Fashion Merchandiser to move into IT Software Implementation

This is a unique role for a Fashion Merchandiser and Demand Planner to make a move into Software Implementation and Software Consultancy - you need to have experience specifically in demand planning, inventory and stock forecasting and in your job, you will have used the software that helps you out in these areas. You will understand the challenges of keeping multiple stores, sufficiently stocked to meet customer demand yet not holding too much stock at the same time. A passion for the IT and software side of the business is essential and an understanding of how the right software can help fashion companies to plan ahead and save money.

This is NOT a job for someone to work in fashion or merchandising! It is a role that will allow you to use the skills you have gained in retail merchandising and inventory demand planning, and integrate these skills into the software industry, implementing and installing the software at client sites and learning how to configure it to fit the needs of individual companies. Starting salary from £30 - 45k depending on your level of experience, plus £500 per month car allowance.

The company you would be joining develop and sell an industry specific, complex software solution that allows demand planning and forecasting and they are very strong in the fashion industry. Their software solution allows companies to to analyse and forecast their variable demand patterns and control their supply chain.

They have had great success hiring people with a Merchandising background and training them in software implementation, because the tricky bit of the job is understanding what the client wants and how they need it to work for their business, so a merchandising background where you have worked for a large retailer is ideal.

You will have a passion for IT and software and will probably be the person that colleagues go to about the software; you will be a natural with Excel and find Information Technology easy to get to grips with.

This job will allow you to become a Software Consultant, working on implementation projects with large retailers. You will have the chance to move into project management and work on larger and more challenging software integration projects.

As a Software Consultant the first part of your role is business analysis - it is your job to speak to all the key users from shop floor to board level to find out what their requirements are and address the gaps between those, and what the software can do. You need to be able to manage your clients' expectations, whilst at the same time keeping the projects to budget and delivering the software on time. You need to be able to handle conflict, because often what the client wants is too expensive to change even though the client thinks it will cost nothing to do it. Building strong relationships with your client is vital, but you also need to meet the needs of your employer who is selling the software.

It would be very beneficial if you have worked with and used any of these software products in your job:

• Relex
• Synchron (Eazystock)
• Netstock
• Just Enough
• TXT e-soln
• AGR
• Barlowworld - (recently acquired by Llamasoft)
• AGR
• Demand Solutions
• Nettstock
• Tools group
• Future Master
• John Galt

You need to live in decent commuting distance of the head office in Redditch, and you must be prepared to travel to client sites a fair amount of the time.

This is a unique chance to take your merchandising skills across to the fast changing world of software and make a new career for yourself.

If you would like to talk about this role in more detail or you want to apply, get in touch with Jake King or Carolyn MacLurg at Ambis Resourcing who are recruiting for this position.