Assistant Buyer - Makeup and International Buying

Join the forefront of luxury beauty retail as an Assistant Buyer, where you'll drive product performance and brand relationships across our store and online channels.

About the Role

This dynamic role offers an exciting opportunity to shape the future of our beauty buying strategy, contributing directly to the success of our iconic brand portfolio. Supporting the Buyer, you’ll be instrumental in delivering key commercial goals across makeup and international beauty brands, managing everything from stock flow to product launches. With a strong focus on data analysis, relationship management, and trend awareness, you’ll work across a vibrant product mix including high-volume superbrands and emerging talent.

Key responsibilities include:

• Assisting the Buyer in executing department strategies to meet commercial and customer-centric goals.

• Researching trends and analysing customer demand to curate compelling product ranges across all channels.

• Leading day-to-day vendor management, from negotiating commercial terms to onboarding new partners and securing exclusives.

• Overseeing product lifecycle tasks including seasonal planning, stock management, and driving the product launch cycle in collaboration with BAA’s.

• Partnering with key internal teams including Marketing, Visual Merchandising, Online Trading and PR to maximise brand presence and promotional success.

About You

You will be an experienced buying professional, ideally already at Assistant Buyer level or a high-potential BAA with experience mentoring or onboarding team members. You have a genuine passion for beauty, an eye for product trends, and the ability to thrive in a fast-paced, high-volume luxury retail environment. Your strong analytical skills and clear communication style enable you to build lasting relationships and influence commercial outcomes with confidence.

You will also:

• Be confident managing varied stakeholders and brand negotiations with a solution-focused approach.

• Thrive in a fast-paced environment, balancing multiple deadlines with strong organisational and workload management skills.

• Bring experience or a strong understanding of physical retail and luxury customer expectations.

• Prior experience in luxury or beauty retail buying, preferably with in-store brand exposure.

• Proven capability in team development: training, onboarding, or upskilling new starters.

• Strong commercial acumen with experience liaising with brands and influencing product or promotional strategy.

Depending on your role, you may be fully on-site or have a mix of on-site and home working – this is what we refer to as ‘Hybrid’. Our hybrid working policy allows colleagues to work from home for part of the week, with a minimum of three days on-site, depending on business needs.

Please see our Hybrid@Harrods policy on our Career Site for more information or speak to a member of our Talent Acquisition team if you have any questions regarding the requirements for this role.

About Us

Harrods is one of the world’s leading luxury department stores and we’re becoming a destination for top designers, and the most sought-after brands from around the globe. Our combined mission is to make visiting our iconic Knightsbridge store one of the world’s most inspiring shopping experiences.

Our Promise to You

Help us make the impossible possible for our customers and we’ll do something remarkable for you. As well as offering a friendly environment to inspire your best work, we provide abundant opportunities and support to build an exceptional career across the varied specialisms of our business. 

Uniquely You

Whilst our job adverts outline the ideal qualities, skills, and prior experience for the role, we believe in the potential for growth and value individual strengths. If you can demonstrate the majority of skills and strong experience to thrive in this role, we would encourage you to apply. 

At Harrods we believe the personality and authenticity of our people sets us apart. We celebrate and invite applications from all cultures, backgrounds, tastes, and experiences and are proud of our culture where people from all walks of life can grow and thrive. What makes you unique makes us exceptional.

If you want to know more about our people and our culture, search #TogetherHarrods on LinkedIn, Facebook or follow us on Instagram @togetherharrods