Diversity & Inclusion Manager

About the role

The Partnership’s People function remains critical to unlocking the success of our Partnership Plan, powering our collective commercial success, developing our leadership and people manager capability, enhancing Partner experience and delivering on the commitments of our Partnership model, today and in the years ahead.

We are seeking an experienced Diversity & Inclusion Manager to join our team. This critical role ensures that equality, diversity, and inclusivity are integral to our operations, driving tangible progress towards our overarching strategy.

You will be instrumental in establishing and maintaining the systemic infrastructure that fosters accountability and will directly manage the development and implementation of D&I frameworks, ensuring operational effectiveness and compliance. You will bring your experience in building inclusive organisational cultures, particularly by leading and supporting communities such as our Partnership Networks and Inclusion Committee.

You will need a flexible and agile approach, personal resilience, and the ability to quickly react to the changing legislative and cultural landscapes, using your understanding of employment law, the Equality Act, and key external networks.

Salary - £55,500 - £86,700

Contract type - This is a permanent position

Working pattern/flexible working  - The Partnership has adopted a hybrid working approach, meaning you'll be able to work a mixture between the office and home based upon your personal needs whilst balancing the needs of the business. 

Key Responsibilities

• Contribute to ensure the delivery of the Diversity & Inclusion plan by understanding the needs, prioritising them and leading relevant work. You will be active in personally delivering elements of the work within your business area, ensuring alignment to People Plans.

• Monitor and evaluate progress against our strategic ambitions across the whole set of Diversity and Inclusion priorities. Working alongside the relevant data and insight teams to interpret and deliver data lead propositions.

• Contribute to and ensure the delivery of the Diversity and Inclusion plan by understanding the needs, prioritising them and leading relevant work. You will be active in personally delivering elements of the work and will work closely with the D&I Manager, Projects & Communities to ensure timely delivery of work.

• Collaborate closely with the People data and insight teams to translate People Data into robust, reliable D&I insights. You will use this evidence to influence key Business Partners and stakeholders, ensuring data-led propositions and systemic improvements are adopted.

• Serve as the Partnership’s primary D&I Subject Matter Expert (SME), offering consultancy and support to Business Partnering in developing the inclusion capability of leaders and managers within their area.

Essential skills/experience you’ll need

• Significant experience in diversity, equity & inclusion, ideally in a large corporate or commercial environment.

• Strong knowledge of D&I best practices, legislation, current trends, employment law and the Equality Act.

• Excellent stakeholder-management and influencing skills, including experience presenting to senior leadership.

• Demonstrable ability to translate data and insights into actionable D&I interventions.

• Working closely with HR Business Partners, in order to understand business needs.

Desirable skills/experience you may have

• Project management experience, able to lead multiple initiatives simultaneously, deliver on time and within scope.

• Experience in designing and delivering D&I training and capability-building programmes.

• Experience with external benchmarking (e.g. workplace equality indices) and managing external partnerships.

• Proven experience managing budgets effectively, including forecasting, cost control, and value-for-money delivery across

• D&I programmes and initiatives.

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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 occasionally close vacancies early in the event we receive a high volume of applications, and therefore, we recommend you apply early. If you require a reasonable adjustment due to a disability which means you may need longer to complete your application please contact us as soon as possible.

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. 

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