Delivery & Operations Lead

John Lewis Partnership; London; Hybrid; GBP 60,000 - 75,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading company is seeking a Delivery and Operations Lead to enhance customer value through effective collaboration and strategic project management. This role involves managing significant budgets, building stakeholder relationships, and promoting agile working principles. Opportunities for personal and professional development are provided, along with a hybrid working approach.

Qualifications

• Proven experience in Agile Portfolio Delivery and Operational support.
• Strong stakeholder management and financial management skills.

Responsibilities

• Set clear goals and strategies aligned with business objectives.
• Optimize delivery costs and ensure operability within your area.
• Inspire and motivate teams focused on creating value.

Skills

Agile Portfolio Delivery

Stakeholder management

Financial management

Communication

People management

Job description

About the role

As a Delivery and Operations Lead, your primary focus is to collaborate effectively to create more value for our customers by delivering value aligned with our Business objectives. You will act as an escalation point to unblock issues and ensure the smooth execution of technical services within a specific domain (e.g., Supply Chain). Managing significant budgets, you will maintain a strategic overview of projects and outcomes, working across dependencies within and across domains. Building and maintaining stakeholder relationships through effective influencing skills is also key. This role offers opportunities for personal and professional development.

Contract type

This role is a permanent contract.

Working pattern/flexible working

The Partnership adopts a hybrid working approach, allowing a mix of office and home-based work based on personal needs and business requirements.

Location

The home location will be London or Bracknell, to be agreed with the line manager. The role requires regular work in London, Bracknell, and other locations as needed.

Salary

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

Key responsibilities

• Set clear goals and strategies aligned with the Partnership and business area objectives.
• Demonstrate agile working principles, supporting flexible approaches and team missions.
• Own and improve ways of working within capabilities, encouraging safe experimentation.
• Mitigate business risks while ensuring throughput and value.
• Optimize delivery costs by effectively utilizing Partners and third parties, removing waste.
• Ensure operability and delivery within your area.
• Ensure all teams/services have clear OKRs.
• Inspire and motivate teams focused on creating value.
• Empower teams to make decisions and resolve challenges.
• Invest in personal and team development.
• Manage Partners in line with JL&P principles, with clear OKRs and performance management.
• Share ownership responsibilities actively and support Partners and colleagues in voicing their opinions.

Essential skills/experience

• Proven experience in Agile Portfolio Delivery, Operational support, or continuous improvement.
• Ability to manage ambiguity in a dynamic environment.
• Strong team-building skills.
• Stakeholder management expertise.
• Financial management skills, including budgeting and cost control.
• Excellent communication and influencing skills.
• People and task management experience.
• Familiarity with agile ways of working and DevOps culture.
• Experience managing budgets and delivering complex projects.
• Strong coaching skills and understanding of Lean principles.
• Effective planning and outcome-focused approach.
• People management experience in a matrix environment.
• Understanding of Product Management principles.
• Strong stakeholder and third-party management skills.
• Ability to handle ambiguity and meet delivery timelines.
• High personal accountability.

Desirable skills/experience

• Experience in Supply Chain or Retail sectors.
• Knowledge of Warehousing or Ordering solutions.