Delivery & Operations Lead

WeAreTechWomen; London; Hybrid; GBP 63,000 - 75,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading employee-owned business in the UK is seeking a Delivery and Operations Lead. This role focuses on enhancing customer value through effective project management and stakeholder relationships. The successful candidate will have a strong background in Agile delivery and financial management, with opportunities for personal and professional growth in a hybrid working environment.

Qualifications

• Proven track record in Agile Portfolio Delivery.
• Experience managing budgets and delivering complex projects.
• Strong stakeholder and third-party management skills.

Responsibilities

• Set clear intent and direction to achieve outcomes.
• Own and improve ways of working within capabilities.
• Inspire and motivate teams focused on creating value.

Skills

Agile Portfolio Delivery

Stakeholder management

Financial management

Strong communication

People management

Coaching skills

Job description

About the role

As a Delivery and Operations Lead in our business, your primary focus is to work collaboratively to create more value for our customers through an unrelenting drive to deliver value in support of our Business objectives. You will act as an immediate escalation point to unblock issues and impediments. This role will assure, execute, and maintain technical services within a specific functional domain (e.g., Supply Chain). Managing significant budgets, you will maintain a strategic view of technical services, projects, and outcomes while working and managing dependencies within and across domains. You will also focus on developing and maintaining stakeholder relationships, demonstrating effective influencing skills. You will have the opportunity to develop and stretch personally and professionally to achieve your potential.

Contract type

This role is a permanent contract.

Working pattern/flexible working

The Partnership has adopted a hybrid working approach, allowing you to work a mixture of office and home-based work based on your personal needs and the needs of the business.

Location

This role will have a home location in London or Bracknell, which will be agreed with the line manager. It will require working in London, Bracknell, and other locations regularly, depending on business needs.

Salary

The expected salary for this role is up to £75,000.

Key responsibilities

1. Set clear intent, direction, and guardrails to achieve outcomes aligned with the Partnership and business strategy.
2. Embrace Agile working principles by demonstrating flexibility and supporting colleagues to ensure success.
3. Own and improve ways of working within capabilities, encouraging safe experimentation in build and run.
4. Mitigate business risk while protecting throughput and value.
5. Optimize delivery costs by effectively utilizing Partners and third parties, removing waste in processes.
6. Ensure operability delivery within your area.
7. Ensure all teams/services have clear OKRs.
8. Inspire and motivate teams focused on creating value for the Partnership.
9. Empower and support teams to make decisions and resolve challenges aligned with strategy.
10. Invest in personal and team development.
11. Manage Partners in line with JL&P principles, with clear OKRs and performance management.
12. Share ownership responsibilities actively and support Partners and colleagues to have a voice in the business.

Essential skills/experience

• Proven track record in Agile Portfolio Delivery and/or Operational support and continuous improvement.
• Ability to thrive in a challenging, dynamic environment and manage ambiguity.
• Ability to build strong delivery teams.
• Stakeholder management skills.
• Financial management, including budgeting and cost control.
• Strong communication and influencing skills, both written and verbal.
• People and task management experience.
• Familiarity with agile ways of working and DevOps culture.
• Experience managing budgets and delivering complex projects.
• Strong coaching skills to transform ways of working.
• Understanding of Lean principles.
• Effective planning with an outcome-focused approach.
• People management experience and ability to work in a matrix environment.
• Understanding of Product Management processes and principles.
• Strong stakeholder and third-party management skills.
• Ability to cope with ambiguity and meet delivery timelines.
• High level of personal accountability.

Desirable skills/experience

• Experience within Supply Chain or Retail sectors.
• Experience with warehousing or ordering solutions.

About The Partnership

We’re the largest employee-owned business in the UK, home to John Lewis and Waitrose. We’re driven by a purpose to build a happier world, continuously innovating and diversifying. We value kindness, respect, and embracing differences, creating an environment where everyone can thrive. As Partners, we share ownership, responsibility, and success.

Important points to note

Some roles may require pre-employment vetting, including DBS and financial probity checks. We encourage early application as vacancies may close early due to high interest. We support flexible working arrangements, including flexible hours, job sharing, or shorter contracts, to promote work-life balance. Discuss these options with the hiring manager during your interview.