Team Manager

John Lewis & Partners; Southampton; On-site; GBP 42,000 - 54,000; Full time

Job summary

John Lewis & Partners is hiring a Section Manager for the Customer Delivery Hub in Southampton. You will lead a large team of Partners responsible for direct-to-customer deliveries, ensuring compliance with regulations and achieving KPIs in line with the brand standards.

The role requires strong people and performance management, excellent communication, and the ability to manage transport operations and the daily workflow.

Qualifications

• Experience leading a large team in a fast-paced environment.
• Ability to plan resources and manage performance data.
• Strong stakeholder and agency relationship abilities.
• Knowledge of transport operations and regulatory compliance.
• Proven decision-making and problem-solving skills.

Responsibilities

• Plan operational resources daily and weekly with Partners and agencies.
• Develop and maintain cross-team communication across the site.
• Monitor department KPIs to identify trends and drive continuous improvement.
• Coordinate with transport planning to ensure timely deliveries and schedules.
• Oversee day-to-day transport office activities and meetings.

Skills

People management

Operational experience

Stakeholder management

Performance management

Transport operations

Communication

Decision making

Team leadership

Job description

About The Role

As Section Manager in one of our Customer Delivery Hubs, you'll manage a team of Partners responsible for direct-to-customer deliveries and ensure the supply chain runs smoothly, while maintaining the highest customer service standards expected of the John Lewis brand. You'll ensure all operations adhere to legal compliance rules and regulations and deliver all operational KPIs / SLAs in line with Partner, customer, and profit business-wide metrics.

At a glance

Partnership Role Title: Section Manager, Customer Delivery Hub

Positions Available: 2 (1x Permanent, 1x 6-month Secondment/Fixed-Term)

Location: South Central (Customer Delivery Hub) in Southampton

Hours of work: Full-time, 41 hours per a week.

Permanent Shift Pattern (3-Week Rota)

• Week 1: Wednesday–Saturday (6:00 am–5:00 pm)
• Week 2: Monday (5:00 am–4:00 pm), Tuesday–Thursday (6:00 am–5:00 pm)
• Week 3: Tuesday–Friday

Fixed-Term Shift Pattern (6-Week Rota)

• Week 1: Monday (5:00 am–4:00 pm), Tuesday–Thursday (6:00 am–5:00 pm)
• Week 2: Tuesday–Friday (10:30 am–9:30 pm)
• Week 3: Wednesday–Saturday (6:00 am–5:00 pm)
• Week 4: Monday–Thursday (10:30 am–9:30 pm)
• Week 5: Tuesday–Friday (6:00 am–5:00 pm)
• Week 6: Wednesday–Friday (10:30 am–9:30 pm), Saturday (7:00 am–6:00 pm)

Key Responsibilities

• Planning operational resources (daily and weekly) with the Partners and agency.
• Developing and maintaining relationships with the operational teams to ensure communication across the site remains effective.
• Monitoring and analysing department KPIs to look for trends and opportunities to facilitate continuous improvement within the team.
• Ensuring daily communication with the transport planning team.
• Managing the day-to-day running of the transport office (for example, schedules and conference calls).

You'll need to be open to flexible working hours, as this role has the head of branch, out-of-hours, and key holder responsibilities. During these times, you will be held accountable for the site's business continuity procedure.

It's crucial that you act responsibly in line with Corporate Social Responsibility commitments and waste management for your department and site.

Essential Skills/experience You’ll Need

• People management experience within a large team environment
• Experience working in a fast-paced, operational environment
• Strong stakeholder and agency management skills
• Experience managing performance, absence and conduct, including disciplinaries and grievances
• Knowledge and understanding of transport operations and legal compliance
• Strong communication, organisation and problem-solving skills
• Ability to manage competing priorities and make effective decisions under pressure
• Experience driving performance and maintaining high standards across a team

Desirable Skills/experience You May Have

• Transport Manager CPC qualification
• Hiring Manager and/or recruitment experience
• Incident management experience
• Experience of managing fleet, drivers or transport operations
• Experience using transport, workforce management or performance systems
• Experience of continuous improvement and delivering operational efficiencies

About The Partnership

We're the largest employee owned business in the UK and home of our cherished brands, John Lewis and Waitrose. We're not just employees, we're Partners, driven by our purpose to build a happier world. As we look to our future, there’s never been a more exciting time to join us.

We're ruthlessly focused on being brilliant at retail. We continue to innovate, adapt and diversify. Never Knowingly Undersold on price, quality and service in John Lewis and passionately serving food-lovers in Waitrose.

As Partners we all share the responsibility of ownership and in its rewards. We use our voices to contribute to our success, working together through the good and challenging times, holding true to our behaviours and treating everyone with kindness and respect.

We all own making the Partnership somewhere we belong. Embracing our differences and creating an environment where we're free to be ourselves and can THRIVE. Growing ourselves individually, and as a collective.

As Partners, we make all the difference. And, we all own it.

Important points to note:

It's important to note that some of our roles are subject to pre-employment vetting (which may include DBS checks for successful candidates). If required, you'll be informed and provided with information about vetting during the recruitment process and we encourage you to complete any vetting documents quickly to avoid delays. Any DBS checks required will be carried out by a third-party registered body and financial probity checks may also be required for some of our roles.

We occasionally close vacancies early in the event we receive a high volume of applications, and therefore, we recommend you apply early. If you require a reasonable adjustment due to a disability which means you may need longer to complete your application please contact us as soon as possible.

We want all of our Partners to have a good work-life balance and we support flexible working. This might mean flexible or compressed hours, job sharing or shorter hour contracts, where possible. Please discuss this further with the hiring manager during your interview.