Enhanced Holiday
Wellbeing
RA Staff Council

Senior Buyer

Salary £45,000
Location London
Mergefield Title {Mergefield Value}
Mergefield Title {Mergefield Value}

This is a Permanent, Full Time vacancy that will close in {x} days at {xx:xx} BST.

The Vacancy

The Royal Academy of Arts is looking for a Senior Buyer to join our Retail team.

The Senior Buyer will shape the RA’s product strategy, bringing together creativity, commercial insight, and a deep understanding of the RA brand. As Senior Buyer, you will lead the development of a retail offer that reflects both the RA’s identity and changing exhibition programme.

You will be responsible for creating a distinctive and profitable product mix, working across multiple categories to deliver high-quality ranges that resonate with RA audiences. Managing supplier relationships and using sales data to guide decisions is key, as well as your ability to identify new opportunities and respond to trends.

You will set the direction for the product offer while leading on the planning, development, and the effective management of a diverse category mix.

About You

To be considered for this role, you will have significant experience leading a buying team or function, with extensive experience of commercial buying and an understanding of buying within a cultural or design-led retail environment.

With a commercial, entrepreneurial and retailing drive, you will have proven success in product development and of managing multiple product categories and suppliers.

Using data to inform decision making and future buying options will be your instinctive approach to working, and you will be well-versed in retail planning, including forecasting, OTB, and sales mix analysis.

The Company

The RA dates way back to 1768 when a group of artists and architects persuaded King George lll to help them to ‘establish a society for promoting the Art of Design'. The original academy, in Pall Mall, was less than 10 meters long. Since then, there have been many changes, though the RA’s core purpose of bringing art and design to a broad audience and championing art and artists still holds true.   

Today we are a contemporary art organisation hosting internationally acclaimed exhibitions and through investment in employee training and development, with courses such as Unconscious Bias, LGBTQ+ Awareness, Bystander, and Mental Health First Aid training, we are striving to foster a safe space for everyone through positive action. We also have Employee Network Groups, Ways In Groups, and an Employee Council so every employee has a voice and a way to feel heard by colleagues through the CEO.   

The RA is truly a unique place, both as an attraction to our visitors, but also as a workplace. Our people are at the heart of all we do, and we support a broad and inspiring mix of departments; from exhibitions, curators, art handlers, researchers, publishers, and digital to schools and education, visitor welcome, fundraisers, and corporate support.   

The Benefits

Exhibitions

Reciprocal Agreements with galleries across the UK

Enhanced Pension

Generous employer contributions

Enhanced Holiday

25 days annual leave, plus bank holidays

Wellbeing

Access to a virtual GP Service and Mental Health First Aiders

Agile Working

The opportunity to work flexibly

RA Staff Council

Where your views are heard and listened to

Employee Clubs

Football, Staff Choir and more

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Published

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Closing

in X days

{Expiry}