Contract Operations Lead

Apply on JLP Jobs - the official careers website for John Lewis Partnership, John Lewis & Partners, and Waitrose & Partners.

Salary: £68,800 - £112,400

Contract type: Permanent

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.

Location: This is a homeworking role with expectation to travel to sites as required.

Key Responsibilities

1. Build strong relationships with 3PLs to ensure consistently high performance supported by sharing of best practice and innovation.
2. Conduct robust and effective commercial negotiations and regular contract management discussions, for both open and closed book contract structures, to drive maximum network benefit and ensure delivery of the Supply Chain Transformation and Optimisation Plans.
3. Develop a Contract Management team who think end to end and understand the upstream and downstream impacts of their actions and how this fits into the wider end to end supply chain strategy.

Essential Skills/Experience You'll Need

1. Similar roles managing or leading 3PL large scale FMCG (fast moving consumer goods) operations.
2. Experience of managing high value outsourced grocery operations with complex commercial structures, through both open and closed book contract structures.
3. Ability to build strong relationships with 3PLs and Contractors, utilising these to maximise benefits.
4. Knowledge and understanding of the external grocery logistics market.
5. Experience of working with/for grocery competitors, directly or through third party logistics providers.
6. Strong commercial awareness and experience of negotiating contractual terms with 3PLs is really important as well as experience of managing 3PL relationships effectively to ensure cost and performance targets are met.

In this role you will own the operational business relationships with all Waitrose Third Party Logistic (3PL) Providers and Contractors across the distribution network, managing financial, operational and reputational risk on behalf of Waitrose in order to meet business needs, deliver the business strategy and ensure service to branches and distribution centres.

You'll direct and lead significant physical and behavioural transformation across our outsourced sites and operations through operational delivery of the Supply Chain Transformation programme.