Diversity & Inclusion Manager (Projects & Communities)

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 a proactive and experienced Diversity & Inclusion Manager to drive our ambition to be the UK's most inclusive business. This critical, hands-on management role ensures that equality, diversity, and inclusivity are integral to our operations, focusing on the systemic infrastructure, key community management, and the delivery of impactful D&I projects.

You will be instrumental in:

- Establishing and maintaining systemic infrastructure that fosters accountability.
- Directly managing the development and implementation of D&I frameworks, ensuring operational effectiveness and compliance.
- Leading the communities that help to foster an inclusive environment, e.g., Partnership Networks, Inclusion Committee.

You will need a flexible, agile approach, personal resilience, and a strong understanding of employment law, the Equality Act, and key external networks to navigate the changing legislative and cultural landscapes.

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

• Translate strategy into action by collaborating with data and insight, HR, Learning, and Talent teams to embed inclusion in policies, systems, and Partner experiences, ensuring accountability and continuous improvement.

• Provide expert D&I guidance to project sponsors and business leads, leveraging insights, emerging trends, and Equality Act compliance to shape innovative, evidence-based inclusion projects.

• 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 and will need to ensure appropriate and timely project management and engagement with internal stakeholders.

• 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.

• Lead and strengthen governance and collaboration across Partnership Networks, Forums, the Inclusion Committee, and related groups, driving a one-team ethos, shared goals, and effective cross-network working.

• Build capability and impact by developing frameworks, policies, and tools; coaching community leads; and ensuring initiatives are data-informed, intersectional, and aligned with business priorities and legal compliance.

Essential skills/experience you’ll need

• Familiarity with Employee/Staff Network management and/or inclusive recruitment practices.

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

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

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

• Excellent communication skills (written and verbal), comfortable influencing at all levels.

• Demonstrable experience of People Management 

Desirable skills/experience you may have

• 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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