find something that works for you. Everyone is welcome at Tesco.

We have recently announced that we will be moving towards a more blended working week – combining office and remote working. Our offices will continue to be where we connect, collaborate and innovate. Please talk to us to about how this can work for you.

NOTE: Should you be successful in your application, your offer will be subject to and conditional upon you providing your bank account details on your agreed start date.

We're proud to have been accredited Disability Confident Leader and we're committed to providing a fully inclusive and accessible recruitment process. For further information on the accessibility support we can offer, please visit https://www.tesco-careers.com/accessibility