PMO Brand Lead

Posting End Date:

January 26, 2025

Join John Lewis or Waitrose today

If you've ever stepped through the doors of a John Lewis or Waitrose shop, shopped online, or seen any of our adverts, you'll know there's something unique about us.

That unique proposition is our Partners. As co-owners they have a say in our business and receive a share of the profits, so they put time and effort into making it work. Our Partners are the reason we're the success we are. They're our secret sauce; the opportunity for us to differentiate.

Job Summary:

The successful delivery of the Partnership strategy is critical to the continued success of the Partnership. To enable this, and recognising the need to organise ourselves in the most efficient and effective way to deliver the Partnership Plan, last year we introduced a new Transformation Office operating as part of a “hub and spoke” model connected into our Lines of Business.
The Transformation Office (“hub”) will provide overarching portfolio management of the Partnership’s Change Portfolio, along with additional capabilities in resourcing and delivery methodologies and tooling, into one team.
Connected to the Transformation Office are four Transformation Squads (“spokes”), who will operate in each Line of Business (John Lewis and Waitrose) plus support pan-Partnership activity and John Lewis Money. The spokes are led by our Heads of Brand Transformation and will enable us to get close to the brand plans and support the achievement of their business goals.

The PMO Brand Lead role (of which there are three - one covering each of John Lewis, Waitrose and pan-Partnership) will play a critical part in each of the spokes, working closely with the relevant Head of Brand Transformation. We have one vacancy covering the John Lewis brand, which will put you at the forefront of ensuring delivery for John Lewis and providing the link between the John Lewis transformation plan and our overall Partnership plan.
With the operating model being relatively new and continuing to evolve, this job provides a brilliant opportunity for the right person to shape the role and how the team operates, and requires an individual who is able to deal with significant ambiguity and be highly responsive in a fast-paced environment.

Job Description:

At a glance

This is a hybrid working role, therefore your time will primarily be split between working from home and the London/ Head Office. However, there will also be an expectation to visit other locations as the need arises. 

The salary range for this role is set at £68,500 - £128,000. We are looking for candidates within the salary range of up to £100,000.

This position is Permanent, there are three positions within the organisation reflecting the three “brands” (Waitrose, John Lewis & Pan Partnership), of which one is left to be filled - to cover the John Lewis brand.

 

Key Responsibilities

You will be accountable for providing accurate information and insight, including early-warning indicators, on the progress and health of the delivery of the Brand portfolio to the Brand Leadership Team and beyond. This will be supported, in collaboration with the PMO Lead, by the leadership and assurance you provide to the PMO teams delivering across the Brand portfolio to ensure effective ways of working.

You will be responsible for the management, at Brand level, of the portfolio plan, portfolio governance forums, risk & issue management and effective portfolio change control, including trade-offs and tracking of financial risks and opportunities. You will make recommendations on  interventions to the Head of Brand Transformation to maximise the chances of successful delivery and the realisation of benefits.

You will be responsible for ensuring that the brand portfolio plan and approach to portfolio management links effectively with the Transformation Office and with your counterparts in the other brands, looking for opportunities to drive consistency and efficiency wherever possible.

As part of this role you will also work with the overall PMO Lead to develop the PMO sub profession, providing advice and insight into the running and evolution of the overall team.

In order to do this, it will be critical for you to constructively challenge, agitate and have a relentless approach to high standards; act quickly and decisively; deal with significant ambiguity, and drive an empowered and empowering culture.

Essential skills you’ll need

• Extensive experience as a Portfolio or PMO Manager working across a large, multi-disciplinary portfolio of work.

• Working with senior stakeholders to build constructive, trusted relationships

• Evidencing exceptional communication skills, both written and verbal, including the ability to analyse and present complex delivery information and insight

• Managing portfolio finances (costs and benefits) and demonstrating commercial acumen

• Resilience and the ability to deal with significant ambiguity

• Experience of working in a fast-paced environment requiring high levels of responsiveness 

• Use of industry-leading tool(s) for portfolio, programme, project and product management

• Team Leadership

Desirable skills you may also have 

• Enterprise level PMO or Portfolio Management qualification(s), e.g. P3O, MoP, AIPMO, MSP

• Excellent understanding of different delivery methods including programmes, projects and product-based delivery and the implications / approaches to managing this as part of a wider hybrid portfolio

• Use of Planview PPM tool and / or Jira for portfolio, programme, project and product management

• Leading and delivering Enterprise level performance analysis, reporting, MI and dashboards.

 

External Applicants: To view the job description please view the attachment

Internal use only:-

#LI-JLPGR

#LI-REMOTE

#LI-HEADOFFICE

#LI-SH

Pay:

£68,500.00 - £128,000.00 Annual

Scheduled Weekly hours:

35

Worker Type:

Permanent Partner

Job Level:

Partnership Level 5

Hours of Work:

35 hours: 9-5, Mon-Fri

At the John Lewis Partnership, we embrace our differences. We want you to be you. Because, well, we know you're at your best when you're free to be yourself.

Being a truly inclusive employer to us means creating an environment which celebrates your contribution, regardless of age, gender, race, ethnicity, disability, sexual orientation, social background, religion or belief. It's why we've set our own aim to become the UK’s most inclusive business - for our Partners (employees) and our customers.

We firmly believe that our future success lies in diversity of thought from all Partners and it's integral in our mission to build a happier world. 🌍 💚

We welcome applications from everyone interested in working for us. And, once you're a Partner, your differences will make all the difference.

Find out more about D&I in the Partnership here.

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 it is possible to do so. Please discuss this further with the hiring manager during your interview.

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