Head of Product & Buying - One Six Eight London

We're looking for someone who can walk past 95% of the stands at Canton Fair and see the potential in one of them — and who knows which categories we should be pointing that skill at.HEAD OF PRODUCT & BUYING — ONE SIX EIGHT LONDONProduct Buyer / Sourcer / Product DeveloperPart-time | Contract | Full-time | Australia or remoteOne Six Eight London is an Australian homewares brand — contemporary home décor sold through major online retailers and hundreds of bricks-and-mortar stores.We've built a profitable business on a deliberately narrow range: wall clocks, ceramic vases and jewellery boxes. We know those categories well, we know the factories behind them, and they perform.Now we want to go wider.The opportunityThis is the real job.We're looking for someone to lead the expansion of our range — deciding which new categories we should be in, at what price points, and for which channels.Not assisting with it. Leading it.That means new categories, and it also means going deeper into the ones we already own — new materials, new designs and new price architecture within products we already sell well.We have the retail relationships, the factory base and the channels.What we want is someone who can tell us where to take them.This isn't a traditional buying roleWe're not looking for someone who can simply pick the best-looking product on a stand.We're looking for someone who can look at a factory's existing range and think:“That isn't quite right — but I can see what this could become.”Some of our strongest products have come from factories you would have walked straight past at Canton Fair.No impressive stand. No ready-made range.What they had was capability.We've worked with them, made the right changes and developed ranges that are now highly commercially successful.Put those finished products on that factory's stand and suddenly everyone stops and looks.That's half the skill. The other half is knowing which category deserves that effort in the first place.What we're looking forExperience taking a brand into a category it wasn't previously in — and a clear account of what happened, good or badA deep instinct for where homewares, interiors and lifestyle trends are heading — six months out, not what's already everywhereThe ability to read a category properly: price architecture, competitive set, where the gaps are, and whether there's genuine demand behind itSourcing experience in China and/or India, including Canton Fair and other major trade showsA real understanding of factories, manufacturing capability and product development, with the confidence to develop and negotiate directly with themCommand of the numbers: GOB → landed cost → wholesale → retail, including MOQs, and a fast read on whether a product actually works financiallyA feel for what sells in both bricks-and-mortar and online, and the judgement to distinguish showroom appeal from genuine sell-throughWhat you'll doDecide which categories we enter and which we don't.Extend the categories we already perform in.Trend and market research. Finding and assessing new factories. Identifying opportunities within existing factory ranges. Product development and factory negotiation. Pricing, margin and landed cost analysis.You'll help decide what we launch, develop, modify — and walk away from.The role will involve roughly 2–3 overseas buying trips a year.How it could workThe structure is genuinely open: part-time, contract or full-time, based in Australia or working remotely.This could suit an experienced buyer who wants far more autonomy, a product developer with strong commercial instinct, a sourcing specialist who knows China and India exceptionally well, or someone who has spent years buying for a major retailer and is ready to have real influence over what a brand actually sells.RemunerationWe're not working to a fixed salary band.The package is built around the person and their experience, and we're open to a substantial performance component tied to the ranges you develop.If you identify a category or develop products that become significant commercial successes, we want your remuneration to reflect that.For the right person, the upside can be very significant.You might not have the perfect CV.But if you can walk into a trade show and see what a product could become, know which categories are worth backing, work with a factory to turn potential into something great, and know whether the numbers stack up — we want to hear from you.And if you're strong on most of this but not all of it, tell us anyway. We'd rather have the conversation.How to applyIf this sounds like you — or you know someone who would be exceptional at it — apply through the link, message me directly, or email info@onesixeightlondon.com.au.A few paragraphs about a product or category you developed — what you saw in it, why you thought it had potential, what you changed or did differently, and what happened — will tell us more than a CV.Confidential enquiries welcome.No agencies.#Hiring #ProductDevelopment #Sourcing #Homewares #Retail #Buying