John Lewis Partnership hunts 150 tech and data experts

The John Lewis Partnership is joining the UK business stampede for tech and data professionals, launching a major recruitment drive to bring on board more than 150 new staff.

The move, which follows a similar searches for tech and data talent launched by Bloom & Wild and Marks & Spencer, as well as virtually every other UK firm, is part of the Partnership’s investment in digital that aims to make customers’ omnichannel experience more seamless.

The group is recruiting for software engineer and delivery lead roles to help deliver customer-facing projects on both Waitrose and John Lewis websites to bring “innovation and expertise” across a range of technologies from software to cloud platform and data engineering.

Combined, the websites attract over 55 million visits each month, with online sales now making up nearly 70% of all John Lewis revenues and almost a fifth of Waitrose sales (up from 40% and 5% respectively two years ago). The new roles will also support the development and growth of the stores’ apps.

The Partnership’s head of engineering Sandra Christie told The Grocer: “We have an industry-leading team driving the digital growth of our two iconic brands, Waitrose and John Lewis. It’s our partners who make the difference and we’re really excited to be making this significant investment in growing our engineering talent.”

All candidates are being offered “a competitive salary, training and development opportunities” as well as flexible and blended working and can choose between its bases in London and Bracknell.

Even so, the drive to implement the latest technology has not always gone smoothly for the Partnership. In March, Waitrose was forced to rethink its new-look loyalty scheme, which only went live at the end of February, following what was claimed to have been “thousands” of complaints from members over the digital-first strategy.

Customers reported bombarded helplines after being told in store that their physical card was not enough to redeem MyWaitrose rewards. The complainants have also claimed the programme was “confusing” and “discriminating” towards those without access to a smartphone app.

The retailer has since confirmed it would be identifying customers’ preferred ways to receive offers, including print at home, vouchers in the post and coupons printed at till.