Platform Infrastructure Lead (Networks)

Our Purpose

Working in Partnership for a happier world - our shared Purpose that guides us in everything we do and inspires 3 important principles; happier people, happier business, happier world. The John Lewis Partnership is a truly unique business, one that seeks to make a positive difference to the lives of everyone.

At a glance

• Working pattern -  This is a hybrid working role, therefore your time will primarily be split between working from home and the Bracknell Head Office.  There will be occasional travel to our London office.

• The Network team aims to spend 1 to 2 days a week in the office to connect, specifically Tuesday, and on a more ad-hoc basis to attend key meetings.

  • Contract type - Three permanent roles and one secondment role (23 months).

    Overview of the role

    Here at the John Lewis Partnership we have a bold and innovative IT team. We support our business by providing industry leading technology solutions that cater for our customer needs whenever and wherever they are, continually promoting innovation, transforming our infrastructure and delivering new and unique ways of shopping. Our mission is to delight customers at every opportunity and to maintain our reputation as the best retailer in the country.

    We are embarking on an exciting journey to modernise our technology and ways of working, which together deliver the pace and agility that we will harness to meet the diverse needs and value expectations of our customers.

    We now have a fantastic and exciting opportunity within our IT team to join us as an Infrastructure Platform Lead (Networks) to  advance several key Network towers including core networking, network security, edge connectivity and cloud networking.  We are seeking an individual with significant experience, someone who is motivated, innovative and committed to lead technology towers and to deliver secure, robust, stable and performant future ready infrastructure.  You will have demonstrable experience in designing, implementing, and managing innovative, cost efficient solutions, modernising network infrastructure services both on premise and for the public cloud (predominantly Google Cloud Platform), simplifying and rationalising existing technologies, whilst maintaining Operational Excellence.

    If you're enthusiastic about on premise and cloud network technologies, if you thrive and perform in a time sensitive, high-demand environment, and if you take satisfaction in delivering results through others, then we want to hear from you!

    What you'll be doing

    As a senior member, you will be working as part of a larger team covering a spectrum of technologies in a modern hybrid enterprise environment where interdependencies make up a proficient infrastructure capability.

    You will drive and be accountable for the outcomes the business requires in relation to your services. This means that you will be working effectively with Partners, vendors, and our strategic third party service providers to ensure effective delivery of the service, and strategy, whilst managing operational risks throughout.

    Your wealth of expertise will be instrumental in running agile product teams and driving forward the technology roadmap. Additionally, you will be expected to manage and support business-critical or escalated issues, providing effective solutions. 

    In the event of a major incident, you will act as the technical authority, communicating effectively with all stakeholders, coordinating the technical response, and ensuring clear and concise updates are provided throughout the resolution process. You will participate in post incident reviews, owning actions within your tower.

    This role demands effective communication and coordination abilities. You will need to build positive working relationships within cross-functional teams, ensuring everyone is aligned and informed, whilst also maintaining clear and productive communication with external vendors.

    Key the Platform Infrastructure Lead (Networks) you will:

    • Develop working relationships with key business stakeholders and build understanding of the commercial, technical, and operational landscape and business strategy

    • Have responsibility for technology towers and will strongly influence how the network evolves to meet business needs. You will work with a diverse range of technical and non-technical stakeholders which will require comprehensive communication skills

    • Be the product owner for your key technology towers, both on-premise and cloud

    • As Product Owner, define the vision for the product backlog and prioritise product group workloads to deliver business and technical requirements

    • Deliver value for John Lewis Partnership by ensuring quality, efficiency and cost effectiveness from all infrastructure management contracts

    • Manage suppliers and vendors to ensure the network services remain secure, stable, robust and performant by delivering and maintaining end to end Operational Excellence

    • Ensure that the services provided by vendors and managed service suppliers deliver against agreed SLAs, key metrics, and statements of work

    • Use your knowledge and experience of network services and an understanding of their consumption by the business, to develop a forecast of demand for the service and (by extension) the vendor's services

    • Manage third party provision of network services and maintain operational integrity

    • Work with Architecture to ensure deliverables are aligned with the business and technical strategy, producing business cases to deliver change and innovation, and translate architectural designs into operations.

    • Ensure full life cycle management is planned, managed and delivered across the network infrastructure estate; with published and managed roadmaps, aligned to strategy

    • Be the technical SME and authoritative point of escalation for your technology towers

    • Identify and deliver cost efficiencies across all commercial contracts in scope of your technologies, establishing value for the Partnership

    • Manage utilisation against entitlement of commercial products, ensure robust Capacity Management process and reporting are in place.

    • You will also have key input into deriving efficiency in cost management and consumption, working alongside FinOps when required

    • You will shape and implement policy alongside Security Operations.

    • You will work closely with the other Infrastructure areas and interface with the established Product & Platform teams to embed capability within areas.

       Essential Skills you'll need:

      • Deep technical expertise and experience in key technologies as defined below including experience of on premise and cloud networking.

      • Proven history of developing IT Delivery in a lean and agile environment through managing and motivating technical teams to deliver growth.

      • Demonstrable experience in leading managed services / high-value third-party contracts in a complex enterprise IT environment.

      • Comprehensive knowledge of agile methodologies & DevSecOps frameworks

      • Effective communication skills that go beyond “tech talk” - the ability to translate complex IT matters to those without an IT background

      • A credible and established expert with good commercial and operational acumen, who is able to demonstrate extensive knowledge and hands-on experience in building positive relationships, including third parties.

      • Deep technical expertise and experience in some or all of the following areas:

        • SDWAN / WAN / MPLS / DWDM

        • Cloud Networking Technologies

        • LAN / WiFi

        • Internet Proxy

        • Software Defined Networking

        • Firewalls

        • Load Balancing

        • Voice including UCaaS and CCaaS

        • NSX-T

        • DMZ

        • PCI

        • VPN

          Desirable Skills

          • A degree in Computer Science, IT, Systems Engineering or a related qualification

          • FinOps experience: Budgeting/ Forecasting/ Cost Optimisation 

          • Experience in the retail sector, both physical and online

            Next Steps: 

            • 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.

            • The application form consists of a CV upload, followed by application questions.

            • You'll be asked about any adjustments you might need to support the recruitment process. Let us know, and we'll be sure to discuss it with you. 

            • Please note: we sometimes close vacancies early in the event of a large response, so we recommend you apply as early as possible. 

              Benefits of the Partnership and the role

              • Hybrid Working. 

              • Full - time working holiday entitlement 25 days holiday, plus public and bank holidays (this is prorated for part time hours).

              • Excellent work life balance, including focus on well being and flexible working and our marketing leading equal parenthood leave Policy

              • Defined Contribution pension scheme where your contributions will be matched by the Partnership (up to 8% of pay) and, after three years' service, you'll receive an additional Partnership contribution of 4% of pay, regardless of whether you pay in or not

              • You'll get Partnership discount in store and online once you complete your Earning Membership period. That's 25% off in John Lewis (12% off electrical products, some exclusions apply) and 20% in Waitrose (some exclusions apply) You'll also be able to nominate someone you live with to share your discount.

              • Simple cycle to work support scheme

              • We're really proud of our exclusive hotels based in some of Britain's most beautiful areas and once you've been with us for three months, you're welcome to explore them

              • Health Care cover