People Partner
Posted 7 hours 12 minutes ago by John Lewis Partnership
Play a part in shaping the future of Waitrose Retail. The John Lewis Partnership is seeking a People Partner to drive our collective commercial success and uphold the unique commitments of our Partnership model. This is a critical role that directly powers our ambitious Partnership Plan, focusing on developing leadership and people manager capability and enhancing the Partner experience, both today and for the years ahead. As a People Partner aligned to the Waitrose Retail directorate, you will be partnering senior leaders, providing strategic coaching and support to maximise individual and team performance in order to drive the right culture. You will ensure that all people activity is aligned to the overarching people strategy that supports the Waitrose business plan and objectives. You will also support the effective development and delivery of the Partnership People Plan, fostering an inclusive, empowering and collaborative culture and ensuring that the newly restructured People function is well set up to support the Partnership's broader goals.
Salary - £58,800- £88,100
Contract type - Permanent
Working pattern/flexible working - Location: Bracknell Head Office, with blended working and an expectation to travel to other locations, such as Waitrose Shops, as required. The People Partnering team aims for at least 3 days a week to be in person to connect and on a more ad-hoc basis to attend key meetings.
Interviews will take place w/c 25 May 2026
Various full-time hours required.
Key Responsibilities- You'll work in collaboration with the relevant Retail Director and Heads of, Senior People Partner, People Partners and Centres of Expertise (CoE) to ensure each area of the retail directorate is well set up with the right skills and capabilities to deliver the Partnership People Plan.
- Be a trusted advisor to retail senior leadership, coaching and supporting them to optimise individual and team performance.
- Support leadership development programmes and initiatives that drive growth, enhance leadership capabilities, and improve employee engagement.
- You will play a pivotal role in supporting the business's growth and success through effective talent, succession and performance management, leadership development and efficient change management.
- Proven experience operating as a People Business Partner (or equivalent) within a fast paced, multi-site environment, ideally retail or customer facing operations
- A strong belief in the value of people with the ability to translate this into meaningful, high impact people plans that support long-term business success
- Experience partnering senior leaders to shape direction, build capability and create inclusive, high performing cultures and deliver strategic people priorities with the use of excellent stakeholder and communication skills
- Strong knowledge of the employee lifecycle including talent and performance management, leadership development and succession planning.
- Experience collaborating with People CoEs, especially in recruitment, employee relations, and learning & development in a matrix environment.
- Strong understanding of how to create environments where our Partners feel a sense of belonging, can grow and do their best work to serve our food-loving customers
- Ability to use data and insight to influence decision making and improve outcomes as a result
- Experience within People change management and driving People related change.
- A thoughtful and emotionally intelligent approach with the ability to coach, challenge and support leaders in equal measure
- Solid knowledge of UK employment legislation and HR best practice with sound judgement and a pragmatic, risk aware approach to partnering