Buying Director | Lookfantastic

Life at THG Beauty 

We know that beauty isn’t one-size-fits-all. Our portfolio of leading retailers and iconic beauty brands caters to everyone, everywhere, empowering customers all over the world to look and feel fantastic.

By combining our portfolio of owned brands inclusive of ESPA, Ameliorate and Christophe Robin, with a marketplace for over 1,300 third-party beauty brands through online retail sites LOOKFANTASTIC, Cult Beauty, and Dermstore, THG Beauty's ambition is to be the global digital partner of choice across the beauty industry, supporting the channel shift to online.

THG Beauty’s breadth of relationships is unique to the beauty market; it engages with brands as a retailer, a brand owner, and a product developer and manufacturer, making it the industry’s digital strategic leader. 

The Opportunity 

We’re looking for an exceptional Buying Director to lead the buying strategy and commercial performance of Lookfantastic, THG Beauty’s flagship global beauty retail brand. 

This is a high-impact senior leadership role, with end-to-end ownership of the buying agenda across brands, categories, range, supplier partnerships, P&L and team performance. 

You’ll play a pivotal role in shaping the future of Lookfantastic — ensuring we have the right relationships, brands, products, commercial strategy and customer proposition to drive sustainable growth and maintain our position as a leading global beauty destination. 

What You’ll Do 

• Own the Lookfantastic buying strategy, setting the vision and commercial direction across our key beauty categories. 

• Drive significant sales and profit growth, with accountability for buying P&L, margin, budgets, Open-to-Buy and stock investment. 

• Shape our brand portfolio, identifying and securing the most exciting established and emerging beauty brands. 

• Lead senior supplier relationships, negotiating best-in-class terms across margin, payment terms, marketing investment, promotional funding and rebates whilst ensuring we support our partners goals as well as our own. 

• Oversee market leading strategic Joint Business Plans with our most important brand partners, unlocking incremental growth and investment. 

• Create an exceptional product proposition, using customer insight, market trends and data to continually evolve our range. 

• Partner closely with Marketing and Trading to maximise the impact of launches, campaigns, promotions and key commercial moments. 

• Champion stock and availability, working closely with Merchandising, Supply Chain and Operations to ensure customers can access the products they want, when they want them. 

• Lead and develop a high-performing Buying team, creating a culture of commercial excellence, accountability and innovation. 

• Act as a senior voice across THG Beauty, influencing strategy and driving cross-functional collaboration. 
  
  

What We’re Looking For 

We’re looking for a commercially driven, strategic and inspirational buying leader who combines a passion for beauty with a proven track record of delivering growth. 

You’ll bring: 

• Experience: Significant senior buying experience in beauty multi-brand retail, with a proven record of leading a large-scale function, strong category/range/merchandising/commercial expertise, and confidence as a public speaker representing the brand. 

• Commercial Acumen: Exceptional focus on sales, margin, ROI and P&L/stock management; strategic thinker able to operate at pace and in detail; highly analytical and data-driven. 

• Partnership & Negotiation: Proven negotiator of complex commercial agreements, with long-term relationships across major beauty brands, press and trade bodies. 

• Exceptional Strategist: Able to demonstrate ability to identify market white space and deliver industry leading strategies to differentiate Lookfantastic from it’s peer set. 

• Trend Forecasting: Strong grasp of the global beauty industry, brands, categories, consumer trends and competitive dynamics. 

• Leadership: Track record developing high-performing commercial teams, influencing cross-functionally in a complex organisation, with an entrepreneurial, opportunity-seeking mindset. 

Why Lookfantastic? 

Lookfantastic is one of the world's leading online beauty destinations, bringing together an exceptional portfolio of global beauty brands with a truly international customer base. 

As Buying Director, you’ll have the opportunity to shape the proposition of a globally recognised beauty business, influence some of the industry's biggest brands and lead a team at the heart of our commercial growth. 

This is a role for someone who wants real ownership, significant scale and the opportunity to make a visible impact. 

If you're a commercially ambitious buying leader with a passion for beauty and a track record of delivering growth, we'd love to hear from you. 

 

What’s in it for me? 

Career Development 

• Access bespoke development programmes that have been designed and developed by our in-house L&D team. 

• Continued development through our upskilling programme that is delivered in partnership with an industry-leading training provider. 

Enhanced Leave 

• 25 days annual leave plus bank holidays. 

• Don’t want to work on your birthday? We don’t either! Enjoy your day off on us! 

• Enhanced maternity and paternity pay, depending on length of service.  

• Up to 10 days compassionate leave. 

• Buy back up to 3 days each year. 

• Unlock 2 days volunteer leave after 12-months. 

Wellbeing Support 

• Access face-to-face and virtual appointments with our in-house GP.
   
• Access our 247 Employee Assistance Programme (EAP) which is provided by Bupa.  

• State-of-the-art on-site gym. 

• Access to our on-site physio. 

Other Perks 

• Save up to 12% on the cost of personal tech through our salary sacrifice scheme. 

• Subsidised bus pass from Manchester City Centre to our ICON office.  

• Up to 50% staff discount on THG brands. 
  
  
• On-site staff shop.
   
• Know someone who would be perfect for THG? Refer them and get up to £1000 when they pass their probation. 

• Anniversary gifts when you hit 5 and 10 years of service.