About the job

Job summary

Building a strong Commercial Function in Government, and with it the right commercial capability, is at the heart of a far-reaching programme of Civil Service reform.

We are building a cadre of commercial talent in all Government departments; people who can manage our commercial portfolios, who can lead our most complex and novel programmes and projects, people who have the gravitas and depth of experience to work alongside our policy and operational leaders to develop innovative commercial arrangements, whether through joint ventures, outsourcing or best-in-class contracts.

The Government Commercial Organisation is an employer which is truly committed to creating a welcoming, inclusive workplace where all our people are able to bring their whole selves to work and are able to perform to their potential. We understand the importance of diversity and inclusion and strive for a workplace that reflects the communities which we serve. We especially welcome applications from underrepresented groups including Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic candidates, candidates with a disability and candidates with gender-diverse identities. Appointments will be made on merit on the basis of fair and open competition.

We have already made significant progress through the establishment of the Government Commercial Organisation (GCO), our single employer of senior commercial talent across government. This role will sit within the GCO, but based in our BDUK commercial team delivering departmental objectives.

Job description

This senior commercial finance role sits at the heart of our commercial team who are tasked with overseeing the commercial activities involved with the deploying of gigabit capable broadband across the UK. The successful candidate will be managing a small team, so the ability to successfully lead and upskill a small team will be a big part of this role.

It’s a brilliant opportunity for those candidates with strong finance / or commercial skills, who are looking to broaden their experience. For example, you may be a commercial finance professional, looking to gain more exposure to procurement / contract management activities or you may be a commercial candidate looking to upskill their financial management skills. 
Whilst an awareness of the telecoms marketplace and competition regulations would be advantageous, what is more critical is an ability to effectively partner with a wide range of stakeholders.

The successful candidate will have the opportunity to enhance relationships with senior internal and external stakeholders, and will be needed to provide commercial analysis to help others make the most effective commercial decisions.

We are particularly keen to hear from candidates that have a strong appreciation of how investment & appraisal techniques can be used throughout the commercial lifecycle. 

Person specification

• Supporting BDUK stakeholders, suppliers and delivery partners to understand the effectiveness of value for money processes both on individual contracts / projects and across products and programmes

• Conduct analysis of supplier pricing and performance and programme performance to ensure that public funding is providing value for money

• Coordinate activities to carry out value for money assurance at each stage of a project’s life-cycle, including during the PCR procurement process, upon contract change, and contract reconciliation/closure

• Lead negotiations with national suppliers

• Analyse existing contract financial mechanisms and models to identify areas for improvement and support the development of new ones

• Collect, manage and analyse programme VFM data, defining and refining reporting and carrying out bespoke analysis; for example establishing deployment cost benchmarks in different geographies at different scales for different suppliers, solutions and programmes

• Share value for money knowledge and insight to support programme decision making within BDUK and policy development within DCMS

• Support the development of new tools to help suppliers and citizens understand the cost of bringing connectivity to unserved areas, working with analyst teams and IT/Data as required to identify opportunities, define requirements and develop and test prototypes

• Support the development of BDUK’s commercial strategy through robust, evidence-based analysis

• Provide coaching and development support to more junior members of the team

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 26th February and will require a full day's attendance. Please contact commercialresourcinghub@cabinetoffice.gov.uk in advance if you are unable to attend this date.

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.