About the job

Job summary

The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) is a major government department, at the heart of the justice system. Responsible for courts, prisons and probation services, we work to ensure sentences are served and offenders are given rehabilitation opportunities to become law-abiding citizens.

The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) has one of the largest and most complex spend profiles in central government. The Commercial and Contract Management Directorate (CCMD) is responsible for coordinating procurement and contract management across the MoJ, its agencies and non-departmental public bodies. 

The MoJ spends £3.5bn a year and manages over 1000 active contracts, all of which are sourced and managed by CCMD. We are running some of the most ground-breaking programmes such as Prison Reform and His Majesty’s Courts and Tribunal Service Reform. The scope of our contracts ranges from building, maintenance and the operation of Prisons, Courts and Young Offender establishments through to food for prison dogs. The directorate also buys and manages contracts for feeding up to 80,000 prisoners, the secure escorting of prisoners from numerous establishments based around the country and translation services. 

CCMD is organised into category teams, each with an interesting portfolio of contracts and diverse customers and suppliers to manage. We also have systems, programme management office, supplier relationship and risk management teams who work across all areas.

We have an exciting opportunity for a Senior Commercial Manager to join our Probation Services Commercial Team where they will have the opportunity to lead key elements of sourcing in relation to the Probation programme. This role provides an excellent opportunity to develop your commercial skillset in a fast-paced and complex environment, whilst contributing to the delivery of a high-profile service aimed at reducing reoffending in our society.

We are seeking an individual who will have a desire to take ownership and bring new ideas, with a commitment to continuous improvement, collaboration and knowledge sharing. Most importantly we are looking for people with the right personal qualities – enthusiasm, energy, proactivity, collaborative, prepared to work as part of a team and under their own initiative and to be flexible and adaptable in a demanding environment.

Job description

The Probation Services Commercial team in CCMD’s Rehabilitation Services portfolio lead the end-to-end strategy, sourcing, and management of the current and future probation services. The team is split into two areas:

• Probation Business Partnering & Contract Management (BAU) 
• Probation Sourcing 

Both roles being advertised are within the probation sourcing area. 

These roles offer an exciting opportunity to join the senior leadership team within the sourcing team. Postholders be working in a complex high-profile environment dealing with a variety of stakeholders across Probation regions and central teams with a focus on reducing future reoffending in our society. It should be known that the team are currently working on the recommissioning of the Probation core services so the individual will be a key leader in supporting and delivering the £0.5bn spend programme. 

You will be required to work in partnership with your peers within the team to ensure alignment across the programme. It is an imperative part of the role and fundamental to its success. Additionally, the successful individuals will work closely with the Probation BAU commercial team to support wider agendas and direction.

These roles will offer the ability to learn and develop at pace in an exciting landscape with multiple stakeholder requirements.

This role is to provide excellent leadership to a vibrant sourcing team delivering a pipeline of procurements across the Probation service.

Person specification

• Leading and developing a team of commercial colleagues across various grades.
• Supporting the development of future framework requirements.
• Management and responsibility of the Probation Dynamic Framework (DF).
• Management and responsibility of the Probation Grants portal.
• Responsible for commercial activities for all call-off competitions via the DF.
• Ensuring all procurements via the team deliver value for money for regional and central stakeholders. 
• Comply with all departmental controls relating to commercial practice and otherwise, including strict adherence to delegated authorities, and ensure that staff do the same.
• Development of key senior relationships across the Probation Services portfolio and within the wider stakeholder remit.
• Ensuring all contracts and grants are approached with commercial acumen and bigger picture thinking to achieve the most appropriate solution for our stakeholders.
• Effectively work with the Probation BAU team to drive requirements for stakeholders.

Individual responsibilities:

• Strong leadership capability, an ability to lead and inspire confidence in your direct team and across the wider category. 
• Experience of identifying process improvements and successfully manage changes that deliver great Commercial outcomes. 
• Credibility and ability to influence Senior Internal and External stakeholders. 
• Procurement knowledge that has delivered strong Commercial outcomes. 
• Well-developed business acumen and commercial judgement and ability to problem solve to meet business needs 

It will be advantageous if candidates have an understanding of procurement sector procurement legislation, have experience of identifying risk and have developed mitigation strategies. The role will involve working with a wide range of stakeholders in both the public and private sector, so strong communication skills are essential.

CIPS level 4 would be desirable or a willingness to work towards the qualification.

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 13th 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.