About the job

Job summary

This position is based Nationally

Job description

We encourage applications from people from all backgrounds and aim to have a workforce that represents the wider society that we serve. We pride ourselves on being an employer of choice. We champion diversity, inclusion and wellbeing and aim to create a workplace where everyone feels valued and a sense of belonging. To find out more about how we do this visit: https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/ministry-of-justice/about/equality-and-diversity.

Job Title:               Commercial Manager                 

Job Grade:            Senior Executive Officer   

Reporting to:         Senior Commercial Manager       

Job Location:        National

Contract Type:        Permanent

Business Area:       MOJ – Commercial & Contract Management Department

 Type of role:           Procurement, Contract Management, Commercial

 Working pattern: Flexible working, Full-time

 Number of Posts: 2

About the department 

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 £7.5bn a year and manages over 1600 active contracts, all of which are sourced and managed by CCMD. We are running some of the most groundbreaking 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.

 Scope

Portfolio – People Services Category

We have an exciting opportunity for two Commercial Managers to join our People Services category. The People Services Team sits within Core Goods and Services and our contracts cover the Ministry of Justice and its Arm’s Length Bodies. This team manages a range of contracts, for services that include:

• Occupational Health, Employee Assistance Programme, Eyecare
• Employee Benefits
• Learning and Development
• Apprenticeships
• Permanent Recruitment

As a Commercial Manager, you will deliver procurement and contract management activities to achieve commercial outcomes across the business. Working within a fast-paced environment, you will bring excellent communication and organisational skills to ensure contracts are working effectively, and stakeholder relationships are managed appropriately. The category involves working with a wide and diverse set of stakeholders and suppliers which cover some really unique and niche requirements.

The postholder will be required to work across the category on various projects and contracts. Learning and Development is the largest sub-category, examples of these contracts include Counter Terrorism training, Polygraph training and Graduate Schemes for His Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service. The postholder may have Line Management responsibilities for an Assistant Commercial Manager.

The category is a team of 10 people who are based in Leeds, South Tyneside and Newport. The postholder can be based at any of the national offices. We currently work on a hybrid basis (however this could be subject to change).

Key Responsibilities

Commercial Managers have an opportunity to create real difference and contribute to public service, with the associated development exposure this brings. Key responsibilities include:

• Leading end to end sourcing including pre-procurement activity, strategy development, market engagement and producing the invitation to tender pack (including specification, technical and financial evaluation and contract drafting)
• Leading contract implementation and management activity, working closely with stakeholders to deliver mobilisation, performance management, contract variation, negotiation and exit activity
• Strategy development at contract level, using business acumen and market insight to drive commercial opportunities to deliver continuous improvement, value for money and/or savings
• Analysing market, spend and performance data and presenting this to support commercial activity and reporting requirements
• Leading conflict and issue resolution with suppliers and stakeholders, seeking support from the Senior Commercial Manager where appropriate
• Supporting the Senior Commercial Manager and leading on activities which support the development of category management procedures
• Ensuring compliance with governance, legislative and policy requirements as appropriate
• Line management responsibilities for an Assistant Commercial Manager

Person Specification

Essential Criteria:

• Procurement experience
• Awareness of public sector procurement regulations (PCR 2015)
• An understanding of Contract Management principles
• Experience of identifying savings
• Experience of developing excellent stakeholder management skills
• Excellent written and oral communication skills
• Team player that is able to lead by example

Desirable Criteria:

• Experience using Jaggaer (e-sourcing platform)
• Experience of Oracle systems (payment system)
• Line Management experience

Application stage (Sifting):

An initial sift will be performed against the following elements:

Experience:

• CV
• Statement of Suitability (500 words)

If shortlisted, you’ll be invited to an interview and will be assessed on the selected success profile elements at the interview stage. Please carry a valid proof of Id that has your photo on it (passport, BRP, driving licence etc) at the interview.

Interview stage:

There is one interview stage for this vacancy and as part of the interview process you will be required to provide evidence on the following:

Behaviours:

• Communicating & Influencing
• Making Effective Decisions
• Delivering at Pace
• Managing a Quality Service

Technical:

• Procurement Experience

Please use STAR approach to structure your examples.

• Situation – Describe the situation you found yourself in and what happened.
• Task – The Hiring Manager will want to understand what you tried to achieve from the situation that you found yourself in.
• Action – What actions did you take and how did you do it. Make sure to use “I”, not “we” to explain how your actions lead to a result.
• Result – Use facts and statistics to demonstrate the results that your actions produced. Explain whether it was a successful outcome, and if not, what you learned from the experience.

Further information on the Success profile elements can be found on Success Profiles - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

New entrants are expected to join on the pay minimum. Higher starting salary and / or Recruitment & Retention Allowance (RRA) may be available for successful candidates with exceptional skills and experience.

We will consider applications from non-qualified candidates, who are willing to develop and work towards a recognised qualification in order to meet the full requirements of the role.

The specialist allowance may apply to qualified applicants with a commercial professional qualification, for example, CIPS, World CC etc.

Further details can be provided during the recruitment process.

Person specification

Please refer to Job Description

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £39,868, Ministry of Justice contributes £10,804 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides.

Things you need to know

Selection process details

This vacancy is using Success Profiles (opens in a new window), and will assess your Behaviours, Experience and Technical skills.https://justicejobs.tal.net/vx/candidate/cms/About%20the%20MOJ

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.