About the job

Job summary

Our transport system touches the lives of everyone in this country: it reunites families; takes millions of people to work every day; enables holidays; and keeps fresh food on the shelves of our supermarkets.  The government’s manifesto contains commitments, including investment, to improve transport infrastructure across the country. This is an incredibly exciting time to work for the Department for Transport (DfT).

The Department has a wide and varied agenda ranging from the delivery of large infrastructure projects such as High-Speed Rail, East West Rail and Lower Thames Crossing, through to shaping future transport innovations such as drones and driverless cars as well as developing airport capacity. 

In the UK there is an unprecedented public-sector infrastructure and construction capital programme, for spend of more than £500 Billion. About half of the whole construction demand in the UK is for the transport sector and it is managed and delivered through the DfT Group.

The Department for Transport (DfT) works with our Agencies, Arm’s Length Bodies and partners to support the transport network that helps the UK’s businesses and gets people and goods travelling around the country. We plan and invest in transport infrastructure to keep the UK on the move.

This Commercial Assurance Lead role presents a fantastic opportunity for a commercial professional to engage and influence, through commercial assurance, commercial arrangements for the nation’s major transport infrastructure projects.

In addition, there are opportunities to contribute to significant Supply Chain Management initiatives across the DfT Group and step outside of the Assurance role to support front line commercial delivery on major projects in road and rail.

The role will help the successful candidate build their commercial career and enhance their CV through involvement in complex, high value transport infrastructure projects.

The role sits within the Group Commercial Directorate, specifically in the Commercial Lifecycle Assurance (CLA) & Supply Chain Management (SCM) team and is a fantastic opportunity to become involved with our major projects and supply chains and to help ensure delivery of effective commercial strategies in support of UK growth.

Job description

The Department for Transport (DfT) works with our Agencies, Arm’s Length Bodies and partners

to support the transport network that helps the UK’s businesses and gets people and goods travelling around the country. We plan and invest in transport infrastructure to keep the UK on the move.

This Commercial Assurance Lead role presents a fantastic opportunity for a commercial professional to engage and influence, through commercial assurance, commercial arrangements for the nation’s major transport infrastructure projects.

In addition, there are opportunities to contribute to significant Supply Chain Management initiatives across the DfT Group and step outside of the Assurance role to support front line commercial delivery on major projects in road and rail.

The role will help the successful candidate build their commercial career and enhance their CV through involvement in complex, high value transport infrastructure projects.

The role sits within the Group Commercial Directorate, specifically in the Commercial Lifecycle Assurance (CLA) & Supply Chain Management (SCM) team and is a fantastic opportunity to become involved with our major projects and supply chains and to help ensure delivery of effective commercial strategies in support of UK growth.

The culture within DfT is friendly, welcoming and supportive. One of our strategic priorities is “Be an Excellent Department”, which entails:

• Striving to be the best we can be.
• Delivering the best outcomes for the travelling public.
• Being a department that continuously improves its delivery, and where people feel well supported, are able to reach their potential and enjoy working.

Locations
The successful candidate(s) will be able to agree a contractual workplace from those locations listed in this advert. When selecting your location listed in this job advert please be aware that this will be your contractual base location with a requirement to spend a minimum of 60% of your working time in this organisational workplace.

Your time spent on official duties at workplace locations other than your contractual office such as supplier, customer or partner locations required to perform your role is included in the 60% attendance.

This requirement will however take into consideration any reasonable adjustments agreed upon appointment for people with a disability, flexibilities agreed for those with specific caring responsibilities, or other similar temporary flexibilities.

Person specification

• Lead and support the delivery of commercial assurance of a portfolio of Projects across the DfT Group, including its Arm’s Length Bodies and Agencies
• Identify commercial risks and present solutions to key stakeholders
• Engage with and influence senior commercial leaders on approaches to development, implementation and management of complex commercial arrangements and risks across the Department and with wider Government
• Manage the interface between Projects and the Department for Transport’s Commercial Assurance Board, including providing assurance briefings to the Board, and managing the outcomes of the Board’s decisions
• Constructively challenge commercial approaches at Governance Boards
• Maintain a forward look of the commercial assurance pipeline
• Capture and share lessons learned across the commercial community
• Support Supply Chain Management colleagues to identify market risks, and utilise supply chain intelligence in assurance reviews
• Review complex, high value business cases as part of the Commercial Centre of Excellence function, and to provide briefings to the Commercial Director prior to endorsement decisions
• Ensure alignment between progressive assurance and Commercial Assurance Board (CAB) reviews
• Provide reports on assurance activity and commercial considerations for each project
• Maintain a tracker for each assurance project to produce a formal review (CAB and Business Case) and approval (Investment Portfolio Delivery Committee – IPDC) stages history

Benefits

As a valued employee of the Government Commercial Organisation (GCO), you will have access to all the benefits the centre has to offer; including flexible working, generous benefits, Career Coaches, Mentors, L&D, a Commercial College, active talent management and, most importantly, access to commercial projects that will far exceed the scale and complexity on offer elsewhere in the UK.

For existing Civil Servants:  For full details of the impact on any move across the civil service on your existing terms and conditions, please read the candidate pack.  Please note that any move across the Civil Service may have implications on your ability to continue to claim childcare vouchers. 

Things you need to know

Selection process details

This vacancy is using Success Profiles (opens in a new window), and will assess your Experience and Technical skills.

Please be advised that the Virtual ADC is taking place on 1st August 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.

Security

Successful candidates must undergo a criminal record check. People working with government assets must complete baseline personnel security standard (opens in new window) checks.

Nationality requirements

This job is broadly open to the following groups:

• UK nationals
• nationals of the Republic of Ireland
• nationals of Commonwealth countries who have the right to work in the UK
• nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities with settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS) (opens in a new window)
• nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities who have made a valid application for settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS)
• individuals with limited leave to remain or indefinite leave to remain who were eligible to apply for EUSS on or before 31 December 2020
• Turkish nationals, and certain family members of Turkish nationals, who have accrued the right to work in the Civil Service

Further information on nationality requirements (opens in a new window)

Working for the Civil Service

The Civil Service Code (opens in a new window) sets out the standards of behaviour expected of civil servants.

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). The Civil Service embraces diversity and promotes equal opportunities. As such, we run a Disability Confident Scheme (DCS) for candidates with disabilities who meet the minimum selection criteria. The Civil Service also offers a Redeployment Interview Scheme to civil servants who are at risk of redundancy, and who meet the minimum requirements for the advertised vacancy.