Store Concept Designer, Brands

About the role

We have a 12 month opportunity for a Concept Designer who will predominantly work with 3rd party brands, ensuring all their designs fitted into our selling landscape.
As a Concept Designer, you will be at the heart of transforming the John Lewis shopping experience. This is a role for a person who understands that great retail is about more than just fixtures, it’s about storytelling. You will be instrumental in bringing new brands into our stores, working collaboratively with external partners and internal stakeholders to agree bespoke concepts that seamlessly blend their brand identity with our own store environments.
You will be expected to push brands to deliver their best possible solutions in order to create innovative and market leading retail. By balancing creative flair with commercial objectives, you will ensure every new brand launch or department refresh delivers a "wow" moment for our customers.

What you’ll do:

Brand

Collaboration:

Work hand-in-hand with new and emerging brands and the commercial teams to co-develop concept design solutions that resonate with our customers while pushing the boundaries of traditional retail
Creative Excellence:
Support the Concept Design Managers and the wider team in building a Centre of Excellence, driving a high-performance culture that sets the creative direction, look, and feel for the John Lewis estate
Cross-Functional Synergy:
Work collaboratively with internal teams, such as Space Planning, Store Design, Property, Visual Merchandising, and Commercial teams to ensure all concepts are not only aesthetically pleasing but also affordable, efficient, safe and optimised for space
Commercial

Innovation: Deliver designs that exceed customer expectations while remaining benchmarked against the best in the industry, ensuring cost-efficiency through smart design and planning
While the main focus for these 12 months will be working with 3rd party brands and their designs, you may also do some internal concept design projects. This generally entails taking commercial briefs and turning them into deliverable propositions, working with all areas of the business and external teams. You will be more than a designer; you will be an architect of experience, helping us define what the future of the British high street looks like.

Salary up to £50,000 depending on experience.

This is a 12 month fixed term contract opportunity

• 35 hours per week

• Your home location will be our London Pimlico Head Office

• 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 team attends the office 3 days a week. Monday and Tuesday are core days, with the 3rd day being flexible across Wednesday, Thursday or Friday. The third day is also often used to visit branches or suppliers.

• Create and develop design concept solutions to meet design and commercial briefs

• Help define the John Lewis look and feel, delivering a consistent approach to the store environment , Brand look & feel and customer areas

• Contribute to and maintain a thorough understanding of store design planning principles, the overall look and feel of John Lewis, shop fit, equipment and related capital and operational costs

• Has the skill, ability and knowledge to take a concept from idea through to store planning and implementation, including acting on stakeholder feedback, reviewing prototypes and taking it through our internal processes for approvals

• Design with cost in mind, working with our supply chain to develop the most affordable, effective materials and construction method

• Maintain excellent working relationships with all cross functional work streams and third party agencies

• Provide clear planning guidelines for new design solutions and end users in the branch

• Ensure all design solutions are in line with John Lewis brand guidelines and sustainability targets

• Set and manage; clear brief, timelines, risks, issues and for all projects

• All department store shop fit and equipment design changes are…