ABOUT THE ROLE

We have a fantastic opportunity for a Head of Finance, Waitrose to join our Senior Finance Leadership team. Utilising your strong business partnering and influencing skills, you'll not only challenge effectively and provide strategic insight to optimise long-term performance for our Partners, business, and customers, but also cultivate a high-performing finance team. This is your chance to shape financial decisions, input on investment strategies, and ensure the sustainable profitability essential to our unique Partnership model.

.

Salary - £130,500 - £195,700.

Contract type - This position is a permanent contract.

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. This role will require the successful candidate to be at our Bracknell Head Office 3 days a week. 

Location - This role can be based at either our Pimlico or Bracknell Head Office, with regular travel to the alternate location. 

Key responsibilities

Drive the delivery of the Partnership Plan financials within your area of accountability, improving business performance and decision making, delivering relevant reporting, planning and forecasting activity across BAU and portfolio activity, and supporting timely and full delivery of cost savings.

Enable leaders to make decisions through concise, timely and actionable insight combining complex analytics alongside commercial and business understanding, optimising the performance Partnership’s propositions, and shaping ongoing plans.

Influence and enable the delivery of long term commercial value through honest, data driven, high support/high challenge conversations. Provide an independent voice, willing to challenge the status quo, surfacing trade offs and supporting resolution to enable better decisions

Work across boundaries, surfacing tensions, facilitating challenging discussions, and influencing others to make difficult trade offs which benefit our business as a whole

Hold the leadership team to account to deliver on their financial targets. Role model a culture of value generation, cost control and financial responsibility.

Ensure appropriate consideration of risk, and adherence to relevant compliance controls

Lead a team of Finance professionals, creating the conditions for all Partners to thrive, make their best contribution and achieve their potential. 

Optimise the balance of resources in Finance in pursuit of long term Partnership success and insightful reporting

Drive a culture of continuous improvement, identifying opportunities for ongoing optimisation, actively engaging and embedding change consistently and effectively.

Essential skills/experience you’ll need

CIMA, ACA or ACCA qualified or international equivalent with Finance related degree or equivalent experience

Significant post-qualified experience in a Finance environment is essential to performing in this role, including business partnering senior stakeholders

Significant experience in change delivery 

Experience influencing and challenging at Board level

Desirable

Retail or FMCG experience 

#LI-HEADOFFICE

#LI-HYBRID

.

Closing Date:

August 12, 2025

Pay:

£130,500.00 - £195,700.00 Annual

Contract Type:

Permanent

Hours of Work:

35

Job Level:

Partnership Level 4

Where You'll Be Working:

Bracknell Campus, Doncastle Road, Bracknell, Berkshire, RG12 8YA

ABOUT 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 also recommend that you apply as soon as possible as vacancies can close early if we see a high number of applicants.  

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.