Careers

Working at Javelin Group

Culturally, Javelin Group's defining characteristics are its intellectual honesty, its open, collaborative working environment, and its dedication to learning and retail expertise.

These have been central to our success so far. Clients know that they will get honest recommendations from us with the best interests of their shareholders in mind, even when these recommendations are unwelcome to the client. Despite our dedication to professionalism, we have a very non-hierarchical and informal management style in which colleagues know that their opinions, whether about a project or about Javelin Group's own direction, will be listened to and debated. We are committed to enhancing the retail expertise within our firm through training, rotation of staff across different types of project, the development and transfer of industry-leading methodologies, and the allocation of time to explore new retail concepts and formats. We want Javelin Group to be the best "retail business school" in the world.

Team-based approach

Our projects are typically delivered by teams combining a variety of skills. For example, a project to assess the risks of a retail acquisition by a private equity investor may require up to four people: a strategy consultant (to consider the market, the proposition and the economics of the business), an operational specialist (to review sourcing, logistics, buying and merchandising, and store operations), a store locations specialist, and a technology specialist. This combination means that specialists in one discipline soon become conversant in the other disciplines.

Career progression

Although project teams may be configured in many ways depending on clients' needs, Javelin Group has developed its own five-tiered career progression structure. Recruits to Javelin Group may start at any of the first three levels, depending on previous experience. Progression from there depends entirely on personal performance.

Through these five tiers, there are two alternative career paths: consulting, and technology development. For each, an increasing degree of specialisation is expected with progression from one tier to the next.