Main Role Responsibilities

• Lead and inspire the respective Product Development team.
• Support Regional Technical, Compliance & Sustainability Lead in developing and driving strategies and targets for the Sourcing Office.
• Manage change, setting technical clear goals, objectives and realistic expectations for the respective Product Development team.
• Working in tandem with the respective Regional Sourcing Lead in a yearly strategy plan, drawing out strategic plans in areas of key supplier focus and cost reduction initiatives.
• Set, measure and manage respective category’s product and supplier quality KPIs
• Set guidelines to manage the category’s portfolio of factories to drive a consistent delivery in product quality.
• Drive strategic improvements in supplier performance using Technical, quality metric data and supplier scorecards.
• Ensure John Lewis technical processes, policies and requirements are communicated and understood by the supply base.
• Mobilise investigation with Product Development Technologist and Factory & Quality Compliance Specialist on any product issues, complaints, withdrawals, recalls, returns, poor ratings & reviews and implement changes & solutions across the Product Development team.
• Successful Implementation of any new John Lewis technical policies.
• Sharing best practice and process alignments with respective UK Category Technical Leads and other Sourcing Office Category Technical Managers.
• Build and maintain good working relationships with suppliers and all internal stakeholders.
• Working closely with Product Compliance, Factory & Quality Compliance teams on day to day priorities and aligning with Regional Compliance & Sustainability Manager on raw materials sustainability direction and requirements.
• Take a proactive approach to performance management, providing an environment which encourages feedback.
• Share knowledge, support, coach and mentor team members to develop capabilities of reportees.
• Identify succession planning and training requirements for the Product Development team.
• Engages and collaborates with internal colleagues to improve processes and systems.
• Working closely with Global Technical & Compliance Data Specialist on monthly, quarterly and annual reporting.
• Works as an active and effective team player, contributing ideas and suggestions to improve the overall functioning of Sourcing Office.
• Horizon scanning of regulations, standards and innovations.

Skills and Experience

Essential

• Bachelor’s degree in an Engineering related field, or equivalent professional industrial, technical experience. Min. 8+ years working experience with a min. 3+ years in a management role for a product development, manufacturing or quality assurance related environment
• Good understanding of Quality Management Systems, with relevant working knowledge in auditing requirements (ISO9001)
• Knowledgeable in test methodologies and standards for the design, verification, and validation of products
• Experienced in product risk management
• Skilled in statistical methods, statistical process control and sampling plans.
• Familiar with reliability analysis and test methods (EN Standards Testing & Analysis)
• Strong communication and interpersonal skills
• Effective coaching and mentoring skills

Desirable

• Six Sigma or Lean Certification(s) desired
• Good decision making skills
• Project management and critical path experience
• Experience in total product lifecycle
• Experience in sustainability

For more details of how our Partners currently work flexibly click here.

Interested parties please click the "APPLY" button to submit your application with full resume including current and expected salary.

We support agile working practices across the John Lewis Partnership. If you are looking for flexible working options please discuss this at your interview, as each role will have a differing level of flexibility.

The John Lewis Partnership is a visionary and successful way of doing business, boldly putting the happiness of Partners at the centre of everything it does. It's the embodiment of an ideal, the outcome of nearly a century of endeavour to create a different sort of company, owned by Partners dedicated to serving customers with flair and fairness.

All 83,000 permanent staff are Partners who own 51 John Lewis shops across the UK (37 department stores, 12 John Lewis at home and shops at St Pancras International and Heathrow Terminal 2), 348 Waitrose supermarkets (www.waitrose.com), an online and catalogue business, johnlewis.com (www.johnlewis.com), a production unit and a farm. The business has annual gross sales of over £11.5bn. Partners share in the benefits and profits of a business that puts them first.

When our founder, John Spedan Lewis, set up the Partnership, he was careful to create a governance system, set out in our Constitution, that would be both commercial allowing us to move quickly to stay ahead in a competitive industry, and democratic giving every Partner a voice in the business they co-own. His combination of commercial acumen and corporate conscience, so ahead of its time, is what makes us what we are today.

John Lewis began trading in 1864 on London's Oxford Street, and has grown to become the largest omni-channel retailer in the UK. 'Never Knowingly Undersold'​ has been our unique promise to our customers for over 75 years, on quality, service and value. You can trust that we will always stock the best quality products, responsibly sourced. We work hard with all our suppliers to ensure they pay full attention to the well-being of their employees, their communities and the environment in which they're based. This includes using sustainable materials and methods wherever possible, and trading ethically at all times. Our staff (Partners) are highly trained to offer helpful, impartial advice on all products and we provide an excellent after-sales and a great choice of expert services from delivery to installation. We set highly competitive prices for all our products; If we find a national high street competitor offering a better nationwide price for the same individual product, sold with the same service conditions, we'll lower our price to match in all our shops and on our website, including when a competitor is having a sale.

Our John Lewis full-line department stores each typically stock more than 350,000 lines. At JL Oxford Street and Bluewater there’s also a John Lewis Foodhall from Waitrose while Southampton and Watford offer a little Waitrose under one roof. An at home branch is approximately a third of the size of a typical full line department store and sells home and electrical and home technology assortments.