Solution Architect, Distribution and Logistics

About the roleAs a Solution Architect, focused initially on Waitrose’s Distribution and Logistics capabilities, you will play a critical role on initiatives which shape and modernise the technology capabilities and enable getting the right stock to the right place at the right time - this includes managing inbound stock, efficient & optimised warehouses and transport delivering to our shops, online fulfilment centers & business partners.

You’ll be part of a larger team of Architects sitting in the Technology & Transformation operating model, working to identify the technical capabilities and changes that will enable the Partnership to successfully operate, adapt, and transform through technology across Waitrose.

At a glance

• Salary - £57,600 - £90,000 depending on experience

• Contract type - Permanent

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

• Our Architecture team currently works from the office roughly once 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.

What’s the role about?

As a Solution Architect, focused initially on Waitrose’s Distribution and Logistics capabilities, you will play a critical role on initiatives which shape and modernise the technology capabilities and enable getting the right stock to the right place at the right time - this includes managing inbound stock, efficient & optimised warehouses and transport delivering to our shops, online fulfilment centers & business partners.

You’ll be part of a larger team of Architects sitting in the Technology & Transformation operating model, working to identify the technical capabilities and changes that will enable the Partnership to successfully operate, adapt, and transform through technology across Waitrose. 

What will you be doing?

• Work hand in hand effectively with Business and product teams (across Trading and Physical Supply Chain) to design end-to-end technology solutions that are effective, efficient and sustainable, and make a tangible difference to the business.

• Ensure architectural best practice is brought to bear during solution design to increase value, reduce delivery risk, and control technical debt.

• Help to inform the thinking of senior stakeholders to meet key business and technology challenges. You’ll drive technology options and choices, influence the product backlog and determine how the technology strategy will be achieved in our supply chain.

• Be an important voice in modernising applications including upgrading them to SaaS (Software as a Service), ensuring we take the opportunity to remove customisations and simplify the solutions.

What you'll have 

• Experience of IT solution development, either as a solution architect, or as an analyst (business or technical) or developer.

• Experience of working with product or agile teams and governing architectural designs and decisions effectively to enable continuous delivery.

• Experience of architecting, designing and delivering solutions in a (Grocery) Retail context or experience and understanding of Distribution & Logistics (Supply Chain Planning & Visibility, Warehouse Management and Automation, Transport Planning and Execution, Fleet Management & Compliance) technologies and capabilities in another industry.

• Knowledge of what deliverables to expect in both waterfall and agile environments and ability to assess quality of deliverables.

• Ability to propose pragmatic choices between the strategic ideal and what can be achieved in the cost and timelines the business can commercially justify.  You’ll be able to convey the implications of these choices and build consensus around them across disparate stakeholders.

• Experience in generating and pitching proposals / solutions to both IT and Business teams, adapting your style according to the technical or non-technical nature of the audience.

• Ability to evaluate impacts of change across a complete value chain

• Ability to simplify and standardise an architecture.

• Be curious and self-starting, and will be able to build a network. 

What else you could bring (Desirable skills / Competencies):

• Ideally you’ll have a familiarity with Blue Yonder’s Dispatcher warehouse management software.

• Whilst this is not a hands-on technical role, you should have broad understanding of current techniques and tooling including: Domain driven design, Microservices, API-first design, Cloud Native, Continuous Delivery & DevOps, Containerisation and PaaS on GCP or AWS and other data and integration technologies (Event streaming, data lakes etc) 

• You’ll have experience influencing business ambition to ensure that roadmaps are aligned with the intent of Architecture Guardrails and take accountability for the quality of design work within your domain.

• Stay up to date with trends and shifts in technology, retail distribution and the wider world, and set this understanding against the business or technology context within which you are working. 

Additional Information

• The application form consists of a CV upload, followed by application questions. Please save the application questions to a Google docs before entering on Workday.

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

• We occasionally close vacancies early in the event that we receive a high volume of applications. Therefore we recommend you apply as soon as possible.

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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. If required, you’ll find out more about vetting throughout the recruitment process and we encourage you to complete any vetting documents quickly to avoid delays.

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.