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 division, where this role sits, is a unit within the Commercial Directorate responsible for the department’s direct spend. Split into three primary category teams plus a central business planning & MI team, the ‘Ops’ division drives value for the department via a category management approach across the whole commercial lifecycle.

We look forward to reading your application. 

Job description

This is a newly scoped and strategically important role within DHSC Commercial Directorate (CD) and has been designed to act as the main conduit between senior business stakeholders and commercial, ensuring they receive the best possible advice and customer service from the commercial function and providing a consistent contact for them to engage with across the commercial lifecycle.

The role of the Commercial Business Partner (CBP) is to perform a dedicated customer relationship management role aligned with key business directorates to provide a consistent and known initial route into CD, develop deeper relationships and guide stakeholders through the full lifecycle of commercial processes and structures.

The post holder will work in close collaboration with key senior business stakeholders (from departmental managers through to senior directors) as well as to provide strong commercial advice and support across the commercial lifecycle.

How the CBP role will operate

• Be embedded with customer area management teams, developing deep understanding of their policy area and objectives / priorities
• Develop strong customer relationships at all levels
• The CBP will operate as the first port of call for new commercial queries from stakeholders & their teams - to engage & guide customers through commercial processes & to add value and not merely signpost
• Engage with customers at the appropriate level to assist in the development of initiatives to meet customer needs
• Develop a strong understanding of strategic business objectives of policy areas
• Work effectively with relevant teams in CD (particularly the operational category teams) to ensure business directorate requirements and understood, and actively facilitate the delivery of the agreed customer commercial objectives

Person specification

• Work alongside the business stakeholders as a consistent partner, problem-solver and critical friend throughout the commercial lifecycle (particularly in the initial stages)
• Use relationship management / business development skills to identify and deliver a pipeline of commercial opportunities that will support business needs as well as ensuring effective forward planning of commercial activity
• Facilitate early engagement with the relevant parts of Commercial – including category teams, commercial assurance etc
• Provide constructive professional challenge to customers and act as a trusted commercial advisor
• Be a source of advice and guidance on commercial approvals (including business case development, approval routes etc.)
• Ensure the business understands and provides the required service excellence standards and make the customer aware of aspects and limitations of the service being delivered
• Act as a leader and ambassador for Commercial Directorate in client business areas

Relevant Experience & Skills

• Relationship management and business development experience, with multiple stakeholders (through to senior management / executive director levels) - ideally in a government department or blue-chip commercial organisation, demonstrating the ability to form strong relationships between stakeholders and key customer representatives
• An excellent communicator with demonstrable negotiation and influencing skills, who can build and maintain strong relationships ensuring positive reputation management
• The ability to work collaboratively and proactively in a dynamic environment
• A consultancy skill set and approach to working with customers:

1. Diagnostic skills
2. problem identification
3. solution generation
4. recommendation development
5. change management / implementation

• Strong analytical skills to identify customer requirements, with an ability to demonstrate good business judgement when providing solutions
• Resilience with a drive to achieve positive outcomes – as well as being comfortable with ambiguity
• Strong knowledge of core commercial processes across the full commercial lifecycle, including a strong emphasis on understanding the commercial implications of early-stage business requirements as well as approvals and assurance processes

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 4th 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.

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.