Head of Architecture & Engineering

About the roleWork directly with the CTO to ensure that the brand or assigned business scope delivers its strategic objectives and empowers the Partnership to evolve and expand within a dynamic and competitive market, across technologies and market sectors that are undergoing constant transformation.

This role will be responsible for working with the CIO/CTO function to define and establish the Technology Strategy, Product and Platform roadmaps to enable business capabilities that are effective, efficient and sustainable, making strategic choices about the technologies we will adopt. This will involve evaluating business benefits, risk levels, support for new capabilities, engineering choices and deliverability. They will remain informed of technology trends, experimentation and learning opportunities, and will directly influence and support our business strategy by facilitating the delivery and operation of technology for the Partnership, within a brand or assigned business scope.

As part of the Technology leadership team, this role will also play an active role in achieving the overall outcomes and objectives of the CTO/CIO function. As a member of this leadership team, you will have the opportunity to develop and advance both personally and professionally to achieve your potential.

At a glance:

• Flexible Working: This is a hybrid working role, therefore your time will primarily be split between working from home (in the UK) and London or Bracknell Head Office. However, there will also be an expectation to visit other locations as the need arises. 

• Our Architecture & Engineering team currently works from the office roughly twice a week to connect and on a more ad-hoc basis to attend key meetings, but again the frequency is dependent on the business needs.

• Contract type: Permanent

What you will do

Strategic Alignment

• Develop a technology strategy for the assigned Line of Business or business functions that integrates directly with the business strategy, informing the Portfolio Prioritisation process through clear Technology Strategy objectives and accounting for the Partnership's current and forecast appetite for operational and security risk.

• Maintain and improve the value of the business capability and maturity model for all parts of the business in scope of the role.

• Accountable for the strategic fit of the technology product ecosystem throughout its development and continuous improvement and operation, ensuring all related technology decisions protect the integrity of the business and the enterprise and are scalable, secure, and future-ready.

Innovation & Technology Roadmap:

• Identify technology-led market innovations that can enhance the Partnership and provide competitive advantage to our business. A deep understanding of emerging technologies and industry trends, as well as the ability to translate these insights into actionable plans that drive innovation and competitive advantage.

• The role is key in shaping and maintaining the Brand's technology roadmap. This involves making critical decisions about technology investments, architecture choices, and platform selections, always with a keen eye on the potential impact these decisions will have on the Brand's ability to achieve business goals through its technology strategy.

Engineering Alignment:

• The role works in close collaboration with the Engineering Profession to ensure that all engineering activities within the Brand or assigned business scope adhere to established engineering principles, utilise endorsed technologies, and follow optimal sourcing strategies

• This includes overseeing the structure of engineering teams, fostering the development of critical skills, and managing resources effectively, all while considering the potential impact of these decisions on the broader Partnership.

• This role involves overseeing a significant team of 300+ contractors and managing a substantial budget of £50M, highlighting the scale and importance of the responsibilities involved.

Team Leadership:

• Ensure Engineering teams are optimally structured to deliver exceptional customer outcomes and meet business requirements 

• Foster a culture of high performance, innovation, collaboration, and continuous improvement within engineering teams

• Develop the capability and capacity of engineering teams through training and development opportunities.

Agile Adoption:

• Embracing Agile working principles is a key aspect of this role. Demonstrates flexibility, adaptability, and a willingness to join or support missions as needed, championing the adoption of Agile methodologies within engineering teams.

Essential Skills: 

• Experience of influencing a diverse set of stakeholders at Executive and Senior Leadership levels on a major transformation or in an area with a high level of change.

• Extensive experience delivering complex technology transformation strategies using multiple recognised methodologies

• Experience directing large technology teams, comprised of architects and engineers, including relevant tools and operating procedures

• Strong commercial acumen and analytical ability, including experience explaining complex solutions and concepts in simple terms

• Experience of working across the IT lifecycle with the ability to balance long and short term outcomes given commercial drivers and available levers in uncertain environments.

• Internal and external expertise (an understanding of how the Business operates and marketplace Best Practice) in a technology or market discipline that is in a constant state of change. 

• Demonstrate a proactive, structured approach to problem-solving.

Desirable Skills

• Experience in managing relationships with large third-party vendors

• Experience in a retail or consumer-focused business

• Experience building, leading and developing teams in a cross functional matrix environment.

Next Steps: 

• The application form consists of a CV upload followed by application questions. Please ensure you refresh the page each time you complete a task to ensure you complete everything that you need to do before the closing date.

• If you are successful following your initial application, the next stages are: an initial interview, leadership assessment, followed by a formal interview

• You'll be asked about any adjustments you might need to support the recruitment process. Let us know, and we'll be sure to discuss it with you. 

• Internal applicants please copy paste this link on to the browser for job outline -  https://bit.ly/HeadofArchEngg

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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 also recommend that you apply as soon as possible as vacancies can close early if we see a high number of applicants.  

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.