Head of Category - Accessories & Specialist Pet (12 Months FTC)

Shape the future of pet accessories at Pets at Home!

At Pets at Home, we're passionate about creating products that help pets and their owners live happier lives together. We're looking for an experienced and commercially driven Head of Category – Accessories & Specialist Pet to join us on a 12-month fixed term contract covering maternity leave.

This is a rare opportunity to lead one of our most exciting categories, with responsibility for our proposition across stores and online. You'll drive category growth, champion innovation and shape the future of our product ranges, ensuring we continue to offer customers something new, relevant and exciting every time they shop with us.

About the Role

As Head of Category, you'll own the category P&L and lead the strategic direction of our accessories business, delivering sales, profit and market-leading product innovation. Working closely with our Asia Sourcing Office in Hong Kong, Merchandise Planning, Suppliers, Marketing, Visual Merchandising and eCommerce teams, you'll bring trends to life and create compelling propositions that delight our customers and their pets.

You'll lead a talented team of Senior Buyers, Buyers, Buying Assistants, Product Designers and Category Planning, creating a high-performing culture focused on commercial success, innovation and continuous improvement.

The role offers hybrid working (three office days per week) from our Support Office in Handforth, Cheshire.

What You'll Be Doing

• Developing and delivering the category strategy across Accessories
• Owning sales, profit and margin performance, identifying opportunities for growth and optimisation
• Driving innovation, NPD and own-brand development to keep our ranges fresh and market-leading
• Deliver a trade plan that entices our customers and delivers sustainably
• Leading supplier relationships and commercial negotiations to deliver business targets
• Partnering with cross-functional teams to maximise category performance across stores and digital channels
• Using customer, market and competitor insights to shape future category direction
• Inspiring, coaching and developing a high-performing Buying and Design team
• Championing transformation initiatives that improve agility, efficiency and customer outcomes

About You

You'll be an experienced Head of Buying/Category with a proven track record of delivering commercial results within a non-food retail environment, particularly within categories where innovation and own-brand development are key.

You'll also bring:

• Significant experience leading large-scale retail buying categories
• Strong commercial acumen with ownership of substantial P&L responsibility
• A passion for identifying and translating consumer trends into successful product ranges
• Experience of product innovation, sourcing and own-brand development ideally including working with a sourcing office
• Strong supplier negotiation and relationship management skills
• Proven people leadership experience with the ability to coach, inspire and develop teams
• Excellent stakeholder management skills and the confidence to influence at senior levels and manage change across the business
• Experience working across Retail, Marketing, eCommerce and Supply functions

Experience within pet, lifestyle, home, accessories or other relevant retail sectors would be advantageous, as would exposure to Far East sourcing and digital trading environments.

Why Pets at Home?

This is a fantastic opportunity to make a significant impact in a high-profile category within the UK's leading pet care business. You'll join a passionate team, work with talented colleagues across the Group, and play a key role in shaping products loved by millions of pets and pet parents.

Ready to lead innovation, inspire teams and drive category growth? We'd love to hear from you.

Pets just see people. They aren’t biased and they don’t discriminate. We take our inspiration from pets, and we value and respect difference in all its forms. Our aim is to reflect the diversity of the communities we operate in, and every colleague can help us achieve this. We encourage our people to be themselves so even if your skills and experience don’t perfectly align, if you think you can make a unique contribution through your values and behaviours, we want to hear from you!