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Join John Lewis or Waitrose today

If you've ever stepped through the doors of a John Lewis or Waitrose shop, shopped online, or seen any of our adverts, you'll know there's something unique about us.

That unique proposition is our Partners. As co-owners they have a say in our business and receive a share of the profits, so they put time and effort into making it work. Our Partners are the reason we're the success we are. They're our secret sauce; the opportunity for us to differentiate.

Job Summary:

Job Description:

At a glance:

• Salary range - The budgeted salary range for this role is set at £42,000 - £50,000

• Contract type - This position is a Permanent contract

• Working pattern/flexible working - We know flexible working is important to you, and it is important to us too. The Partnership has adopted a blended 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. The SEO team aims for 1 day per week in the office to connect and on a more ad-hoc basis to attend key meetings but again, are flexible on this.

• Location - This role is based at our Bracknell campus. Please note, any cost incurred as a result of travel to the office is the responsibility of the successful candidate. There is no travel allowance for this role.

About the role:

As the SEO Manager, you will develop, manage and deliver the technical and on-page SEO strategy for Waitrose and Specialist Shops. You will be responsible for proactively planning, implementing and reporting against the wider Waitrose SEO strategy.

This role would suit someone with strong technical SEO skills and experience planning and executing seamless site migrations. You will be able to demonstrate the ability to work closely with product managers, developers, UX/UI, and other stakeholders to integrate SEO considerations into product development processes, driving forward an SEO first approach.

Key responsibilities:

• Develop and execute a technical SEO strategy, providing guidance to Waitrose

• eCommerce teams responsible for BAU work streams (e,g. page titles, meta-descriptions, taxonomy) to ensure that technical SEO is an integral part of all activity.

• Accountable for delivering a robust solution for capturing search insights, analysing results and cascading knowledge to the relevant teams to demonstrate the omnichannel value of SEO activities to wider stakeholders

• Responsible for proactively planning, implementing and reporting on on-site optimisation, content building and Local SEO.

• Support Digital Development in the optimisation and enhancement of all new functionality on our websites, offering direction on the potential commercial impact of website development from an SEO perspective.

• Work with Digital Development & Product Engineering teams to proactively diagnose and resolve technical SEO issues that may impact traffic, customer experience and revenue, e.g. website architecture, crawlability, indexability, and structured data markup.

• Work closely with Digital Product Managers, developers, UX/UI, and wider stakeholders to plan and execute seamless site migrations, including domain changes, platform shifts and URL restructuring.

• Develop and execute a content optimisation strategy, providing SEO guidance to Waitrose eCommerce teams responsible for BAU work streams (e,g. product descriptions, editorial content) to ensure that SEO is an integral part of all activity. Support the planning, implementation, optimisation and reporting of Waitrose local SEO strategy, including Google My Business Posts.

Essential skills you’ll need:

• Experienced SEO strategic thinker who consistently is looking to find incremental gains and uses innovation to drive the SEO agenda

• Demonstrable experience of driving innovation in digital channels

• Creative problem solver who can devise technical SEO solutions across complex websites

• Proven experience in understanding, tracking and improving leading indicators of SEO success

• Understanding of HTML, CSS, Javascript, web technologies and hosting

• Experience and expertise and up to date knowledge in the latest Google algorithms and their impact on SEO performance

• Ability to clearly communicate complex technical requirements to a range of audiences and stakeholders

• Experience of leading an SEO team coaching and developing individuals

Desirable skills you’ll have:

• Strong online experience, ideally within Grocery retail

• Experience of wider digital marketing channels and how they influence SEO and vice versa, specifically Social, Email, Display and PPC

• Extensive expertise in technical SEO, including but not limited to: site migrations, website architecture, crawlability, indexability, log file analysis and structured data markup.

Benefits of the Partnership and the role:

• ? - Hybrid Working.

• ?️ - Full - time working holiday entitlement 22 days holiday, plus public and bank holidays

• ⚖ - 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 Probation. That’s 25% off in John Lewis & Partners (12% off electrical products) and 20% in Waitrose & Partners. 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

• ? - Learn more about our extensive range of exciting benefits that you could enjoy when you join us, visit - https://www.jlpjobs.com/about/benefits/

Next Steps:

• The application form consists of a CV upload followed by application questions. Please ensure you refresh the page each time you complete a task to ensure you complete everything that you need to in time. (If internal, check your Workday notifications and see further guidance on the PDW under "Internal application process").

• Once you've submitted an application the next steps of the process, if successful, are likely to include a 1 stage virtual interview

• 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.

• Thanks for your patience in the meantime and for showing an interest in joining JLP.

• We occasionally close vacancies early in the event we receive a high volume of applications. Therefore, we recommend you apply early

You can view a copy of the full job outline here (internal only)

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At the John Lewis Partnership, we embrace our differences. We want you to be you. Because, well, we know you're at your best when you're free to be yourself.

Being a truly inclusive employer to us means creating an environment which celebrates your contribution, regardless of age, gender, race, ethnicity, disability, sexual orientation, social background, religion or belief. It's why we've set our own aim to become the UK’s most inclusive business - for our Partners (employees) and our customers.

We firmly believe that our future success lies in diversity of thought from all Partners and it's integral in our mission to build a happier world. ? ?

We welcome applications from everyone interested in working for us. And, once you're a Partner, your differences will make all the difference.

Find out more about D&I in the Partnership here.

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 it is possible to do so. Please discuss this further with the hiring manager during your interview.