Brand and Packaging Design Manager

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About the role
As a Brand & Packaging Design Manager, you will play a key role in shaping and delivering the Waitrose brand through high-quality, distinctive design. As a brand guardian, you will ensure consistency across all touchpoints while driving creative excellence. You will be responsible for managing end-to-end creative projects, from developing new brand assets, concepts, and toolkits to overseeing Own Brand packaging, ensuring alignment with our Brand World vision and delivering commercial impact. In this role, you will also oversee project management, including resource planning, budgeting, critical paths, and stakeholder engagement, ensuring projects are delivered efficiently and to the highest standard. Success in this role requires balancing creativity with operational efficiency and collaborating closely with internal teams, external agencies, and suppliers to bring the Waitrose brand to life across all customer touchpoints.

• Expected salary - £ 45,000 to £55,000 (dependent on experience)
  
• Contract type - This position is a Permanent role
  
• 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. The Design team aim for around 2 days a week, key days for the team are Tuesdays and Wednesdays in the office to connect and on a more ad-hoc basis to attend key meetings including at our Pimlico site.
  
• Location - This role is based at our Bracknell Head Office.
  

• Lead and manage brand and packaging design projects, ensuring alignment with our Brand World vision and commercial goals.
  
• Liaise with stakeholders to develop clear briefs, manage critical paths, and ensure deliverables meet strategic objectives.
  
• Collaborate with agencies to deliver high-quality creative solutions, providing creative feedback.
  
• Manage stakeholder relationships, presenting creative work and securing alignment at senior levels.
  
• Solve design challenges through insight, data, and creative problem-solving.
  
• Maintain and update brand guidelines, ensuring accessibility and adherence across all touchpoints.
  

• Creative Excellence - Experienced in reviewing and evaluating design work.
  
• Strategic thinking - Ability to balance creativity with business needs using insight and data.
  
• Stakeholder & agency management - Skilled in influencing, collaborating, and driving alignment.
  
• Project management - Experience managing budgets, timelines, and multiple projects.
  

• Creative Leadership - Strong brand and packaging design expertise with a focus on commercial impact, with knowledge and practical application of design & branding.
  

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.

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.