About the job

Job summary

This post is based at Abbeywood Bristol.

However, the role may be suitable for hybrid working, which is an informal, non-contractual and voluntary arrangement, blending a balance of attendance in the workplace (your permanent duty station) and working from home as a personal choice. If you are successful, any opportunities for hybrid working will be discussed with you prior to you taking up your post.

Strategic Command is part of the Ministry of Defence (MOD) and is one of 4 Front Line Commands (FLCs) the others being Navy, Air and Army. The Strategic Command Commercial Team are responsible for working closely with their military and civilian colleagues across the UK to deliver innovative commercial solutions to Defence requirements. We play a vital role in supporting Defence by contracting a diverse portfolio of requirements ranging in value and complexity from long term commitments in specialist capability areas to low value short term support contracts from a wide and varied supply-base.

The Strategic Command Commercial Team is comprised of around 100 qualified commercial personnel across several UK and overseas locations who place around 200 contracts a year and manage £4.5bn worth of contracts.

This position is advertised at 37 hours per week.

Strategic Command is going through a significant transformation programme which aims to improve the way the Command conducts its business and delivers for Defence and the nation. As a consequence of this, all posts within Strategic Command Headquarters and in time the wider organisation, are/will be subject to review and potential changes as we continuously improve across the period of the transformation programme. These changes may be minor or could be more substantive and will generate new opportunities. Throughout, the Command’s transformation programme is committed to following the MOD’s framework on managing and supporting people through the change process and places an emphasis on early and open consultation and engagement with the Command’s personnel and Trade Unions.

Job description

Strategic Command Commercial is offering an exciting opportunity for a Commercial Officer to work within Defence Support Chain Operations and Movements (DSCOM) which is a diverse, interesting and high-tempo environment to develop your existing skills whilst delivering professional and essential commercial sourcing and contract management activities to support Strategic Command outputs. Working closely with our military colleagues, you will have the opportunity to make an immediate and significant difference to the lives and wellbeing of Military personnel in the UK and around the world. Although some of the workload is programmed, the nature of the work in Strategic Command dictates that you should expect to work in a dynamic and rapidly changing environment. As part of this role, you will be expected to support the delivery of a professional and effective commercial service to Strategic Command and undertake essential, fast-paced operational procurement and contract management for a range of goods and services within the regulatory framework of both PCR 2015 and DSPCR 2011 Regulations.

Person specification

Responsibilities You will support the commercial team in the management of the existing portfolio of Contracts and will also lead or support in the sourcing and contract award of new tasks and contracts. Key activities include: • Acting as a commercial point of contact for Low Value Procurements using available frameworks and catalogues. • Management of Requisitions, Purchase Orders, Agreements, and the ‘On-Boarding of new Suppliers on CP&F. • Engagement with suppliers and stakeholders. Essential Criteria The successful candidate must provide evidence of CIPS level 4 (or equivalent) or be willing to work towards this by commencing study within one year of appointment.  Additionally, the successful candidate will be expected to undertake and pass the MOD Practitioner Commercial License Assessment.  You must be proficient in the use of Microsoft Office 365 applications.

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £28,300, Ministry of Defence contributes £7,641 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.

Stage 1 - Application

As part of the application process, you will be asked to provide a 1,250-word Personal Statement (to provide a statement of suitability), and a short CV outlining your job history, qualifications and previous skills/experience, relevant to the criteria outlined in this advert.

At Sift, you will be assessed against the following Success Profiles Behaviours:

• Leadership
• Delivering at Pace

At Interview, you will be assessed against the following Success Profiles Behaviours:

• Leadership
• Delivering at Pace
• Communicating and Influencing
• Making Effective Decisions

Reference: Success Profiles - Civil Service Behaviours (publishing.service.gov.uk)

You will be assessed against the following Technical Skills at both Application and Interview:

• Commercial Competency Framework – Sourcing – Executing the Sourcing Strategy (Developing)
• Commercial Competency Framework – Contract Management

Stage 2 – Sift

We will sift all applications week commencing 5th August 2024. We aim to release sift results to applicant’s week commencing 12th August 2024. Depending on the volume of applications, these dates may be subject to change.

Stage 3 – Interviews

All candidates who are successful at the sift stage will be invited to undertake a single virtual video interview which will be conducted via Microsoft Teams and will take around 60 minutes. During the interview we will be asking questions to assess you against the and Commercial Technical Skills as referenced within this advert.  

Interviews are scheduled to take place between 26th August and 30th August 2024. These dates may be subject to change depending on the volume of candidates we have to interview.

The Civil Service embraces diversity and promotes equality of opportunity. There is a Disability Confident Scheme (DCS) for candidates with disabilities who meet the minimum selection criteria. If you need to advise us that you need additional help or reasonable adjustments for the recruitment process, please contact: DBSCivPers-Resourcingteam3@mod.gov.uk .

As a result of the changes to the UK immigration rules which came into effect on 1 January 2021, the Ministry of Defence will only offer sponsorship for a skilled worker visa under the points based system, where a role has been deemed to be business critical.

The role currently being advertised has not been assessed as business critical and is therefore NOT open to applications from those who will require sponsorship under the points based system. Should you apply for this role and be found to require sponsorship, your application will be rejected and any provisional offer of employment withdrawn.

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 security 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.