The Hut Group

Senior Creative Web Designer

rossboardman — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 10:05:24 +0000

The Hut Group has been named as the No1 fastest growing technology company in the North of England (Sunday Times Tech Track 100), winner of the Bank of Scotland Entrepreneur of the Year 2008 and one of Crains Manchester Business “Best Places to Work” within the North West.

The Hut Group retails consumer products such as games, films, electronics & a range of gifts through its own websites (TheHut.com, Zavvi.com, MyBag.co.uk and Gifted.com) as well as operating a large number of online shops for retailers including ASDA, Argos, Debenhams, LOVEFiLM, WHSmiths, Woolworths and many more.

Overall Purpose of Role

The successful Senior Web Designer will have at least four year’s commercial experience of online design preferably within an eCommerce environment and have an understanding of usability and accessibility issues.

The Senior Creative Creative Web Designer will report to the Creative Director and will be responsible for completing the design elements of projects according to an agreed brief.

The ideal candidate will need an impressive eCommerce-related portfolio and to be proficient on Mac platform and industry standard design tools.

Key responsibilities for the Senior Creative Web Designer will include:

Interpreting business requirements to deliver visually appealing designs and high quality design solutions.
Leading in the definition of style guidelines
Sub elements of the style guidelines, eg the implementation of the brand personality of each product, associated grid layouts, typography and assets.
Using industry standard prototyping tools to implement iterations of designs.
Take a proactive role in identifying and resolving design improvements across all sites
Knowledge of the opportunities and limitations of technology, such as CSS, JavaScript and Flash, when designing creative solutions.

Suitable candidates will demonstrate:

Significant commercial experience of web design and UI development in eCommerce business/projects
An in-depth understanding of IA, personas, grid design, implementation of branding/style guidelines.
Experience of producing requirements specification documentation/prototyping.
Understanding of browser behaviour
Be confident, imaginative and able to hold your own, with a superb eye for detail.
Industry Standard Design Packages
Adobe Flash, Graphic Design, Prototyping tools (eg Omnigraffle)

To Apply

Please send all CV’s to recruitment@thehutgroup.com

No Agencies please

Front-End Web Developer

rossboardman — Wed, 16 Nov 2011 10:02:52 +0000

The Hut Group retails consumer products such as games, films, electronics, clothing & a range of gifts through its own websites (TheHut.com, Zavvi.com, MyBag.com, MyLabel.co.uk, iwantoneofthose.com and Gifted.com, amongst others).

Overall Purpose of Role

The web developer will be responsible for updating and improving the front-end of over 20 ecommerce web sites as well as the supporting web sites eg. Blogs and micro sites. The web developer/designer will join a keen and enthusiastic team with a passion for the internet.

The web developer will produce bug free, production ready code and is expected to be multi-disciplined and capable of working through the complete design/development lifecycle.

Role Requirements

The skills and experience needed to fulfill the role, you must:

Be very proficient in XHTML, JavaScript (jQuery) and CSS with at least 2 years proven commercial experience.
Show good knowledge of web browser testing, web browser quirks and their work-arounds
Have a good understanding of best practices and current technologies to help drive improvement in the code and the team
Having experience of using version control systems such as SVN is an advantage
An understanding of server side technologies such as jsp or php is an advantage
Any experience of building for mobile platforms is an advantage

To Apply

Please send all CV’s to recruitment@thehutgroup.com

No Agencies please

Senior Graphic Designer

rossboardman — Tue, 25 Oct 2011 16:38:46 +0000

The Hut Group retails consumer products such as games, films, electronics & a range of gifts through its own websites TheHut.com, Zavvi.com, IWantOneOfThose.com, Myprotein.com, LookFantastic.com, MyBag.co.uk and Gifted.com.

Overall Purpose of Role

The successful Senior Graphic Designer will have at least four year’s commercial experience.

The Senior Designer will report to the Creative Director and will be responsible for completing the design elements of projects according to an agreed brief.

Key responsibilities for the Senior Designer will include:

Interpreting business requirements to deliver visually appealing designs and high quality design solutions.
Working on campaigns from conception through to completion of final print-ready artwork.
Presenting ideas in a cohesive and professional manner directly to clients in a pitch situation.
Mentoring the more junior members of the creative team, sharing your skills and experience and providing guidance and support.

Suitable candidates will demonstrate:

Excellent skills with InDesign, Illustrator, Quark and Photoshop
You will be able to work well as part of a team and under your own initiative
Be confident, imaginative and able to hold your own, with a superb eye for detail.
The ability to work under pressure and to tight deadlines

The ideal candidate will also have really strong Mac skills, as well as experience with illustration and art directing photo shoots. Fantastic client-facing skills are a must and experience with conceptual design would be a bonus!

You will be full of expertise, flair and ideas, offer fresh thinking, be personable and able to form excellent working relationships with internal and external contacts. Your portfolio and previous experience will demonstrate your creativity and your ability to apply design flair within the context of an individual client. Ideally you will have experience in the Branding, Direct Mail, Web and Digital, Corporate Brochures and Advertising/Campaign themes.

You will have a work hard, play hard attitude, and in return will work in a brilliantly relaxed and sociable environment with a down-to-earth team.

To Apply

Please send all CV’s to recruitment@thehutgroup.com

No Agencies please

Assistant Fashion Buyer

BeccyC — Thu, 29 Sep 2011 10:18:58 +0000

The Hut Group is the No1 fastest growing technology company England (Sunday Times Tech Track 100), winner of the Bank of Scotland Entrepreneur of the Year 2008 and one of Crains Manchester Business “Best Places to Work” within the Northwest.

The Hut Group retails consumer products such as games, films, electronics & a range of gifts through its own websites (TheHut.com & Zavvi.com) as well as operating a large number of online shops for other major retailers.

As a result of such growth The Group is looking for an Assistant Fashion Buyer to join the existing team with immediate effect. The role will be to:

Assist the retail buyer with the purchasing and procurement of goods
Create purchase orders, manage deliveries and photography of stock
Create report on sales trends and monitor the replenishment stock
Maintain inventory, creating promotions working closely with Marketing
Analyze the competitor’s pricing strategies and brands
Work closely with Trading, Merchandising, IT and Finance to meet deadline dates for promotions and payments
Identify opportunities to increase sales through promotional and affiliate activity

Outstanding product knowledge is essential for the role.

In return, you will receive a market leading salary and competitive benefits.

No agencies please

All applications to be sent to recruitment@thehutgroup.com

Games Buyer

rossboardman — Mon, 26 Sep 2011 14:25:56 +0000

As a result of such growth The Group is looking for a Games Buyer to join the existing team with immediate effect. The role will involve:

Sourcing and purchasing pre-order and chart stock.
Sourcing campaign stock from all suppliers both one off purchases and identifying opportunities for campaign from label, studio or publisher periodic price reductions.
Building and managing campaigns based on the above.
Sourcing and managing just in time orders.
Maintaining appropriate stock levels and pricing.
Merchandising products, charts and lists on websites.
Meeting suppliers.
Dealing with return of stock.

Reviewing and updating catalogue range on a regular basis.

The ideal candidate will have strong attention to detail, a “can do” attitude and will ideally have previous experience in the entertainment industry retail or previous buying experience. Outstanding product knowledge is essential for the role.

In return, you will receive a market leading salary and competitive benefits.

No agencies please

All applications to be sent to recruitment@thehutgroup.com

PPC Executive

rossboardman — Mon, 26 Sep 2011 14:00:49 +0000

We are looking for an experienced PPC Executive who is driven and motivated to achieve our ambitious growth targets over the coming years. This position requires strategic thinking along with hands-on campaign management.

Founded in 2004, The Hut Group is an online retailing platform focused on fast moving consumer goods including Entertainment (Games, DVDs, CDs, Books), Electricals, Health & Beauty, Footwear, Gifting, Accessories, Toys, Underwear & Sports. The Hut Group has grown turnover more than 150% each year since inception and is on course to deliver another strong performance again in 2010.

Key responsibilities:

* Day to day monitoring of our successful keyword campaign, including identifying and developing a keyword strategy, analysis of competitor activity, writing targeted advert copy and ongoing campaign management.
* Analysing campaigns and improving quality scores to meet ROI targets.
* Using bid management tools reduce PPC costs
* Assisting with international PPC campaigns
* Daily, weekly and monthly KPI reporting
* Keeping up to date with changes in search engine technology
* Planning for seasonal campaigns
* Suggesting new developments to increase sales or decrease PPC spend
* Achieving sales and spend targets
* Work with the buying team to drive new product development and adhere to our best price online policy

Candidate Requirements

REQUIRED SKILLS AND EXPERIENCE

· Paid search experience (either client or agency side)

· Highly numerate/analytical and have an excellent attention to detail

· Advanced knowledge of Excel

· Web analytics knowledge (preferably Coremetrics and Google Analytics)

· Strong business writing skills: produces high quality documents

· Demonstrates a structured and methodical way of working

· Strong interpersonal skills

· Strong team player

We are looking for an enthusiastic individual who can demonstrate past success in the above responsibilities. You will need to come full of new ideas and be able to deliver to deadline. We are looking for an individual who will drive this area of the business for us and deliver the results we require.

To apply please send your CV to recruitment@thehutgroup.com

NO AGENCIES PLEASE

Commercial Apprenticeships

rossboardman — Mon, 26 Sep 2011 14:00:40 +0000

The Hut Group are currently recruiting for several apprenticeship opportunities across multiple divisions in the business.

These divisions may include:

Customer Service
Loss Prevention
Finance
Marketing
Trading
Buying

With an Apprenticeship you can earn while you’re learning and gain recognised qualifications as you work. For further information about Apprenticeships please look at www.apprenticeships.org.uk

Full in house training will be provided by The Hut Group, together with gaining NVQ Level 2 in Customer Service then to progress to NVQ Level 3.

Preferably applicants are to have GCSE in Maths and English at Grade A-C however this is not essential. Applicants should have a passion for ecommerce/website technology etc.

To apply please send your CV to: recruitment@thehutgroup.com

PLEASE MARK THE SUBJECT LINE WITH APPRENTICESHIP APPLICATION

Technical Lead – Agile and Java

rossboardman — Mon, 26 Sep 2011 14:00:06 +0000

Overall Purpose of Role

The technical lead is responsible for ensuring that the production of the software and supporting artifacts are to the appropriate level of quality, defined by standards, in a time scale agreed by the project team and stakeholders. This involves directing, motivating, planning and monitoring the development team’s work and the creation of the software and supporting products.

The technical lead role is responsible for the quality of the working software and requires a hands-on, in-depth involvement in the creation of the software.

This role leads the technical design of the system and has overall responsibility for facilitating the major technical decisions expressed as software design in line with the strategic Architectural constraints. This typically includes identifying and documenting the architecturally significant aspects of the system as views that describe requirements, design, implementation, and deployment. This role is also responsible for providing the rationale for these decisions, balancing the concerns of the various stakeholders, reducing technical risks, and ensuring that decisions are effectively communicated, validated, and followed.

The technical lead is an agile practitioner and an expert software designer, they will contribute to the project by guiding the team’s incremental design and architecture efforts by helping team members see ways of simplifying complex designs. The technical lead has a clear appreciation for design patterns.

Technologies

“You will be working on modern Java and open-source technologies, you will be passionate about great technology and delivering business value. Experience in any of the following technologies is beneficial but not essential: Eclipse, Apache Web Server, Tomcat, ActiveMQ, JSTL, J2EE, JPA (Hibernate), Spring (Core, MVC, Webflow, Security), JUnit, JDBC, RMI, Servlets, JAXP, SOA and ESB (Camel), Ruby RAILS, ANT, SVN, Cruise Control, Hudson, SQL Server, JQuery, JUnit”

Main Activities/Tasks

Develop Technical Vision
Simple Design – ensures the simplest design at the last appropriate time
Spiking Solutions – responsible for identifying and delivering spikes
Incremental Design and Architecture – produces design decisions just-in-time, whilst meeting architectural constraints/standards
Performance Optimization – improves performance of the product to meet requirements
Reporting – details the quality metrics and trends to the Iteration Manager
No Bugs – ensures working production quality code
Version Control – ensures team follow good practice
Build – The product builds (and deploys) all features at all times to production standards
Documentation – Directs and/or produces the required supporting documentation
Release Planning – assists the Iteration Manager in planning releases
Planning Game – Provides technical estimation and calibration of technical tasks
Test-Driven Development – ensures that the team do TDD
Refactoring – ensures that code gets better each day
Release Planning – assists the PM and technical lead in planning releases
Planning – Supports the production of technical estimation and calibration
Test-Driven Development – Works to the practice of TDD, produces automated unit, integration and acceptance tests, contributes to the development of test cases
Acceptance Tests – Runs automated acceptance tests to demonstrate production quality code
Refactoring – ensures that code gets better each day

Accountability/Responsibility

The quality of the Product with a zero defect rate
Producing the Architecture Notebook
The Quality of Build and Deployment scripts
Adherence to Coding Standards
Adherence to Development Standards
Adherence to Refactoring Standards
The Product Implementation
The Quality of Performance Test Scripts and Metrics
The Appropriateness of Performance Test Environment
The Production of Software Quality Metrics

Responsible for

Architecture Notebook

Special Requirements:
Prime Role Location:

Role Requirements

The skills and experience needed to fulfill the technical lead role depend upon the size and technical and management complexity of the development, but to play the role, to at least some degree you must

Be an expert in XP and Scrum
Be an expert in agile software development
Be an expert in agile practices
Be an expert in Agile requirements management
Have good negotiation skills and be able to work with the stakeholders to establish project scope and commitments
Have effective presentation and communication skills
Show leadership and team-building capabilities
Have good time management and triage skills with a history of making sound decisions quickly under stress
Be adaptable to change, especially being able to adapt to new events and recover from wrong decisions
Be objective in setting and assessing work, ensuring team buy-in
Be technical enough to understand the technical risks and architectural issues in order to understand which issues are most pressing and which can be relegated to later iterations
Share the architectural vision but be pragmatic in the scoping and implementation of plans and scrupulously honest in the assessment of outcomes
Be focused on the delivery of customer value in the form of executing software that meets (or exceeds) the customer’s needs

Success Measures

Delivery (or exceeding delivery) of business value in each iteration
Measuring technical productivity of the team for use in planning implementation tasks.
Improving (each day) code quality through refactoring
Improving product quality through demonstration of quality metrics
Sound design and architecture decisions, through demonstrations to peers and management
Reuse of sound ideas (not necessarily code) and the sharing of sound ideas and practices
Delivery meeting non functional requirements, and as such the most efficient means of testing and implementation (of NFR’s)
A negative trending defect rate, and zero-defect for iteration release
Product successfully version controlled with demonstrated successful stream strategies
Software successfully auto builds and deploys

To Apply

Please send all CV’s to recruitment@thehutgroup.com

No Agencies please

Java Developer

rossboardman — Mon, 26 Sep 2011 09:57:28 +0000

Role Description

Role Title: Developer
Reporting To: Development Manager
Direct Reports: 0
Dept/Section:: IT-Development
Team Size Total: 0

Overall Purpose of Role

The developer produces software and supporting artifacts to the appropriate level of quality (meeting the definition of “done”), as defined by the Technical Lead, in the time scales agreed with project team and the stakeholders. The developer will use agile practices including pair programming, build engineering, estimating, planning, analysis, design, refactoring and TDD.

The Developer is able to take a story from the initial idea through to production quality working software. Developers are expected to be multi-disciplined and capable of working through the complete software development lifecycle.

Technologies

Main Activities/Tasks

Simple Design – delivers the simplest design at the last appropriate time
Define and create technical solutions in the project’s technology and architecture
Communicate the design in a way that other team members understand
Walkthrough – will work with BA’s and other stakeholders to demo features/stories
Spiking Solutions – delivers solution spikes under the guidance of the technical lead
Incremental Design and Architecture – works to design decisions just-in-time, from the technical lead, is pragmatic on delivering just for the story, whilst meeting architectural constraints/standards
Performance Optimization – improves performance of the product to meet constraints
Reporting – produces automated quality metrics and trends to the project manager / technical lead
No Bugs – ensures working production quality code, creates new automated tests for each bug fixed
Identify and build developer tests that cover required behavior of the technical components
Version Control – works to and upholds the team practices of source control
Build – The product builds (and deploys) all features at all times
Documentation –Produces the required supporting documentation
Release Planning – assists the PM and technical lead in planning releases
Planning – Supports the production of technical estimation and calibration
Test-Driven Development – Works to the practice of TDD, produces automated unit, integration and acceptance tests, contributes to the development of test cases
Acceptance Tests – Runs automated acceptance tests to demonstrate production quality code
Refactoring – ensures that code gets better each day

Accountability/Responsibility

Responsible for:

Automated Acceptance Tests
Coding Standards
Development Tasks
Implementation
Release Note
Supporting Documentation

Special Requirements :
Prime Role Location:

Role Requirements

The skills and experience needed to fulfill the programmer role depend upon the technical complexity of the development, but to play the role, to at least some degree you must:

Understand XP and Scrum; pair programming
Be experienced in agile software development
Be experienced in agile practices
Be experienced in the domain of the application
Be experienced in requirements management
Have good negotiation skills and be able to work with the stakeholders
Have effective presentation and communication skills
Be adaptable to change, especially being able to adapt to new events and recover from wrong decisions
Be objective in accepting work and communicating deadlines
Be proficiently technical to understand the technical risks and architectural issues in order to support the prioritization of design/architecture evolution
Share the architectural vision but be pragmatic in the scoping and implementation of plans and scrupulously honest in the assessment of outcomes
Be focused on the delivery of customer value in the form of executing software that meets (or exceeds) the customers needs
Be experienced in automated build and deployment and continuous integration
Be experienced in modern software languages and extremely capable in code refactoring
Be motivated in the relentless drive of perfect code
Experienced in java technologies

Success Measures

Delivery (or exceeding delivery) of business value in each iteration for each story
Improving (each day) code quality through refactoring
Improving product quality through demonstration of quality metrics
Successful sign-off of developed stories through high-quality interaction with stakeholders
Sound design decisions, through demonstrations to peers and the technical lead
Reuse of sound ideas (not necessarily code) and the sharing of sound ideas and practices
Delivery meeting non functional requirements, and as such the most efficient means of testing and implementation (of NFR’s)
Zero-defect for iteration release
Product successfully version controlled in line with team source control standards
Software successfully auto builds and deploys
Software product performs as expected and the performance is understood

To Apply

Please send all CV’s to recruitment@thehutgroup.com

No Agencies please

Warehouse Apprentice

BeccyC — Wed, 21 Sep 2011 14:08:14 +0000

The Hut Group are currently recruiting for several apprenticeship opportunities within our Warehouse in Appleton near Warrington.

With an Apprenticeship you can earn while you’re learning and gain recognised qualifications as you work. For further information about Apprenticeships please look at www.apprenticeships.org.uk

Full in house training will be provided by The Hut Group, together with gaining NVQ Level 2 in Warehousing and the opportunity to secure a permanent position with the business. Duties may include picking and packing, returns, stock control and goods in.

Preferably applicants are to have GCSE in Maths and English at Grade A-C however this is not essential. Applicants should have a passion for ecommerce/website technology and logistics.

To apply please send your CV to

recruitment@thehutgroup.com

PLEASE MARK THE SUBJECT LINE WITH WAREHOUSE APPRENTICESHIP