Talent and Performance Manager

ocadogroup; Hatfield; On-site; GBP 70,000 - 90,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Annual leave 25 days

Job summary

Ocado Group is seeking a Talent and Performance Manager to align people initiatives with strategic business goals. You will lead talent, performance, and succession efforts, working with HR business partners, the People team, and senior leadership to ensure clear expectations, regular feedback, and fair assessments.

You will modernise processes with AI-enabled tooling, shaping long-term people strategy and governance for the next growth phase. You’ll bridge strategy with on-the-ground delivery.

Qualifications

• Practical experience in performance and talent management.
• Ability to define problems and deliver measurable impact.
• Ability to influence senior leaders and stakeholders.

Responsibilities

• Define talent and performance processes and cycles.
• Lead internal consulting across People, HRBP and senior leaders.
• Use data and AI to improve processes and outcomes.
• Design tech-enabled experiences for managers and colleagues.
• Partner with People Systems and technology teams on adoption.

Skills

Performance management

Problem solving

Consulting

Collaboration

Data and AI fluency

Experience design

Clear communication

Job description

About Us

We are Ocado Group, and we're bringing world-class automation to online grocery. Our Ocado Smart Platform (OSP) combines cutting-edge robotics, AI, and IoT within our advanced CFCs (Customer Fulfilment Centres). We've mastered the single pick, transforming online delivery for our global partners. Join us and be part of a team pushing the boundaries of retail technology.

About the Role

As our Talent and Performance Manager, you'll help Ocado Group and its people operate at their full potential, bridging high-level strategic thinking with the drive to make things work on the ground. You will lead key talent initiatives and design our group-wide approach to performance and succession management, approaching internal people processes with the rigor, user focus, and iteration of a product owner. Working alongside HR business partners, the wider People team, and senior leadership, you'll ensure that business performance is powered by clear expectations, regular feedback, fair assessments, and real internal mobility that places colleagues where they create the greatest value.

Looking ahead to 2027

You'll focus on two interconnected priorities: technology and governance. You will modernise the everyday manager and colleague experience by designing tech-enabled processes with AI at the centre, ensuring modern tools remove friction and elevate talent development. At the strategic level, you'll partner directly with the People Committee, our Designated Non-Executive Director, and the Board to shape long-term people strategy and deliver flagship initiatives that prepare us for our next phase of growth.

Day to day responsibilities

Talent projects and internal consulting

• Define problems that come from strategy or emerge in the business using a product mindset, beginning with the user's need and evidence, and being clear on what success looks like.
• Diagnose talent and organisational challenges with leaders and People Partners, designing solutions that may span talent, organisation design, ways of working and culture.
• Break complex work into clear plans and lead delivery end to end, managing scope, resources, budget and risk.
• Bring in expertise from across People, the business and external partners at the right time, and facilitate the conversations that move work forward.
• Take an AI-first approach to the work, using AI by default to research, analyse and build, and push forward what's possible by designing solutions that would not otherwise be possible.
• Measure and report impact, and apply what is learned to the next piece of work.

Performance and talent

• Build a clear view of what drives performance at Ocado, and what colleagues and the organisation need to perform at their best.
• Shape how we set expectations, give feedback, develop talent and plan succession.
• Design and run the processes and cycles that make this work well in practice, with HRBPs and the business.
• Build manager capability, so managers have the skills and confidence to hold good performance and development conversations.
• Lead clear communication so managers and colleagues understand what is expected, why it matters and how to take part.
• Own how performance and talent processes work in our systems, working with People Systems and technology partners on design and adoption, with the manager and colleague experience in mind.
• Use data and AI to understand what is working in practice, and improve it over time.

About you

• Performance and talent expertise: Practical experience in performance and talent management, such as performance cycles, talent reviews, succession or capability building, with a clear, evidence-based view of what works.
• Problem solving and delivery: Uses a product mindset to define complex problems, break them down and deliver measurable impact.
• Consulting and collaboration: Builds trusted relationships with senior leaders, People Partners and colleagues at all levels, influencing without authority and knowing who to involve and when.
• Navigating complexity: Finds solutions that work for different groups, and sees them through until they work in practice.
• AI fluency: Uses AI confidently in day-to-day work, with examples of building something with AI that changed how work gets done. Sound judgement on data privacy, accuracy and appropriate use.
• Technology and experience design: Experience shaping how people processes work in systems, from requirements to adoption, with a strong focus on the user.
• Data and insight: Highly skilled in using people data to find what matters, test assumptions and show impact.
• Clear communication: Writes and presents clearly for senior audiences, and turns complex work into simple messages for managers and colleagues.

What we offer

• Time to recharge : 25 days annual leave (rising to 27 after 5 years), plus the option