About the job

Job summary

The Cabinet Office and HM Treasury operate at the heart of the UK government. These iconic departments are responsible for ensuring the effective running of government, maintaining control over public spending and working to achieve strong and sustainable growth for the UK. 

The Cabinet Office & HM Treasury (COHMT) Commercial team has a vision to be a top performing commercial function in government, setting best practices for others to follow. It offers a unique challenge to commercial professionals who want to work on some of the UK’s most important policy issues. The team works in partnership with all areas of the business, providing a commercial service that covers planning, commercial strategy, sourcing and contract management on circa £1bn of third party spend.

The COHMT Commercial team operates with our core values in mind which are:

We are Curious, Collaborative and Kind, we act with Integrity and are Focused on value for money.

We are looking for multiple Commercial Managers to join our team, who will provide commercial advice and guidance for contracts and all-round commercial support for business unit customers across categories of spend. 

You will have a significant impact delivering policy objectives, strengthening commercial acumen across the departments and ultimately delivering value for taxpayers.

Job description

The COHMT commercial team has recently undergone a change to its operating model and is now organised into spend category teams which are supplemented by business partners and embedded commercial teams in specialist areas and programmes. The directorate is supported by a central team responsible for the overall strategy and enabling functions.  

You will be required to work with senior commercial colleagues to enable the effective management of all commercial activity across your business area through all stages of the procurement lifecycle. 

This could include activities such as advising customers on initial commercial strategy or routes to market, reviewing commercial business cases or advising on contract management issues. 

You will also support customers with commercial planning, building a robust commercial pipeline and ensuring that contract records are accurate and up-to-date.

Key Responsibilities: Provide commercial support to senior commercial staff for new procurement activity and contract and supplier management activities; Work as directed by the Head of Commercial to enable continual improvement and commercial capability development across the business unit and wider department;  Work with customers to develop a commercial pipeline, supporting forward planning for commercial activity; Assist in the review of commercial business cases for business units and support customers in progressing through commercial and spend controls and approvals;  Help business buyers to be intelligent customers to Crown Commercial Service, assisting in procurement planning; Support the management of contracts for the business area and lead on the management of bronze contracts if required; Develop commercial management reports and provide input into other requests for information as required;  Work with customers to maintain accurate commercial records in the Contract Management System (Atamis); Support senior colleagues in raising awareness and understanding of commercial policy among stakeholders across the business area; Contribute to creating a great place to work, championing diversity and inclusive ways of working and proactively participating in improvement activities across the Commercial Directorate.

Person specification

Essential Criteria:

• Previous experience in a commercial and/or contract management role;
• Understanding of commercial management techniques and demonstrable experience of applying them in practice;
• Experience of delivering against multiple priorities and meeting deadlines;
• Experience of building relationships with customers, suppliers and internal stakeholders;
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills;
• Proactive and forward thinking;
• Strong IT skills - Microsoft Excel, Word, Powerpoint.

Additional information:

A minimum 60% of your working time should be spent at your principal workplace. Although requirements to attend other locations for official business will also count towards this level of attendance.

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £35,400, Cabinet Office contributes £9,558 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 and Experience.

Application process

To apply for this role, you will need to provide the following:

• A CV setting out your career history and key skills.
• A statement of suitability of no more than 750 words stating why you are suitable for the role and how you meet the essential criteria stated

Should a large number of applications be received, an initial sift may be conducted using the CV. Candidates who pass the initial sift may be progressed to a full sift, or progressed straight to assessment/interview.

Selection process

If successful at application stage, candidates will be invited for interview. The interview will take place via Google Meet video conferencing. During the interview you will be assessed on 5 Behaviours (Making Effective Decisions, Communicating and Influencing, Working Together, Changing and Improving, Delivering at Pace). You will be expected to give clear examples of previous experience relating to these Behaviours.

Expected timeline (subject to change)
Expected sift date – WC July 8th 2024
Expected interview date/s – July 17th 2024
Interview location - Google Meets (online)

Reasonable Adjustment

If a person with disabilities is put at a substantial disadvantage compared to a non-disabled person, we have a duty to make reasonable changes to our processes. 

If you need a change to be made so that you can make your application, you should: 

Contact Government Recruitment Service via cabinetofficerecruitment.grs@cabinetoffice.gov.uk as soon as possible before the closing date to discuss your needs. 

Complete the ‘Assistance required’ section in the ‘Additional requirements’ page of your application form to tell us what changes or help you might need further on in the recruitment process. For instance, you may need wheelchair access at interview, or if you’re deaf, a Language Service Professional.

Further Information

A reserve list may be held for a period of 12 months from which further appointments can be made.

Any move to DHSC from another employer will mean you can no longer access childcare vouchers. This includes moves between government departments. You may however be eligible for other government schemes, including Tax Free Childcare. Determine your eligibility at https://www.childcarechoices.gov.uk

If successful and transferring from another Government Department a criminal record check may be carried out.

In order to process applications without delay, we will be sending a Criminal Record Check to Disclosure and Barring Service or Disclosure Scotland on your behalf.

However, we recognise in exceptional circumstances some candidates will want to send their completed forms direct. If you will be doing this, please advise Government Recruitment Service of your intention by emailing Pre-EmploymentChecks.grs@cabinetoffice.gov.uk stating the job reference number in the subject heading.

For further information on the Disclosure Scotland confidential checking service telephone: the Disclosure Scotland Helpline on 0870 609 6006 and ask to speak to the operations manager in confidence, or email Info@disclosurescotland.co.uk 

For further information on National Security Vetting please visit the following page https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/demystifying-vetting

Please be aware the levels of national security clearance are changing which may impact on the level needed for this role by the time of appointment. All efforts will be made to keep candidates informed of any changes and what that will mean in terms of vetting criteria. For more information please See our vetting charter 

Applicants who are successful at interview will be, as part of pre-employment screening, subject to a check on the Internal Fraud Database (IFD). This check will provide information about employees who have been dismissed for fraud or dishonesty offences. This check also applies to employees who resign or otherwise leave before being dismissed for fraud or dishonesty had their employment continued. Any applicant’s details held on the IFD will be refused employment. 

A candidate is not eligible to apply for a role within the Civil Service if the application is made within a 5 year period following a dismissal for carrying out internal fraud against government.

New entrants are expected to join on the minimum of the pay band.

This role is full time only. Applicants who wish to work an alternative pattern are welcome to apply however your preferred working pattern may not be available and you should discuss this with the vacancy holder before applying.

Please note terms and conditions are attached. Please take time to read the document to determine how these may affect you.

If you are experiencing accessibility problems with any attachments on this advert, please contact the email address in the 'contact point for applicants' section.

Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.

Security

Successful candidates must undergo a criminal record check. Successful candidates must meet the security requirements before they can be appointed. The level of security needed is counter-terrorist check (opens in a new window).

See our vetting charter (opens in a new window). 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.