Commercial Lead
Government Commercial Function
Apply before 11:55 pm on Sunday 19th May 2024
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About the job
Job summary
In DHSC, we are proud of our purpose – to enable everyone to live more independent, healthier lives for longer. To achieve this, and create a great place to work, we have four values: we are inclusive, we constantly improve, we challenge, and we are agile. If this sounds like an environment you’d like to work in, we’d love to hear from you.
The Commercial Directorate is a strategic and enabling function that supports all DHSC’s commercial interactions with third parties and supporting ministers in delivering their agenda. Our mission is to ensure that health and care policy is implemented at best value for the taxpayer.
We do this by leading and overseeing the department’s direct commercial activity, implementing commercial policies across DHSC and its arm length bodies, and acting as advisors to the Secretary of State. Our vision is to provide a world-class commercial service to enable the health and care system to deliver for the public – we aim to be the best in government commercial for technical expertise and customer focus.
The Commercial Operations team, where this role sits, is a unit within the Commercial Directorate responsible for the department’s direct spend. Split into three primary categories, the ‘Ops’ team drives value for the department via a category management approach across the whole commercial lifecycle.
Job description
The role of the Commercial Lead within our Commercial Operations team is to provide category, procurement, contract / supplier management, and stakeholder leadership to the department and the wider health family across a range of spend areas/categories.
The successful candidate will be responsible for category leadership in the Digital Data and Technology (DDaT) space, with specific ownership of certain sub-categories. This category leadership activity will encompass the entire commercial lifecycle.
The role will also involve leadership, with the post holder managing a team of practitioners who will deliver the majority of procurement and contract management activity, under the post holder’s guidance.
The post holder will work in collaboration with key business stakeholders, Arm’s Length Bodies (ALBs), the NHS and other Government Departments to provide strong commercial advice and support and deliver end-to-end commercial solutions that meet the business need whilst ensuring the best possible value for money. Engagement with the ALBs and NHS is particularly important, to facilitate value-driven collaboration across health and care.
The post holder will be expected to work a minimum of 60% of time away from home. This can include office attendance, or any other work-related activity such as supplier visits, stakeholder visits, or external meetings/conferences.
Person specification
- Manage the lifecycle of large, complex contracts (existing and new) across the category, and the commercial management of key suppliers.
- Provide consistent and clear commercial advice and guidance to internal and external stakeholders and being a key point of contact to the business for the Commercial Group.
- Become a DDaT category expert, driving category leadership to enable more intelligent and strategic commercial management.
- Provide full commercial support for sub-£10m projects; for £10m+/complex projects, the successful candidate will work with our Commercial Assurance team to develop the strategy (but the successful candidate will retain ultimate commercial ownership and responsibility for the project, as part of their role within Commercial Operations).
- Drive benefits realisation including commercial savings and sustainability outcomes.
- Work collaboratively across the ‘Ops’ team to support and share best practice, alongside the primary category-focused activity.
- Line management / task management of staff and maintain a key role in coaching and developing staff.
- Develop a commercially focused culture within the team and work to develop relationships with key stakeholders to improve commercial understanding across the department.
- Lead Cabinet Office Commercial initiatives and ensure all reporting and milestones are achieved.
- Engage with Health Family oppos within DDaT to drive collaboration and share best practice.
- Take ultimate responsibility for data quality and process adherence within the category and the wider team.
Relevant experience and skills:
- Detailed knowledge of commercial process and approaches – initially this can come from either a procurement or contract management background.
- Excellent communication, relationship and stakeholder management skills.
- Focus on achieving commercial outcomes and delivering value for money.
- Working in a fast-paced environment: identifying opportunities and reprioritising actions based on customer demands, criticality and interdependencies.
- Experience of leading team and developing people.
Technical skills
We'll assess you against these technical skills during the selection process:
- Commercial Focus- Leads on securing value for money through achieving a good return on investment on commercial projects. Influences internal decisions and leads discussions
- Builds Relationships – Manages stakeholders and communicates with impact. Is trusted for commercial advice and is able to put technical considerations in plain language for stakeholders
- Coaching Manager – Builds Confidence in team, encouraging them to develop and improve. Understands, at local level, the team’s strengths, skills gaps and actively seeks to build capacity
- Procurement Process - Advises on and applies procurement policies, processes and governance mechanisms. Develops and publishes a full and approved bidder’s pack in line with financial and contractual delegations
- Contract and Supply Management - Holds both suppliers and customers accountable for living up to their contractual commitments. Resolves disputes effectively and efficiently
Benefits
Please note that any move across the Civil Service on or after 4 October 2018 may have implications on an employee’s ability to carry on claiming childcare vouchers.
Things you need to know
Selection process details
Please be advised that the Virtual ADC is taking place on 3rd June 2024 and will require a full day's attendance.
If you are invited to attend a virtual ADC, but for any reason are unable to meet the date outlined then please get in touch with the team at commercialresourcinghub@cabinetoffice.gov.uk as soon as possible. The ADC is booked and paid for in advance by departments, therefore it is only in certain circumstances we are able to accommodate alternative dates.
Details of schemes available are attached in the advert.
For full details of our process, and a likely timeline, please read the explanation provided in the attached candidate pack.
Throughout our selection process, we will make decisions about your capability to do the job, based on evidence you provide against the essential criteria for the role which are detailed in the attached Candidate Pack.
Your application will be reviewed by a panel and should you be successful at sift we will invite you to attend a Virtual commercial Assessment and Development Centre (VADC). The panel will review results of the VADC and determine which candidates will go through to a subsequent final panel interview.
IMPORTANT: If you do not receive an acknowledgement of your application within 2 working days please contact: commercialresourcinghub@cabinetoffice.gov.uk
Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.
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Working for the Civil Service
We recruit by merit on the basis of fair and open competition, as outlined in the Civil Service Commission's recruitment principles (opens in a new window).
Diversity and Inclusion
Apply and further information
Contact point for applicants
Job contact :
- Name : Hayley Parfitt
- Email : commercialresourcinghub@cabinetoffice.gov.uk
Recruitment team
- Email : commercialresourcinghub@cabinetoffice.gov.uk
Further information
