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 UK Health Security Agency commercial team delivering departmental objectives.

Job description

This is an exciting time to join the UK Health Security Agency. UKHSA is a relatively new agency, established to protect the UK against infectious disease and other health security threats.  We were central to the response to Covid-19 and Mpox and deliver all except one of the UK’s national immunisation campaigns.  We are building the capability to protect the UK against new and emerging threats, including future pandemics, utilising state-of-the-art technologies and ground-breaking capabilities in data analytics, vaccine development and genomic surveillance.

The Commercial Directorate is at the heart of everything UKHSA does. 80% of the agency’s budget is spent through commercial partners.  We maintain a complex ecosystem of contracts and partnerships that enable the agency to respond to current and emerging health challenges.  We procure, store and distribute vaccines for all except one of the UK’s national immunisation campaigns and maintain capability to respond to chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear threats. We manage business development partnerships that drive innovation and generate income to support core UKHSA capabilities.

Person specification

We are now recruiting for Commercial Leads to join our Commercial Sourcing & Delivery Team, with roles available in the following commercial sub-teams: 

• Science .

• Workforce and Corporate.

• Digital and Technology.

• Vaccines and Countermeasures.

The successful candidate may deliver some or all of the following activities:  

Pre-Sourcing & Sourcing:

• Responsible for helping to establish and maintain a category management structure within Commercial Function. This covers the totality of the procurement life cycle and will result in best-in-class procurement and contract management processes based upon the candidate’s commercial and category expertise. 

• Provide specialist category expertise to enable delivery of creative and innovative market leading commercial solutions.  

• Assist with development and delivery of the commercial category strategy including planning, governance and performance management. Perform procurement reporting and analysis of management information to identify improvement opportunities. 

• Support and input into a progressive commercial strategy for the specification, procurement and management of all contracted and outsourced activity.  

• Ensure agreed category cost savings, efficiencies and value add targets are delivered.  

• Support the management of the investment approval processes for UKHSA.

• Responsible for cascading guidance and direction on commercial principles and good practice and ensuring the correct application of commercial rules and principles apply when delivering UKHSA business.

• Ensure business continuity and that robust contingencies are in place for critical delivery.  

• Support the development of key documentation including business cases and tender documentation.  

• Negotiate Commercial Agreements with third parties, coordinating interfaces and integrating across contracts and suppliers.  

• Support with the development and creation of contracts.  

• Take some responsibility for the performance of suppliers and manage underperformance to resolution. This includes supporting mediation and dispute resolution. 

• Support with transition management, exit strategy and contract renegotiations including driving value from the use of performance metrics and success criteria.

Contract Management: 

• Deliver and embed UKHSA’s Contract Management processes and procedures, in line with the Government Commercial Organisation (GCO) Standards.  

• Lead, support or create opportunities to improve performance and value across all classified contracts.  

• Managing aspects of the delivery of the UKHSA Commercial contract management including contract performance management, contract variation and amendments, and ensuring contracts deliver against scope.  

• Manage aspects of Contract negotiations and renewals. 

• Manage aspects of Contract disputes and issues and liaise with the Legal Team.  

• Supporting development and management of Commercial contracts, ensuring they are up to date and compliant.  

• Develop and maintain expert knowledge of respective supplier markets and understand how their categories are evolving in the market to provide expert advice on relevant regulation and compliance issues.  

• Supporting to deliver and embed robust Supplier Relationship Management processes and procedures, in line with GCO Standards.  

Process, Policy and Risk Management: 

• Manage Commercial contribution to all Change Requests and Project Requests.  

• Maintain comprehensive audit trails and justifications for price control.  

• Support, implement, and maintain adherence to the department’s risk management framework. 

• Oversee risk register to ensure risk owners across all levels of the department manage risks and put relevant controls in.  

• Engage with staff at all levels as appropriate to ensure that risk management remains visible, accessible, proportionate and relevant to all those involved in decision-making.  

• Lead on continuous improvement activity, supporting the design and implementation of new policies and procedures in line with Commercial best practice.  

• Ensure that effective financial management arrangements are in place for all contracts. This includes financial monitoring, budgetary controls, approving invoices and generally establishing financial control arrangements which provide absolute assurance that the financial terms of the contract are met including responsibility for any adjustments or deductions as applicable. 

Leadership:  

• Continue to create an inclusive and collaborative culture within the team. Build confidence, encouraging the team to develop and improve. 

• Understand the team’s strengths, skill gaps and individual career aspirations, and actively seek to build capability.  

• Promote knowledge and resource sharing within the team.  

• Manage stakeholders and communicate with impact, using different communication styles depending upon the needs of the particular audience. 

• Is trusted for commercial advice and is able to put technical considerations in plain language for stakeholders.  

• Adapt quickly to different environments and use different communication styles depending upon the needs of the audience.

  

• Works with stakeholders and communicates standards to eliminate corruption, fraud and unethical behaviour in supply chains, taking appropriate actions in the event of any alleged breach of standards. 

Desirable criteria: 

• Experience in public sector procurement is highly desirable. 

• Experience in the creation and use of framework agreements.

• Demonstrable experience of working, procuring or contracting in the pharmaceutical industry (desirable for candidates joining the Vaccines & Countermeasures sub-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 5th 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.