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 HMRC commercial team delivering departmental objectives.

Job description

As a Senior Commercial Advisor, you will work as a part of a team providing a holistic commercial service to HMRC Major Programmes. You will build and maintain stakeholder relationships with SRO’s and Programme Directors across HMRC Programme(s), providing specialist Commercial advice in alignment with functional standards (GovS-008). Additionally ensuring best practice commercial approaches such as value for money through competition, market engagement, outcome-based requirements, make versus buy, should cost modelling in line with the Sourcing Playbook.

You will develop effective Commercial models by constructively challenging requirements and providing innovative solutions to ensure the Programmes we support can deliver effectively and realise the expected benefits.

You will work closely with existing Pre-award teams, including sourcing to manage Programme requirements across the Commercial lifecycle to ensure market intelligence and category expertise are incorporated into Programme decision making, and all Commercial activities are appropriately aligned to relevant Category Plans.

You will identify and maintain a forward pipeline of Commercial requirements for the relevant Programme(s), ensuring that the Sourcing team have early visibility of forthcoming activity and to give Senior Leaders confidence that they have access to high quality commercial arrangements aligned to the needs of their Programme.

We would be particularly interested in candidates who can demonstrate a track record in:

• procurement of SaaS/PaaS and/or outsourced solutions and negotiation of contracts in public sector procurement;
• experience of commercial business partnering to enable major change; and/or
• using lean, agile or continuous improvement techniques to deliver innovative commercial solutions.

Person specification

• Development of commercial strategies for inclusion with Programme Business Cases that fully meet customer requirements. You will drive delivery and execution of the commercial strategy to achieve value for money and deliver wider commercial benefits for Major Government Programmes

• Build strategic relationships with Senior Responsible Officers, Programme & Project Directors, Finance Directors and Project Managers to understand their desired business outcomes. Providing sound commercial advice and the right level of constructive challenge to stakeholders to ensure the commercial strategy within Business Cases secures investment approval

• Work flexibly across the Transformation Groups Programme Portfolio to add value at all stages of the Programme lifecycle including early market engagement, commercial strategy development, service mobilisation and ensuring effective issue resolution

• To ensure that commercial processes applied to the Programme are executed in a manner that is compliant and consistent adding value to its customers

• To ensure best in class supply chains are in place for Programmes which deliver best value and performance in-life

• Drive continuous improvement and ensure an innovative, risk-based and agile approach to commercial is consistently applied within Programmes

• To ensure Programme plans and strategies are appropriately aligned and incorporated across the relevant sub-category strategies

• Develop cross-functional collaboration upstream, with Category teams and downstream, with Commercial Contract Management to provide category and market insight into Programmes – using expertise & knowledge across wider Commercial Directorate teams

• To develop customer relationships and build a forecast of demand for commercial services and to work collaboratively with commercial colleagues to plan and execute the related commercial work in your Programmes

• Delivering measurable and significant commercial results including cost savings and other indirect benefits

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 27th March 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.