About the job

Job summary

The purpose of the post is to work alongside the Director of Commercial and Procurement to adopt a contemporary model of procurement that deploys public contracts to secure the greatest possible public value. The post holder will need to understand the potential of procurement to improve outcomes across the Welsh Government and the public sector in Wales.

Procurement is a crucial lever to deliver the Welsh Government’s ambitions for a more prosperous, more equal, and greener nation. The Deputy Director of Procurement will lead this work, driving the future of the profession in Wales, transforming the procurement function within Welsh Government, shaping its procurement policy and delivery, and working across the Welsh Government to support wider policy priorities. This will require strategic leadership, resilience, and direction in innovative and collaborative procurement to maximise public sector spend to develop wider benefits.

The role requires an individual who understands the wider policy agenda, including social value and wider community benefits, and the need to ensure value for money/effectiveness and efficiency. Understanding the pressures and sometimes conflicting objectives; and demonstrating strong collaborative/partnership leadership (internally and externally) will be vital.

The Commercial Procurement Directorate is a cross Welsh Government Directorate and is accountable to the Cabinet Secretary Finance, Constitution and Cabinet Office. The Directorate oversees development of the Welsh Government’s policy for procurement in Wales, providing advice and support to Ministers. It provides leadership to the procurement profession in Wales, as well as having oversight of the Welsh Government’s own procurement policy and practices and a pipeline of collaborative frameworks for the Welsh Public Sector.

Job description

Are you ready to make a meaningful impact on one of the most critical periods of Wales’s future? Your ability to collaborate, innovate, think strategically, show resilience and a focus on delivery are fundamental as we strive to redefine our future. This role will operate in a complex and fast-moving environment, and as Deputy Director for Procurement in the organisation the post holder has responsibility for:

• Effective and robust senior and operational engagement with public sector organisations across Wales to understand needs and translate these into commercial and procurement strategies and practices.
• Ensure there is a significant focus on ‘outcome based’ procurement, demonstrating awareness that it’s not always about the most commercial outcome, but wider social value, that is a key Policy direction of the Welsh Government. With the wider objective of using public spend to drive wider benefits for Wales.
• Leadership, development and motivation of staff, setting standards and values for the organisation. Ensuring effective communications with staff, unions, partners and stakeholders are in place.
• Providing robust, appropriate and considered written and oral advice to Ministers concerning procurement, procurement policy, e-procurement and procurement reform.
• Set the vision and direction, communicating priorities and business plans and ensuring that individual and team objectives are aligned with them. Ensuring that all programmes and projects deliver to time, cost and quality requirements; systematically organising activities, clarifying tasks and responsibilities and making best use of resources.
• Take lead responsibility for developing procurement policy that captures the opportunities of Well-Being of Future Generations Act, the Social Partnership Bill and reflects the Government’s priority to embed fair work, local supply chains and decarbonisation and proactively identify a coherent set of deliverable policy priorities for procurement.
• Contribute to the effective implementation of procurement-related legislation, including the procurement duty in the Social Partnership Bill, working with the wider procurement profession, developing the necessary guidance for public sector procuring authorities and leading the Welsh Government’s own response.
• Deliver a pipeline of collaborative procurement activity across the Welsh Public Sector, maximising wider social value, developing a culture that supports income generation and ensuring there is a collaborative and coordinated approach to income generation activity across the directorate.
• Provide leadership for the Welsh Government’s procurement activities:
  • ensuring that high quality, timely and commercially aware procurement, reflecting best practice, is undertaken.
  • ensuring the necessary skills and resources are developed and applied as appropriate.
  • ensuring that the Welsh Government’s strategy delivers Ministerial procurement policy, maximizing opportunity to support the economy and citizens of Wales.
• Be accountable and compliant with procedural, legal and international obligations and commit to the principles of the Wales Procurement Policy Statement.
• Establish and manage senior client relationship management, including influencing stakeholders across Wales to encourage innovation and to support collaboration and ensuring early engagement on the planning of spend.
• Commitment to champion and mainstream equality, diversity and inclusion, ensuring these commitments are embedded in day-today working practices with all our customers, colleagues and partners.
• Support the delivery of an implementation programme to drive improvements in commercial and procurement capability and outcomes in Wales.
• Build relationships with other parts of the United Kingdom to collaborate on the procurement regime following Procurement Reform.
• Promote procurement in Wales to a wide audience, including through strengthening relationships with the Chartered Institute of Procurement & Supply, UK Government, and the Devolved Administrations.

Person specification

This is a leadership role. The Deputy Director Procurement will be required to be available and visible to staff and will be responsible for embedding the organisation’s procurement strategy and vision. They will act as deputy director for staff across dispersed sites with responsibility for delivering team objectives. The postholder will need to engage regularly and be seen to be the expert for their area within Welsh Government through:

• Demonstrating leadership, knowledge, commitment, and results.
• Being recognised as the WG’s ‘public face’ and focal point for expertise and guidance on procurement through appropriate and active external engagement and involvement.
• Direct line management responsibility for a number of Grade 6’s; Indirect line management responsibility for wider team (approx 50) with a particular focus on developing, managing, monitoring and evaluating performance.
• You should have a proven track record as an effective and inclusive Procurement leader who adopts a coaching style to lead and develop high performing teams at both executive and functional level during times of change and ambiguity. 

 

You will need:

• A strong procurement skill set across the full commercial lifecycle and a track record of delivering successful commercial approaches across a diverse portfolio from complex and innovative multi-year programmes to low risk, low value contracting.
• To understand policy goals that feed into and drive the procurement agenda such as the Wales Procurement Policy Statement (WPPS) and the Well-being of Future Generations (Wales) Act; Social Partnership & Procurement Bill, Economic Sustainability and Equality and Diversity.
• Excellent stakeholder management skills, able to communicate and challenge. Sound written and verbal communication skills in a commercial and strategic setting with the ability to communicate clearly and comprehensively with senior management, senior civil servants and Ministers.
• The ability to understand, apply and optimise proportionality in the commercial approach taken.

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £75,000, Welsh Government contributes £20,250 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

Application Form:

We welcome applications in Welsh and English. Applications in either language will be treated equally. If you have an impairment that would prevent you from applying online, please contact SCSRecruitment@gov.wales to request an alternative format or a reasonable adjustment to submit your application.

CV:

We operate name-free recruitment. The selection panel will not see personal information while shortlisting in line with our commitment to end bias and promote equality and diversity. Please remove your name from your CV and personal statement.

Personal Statement:

Your personal statement should be no more than 1250 words. Please explain how your professional qualifications, skills, qualities and experience meet the essential criteria included in the person specification and how you meet the key behaviours of Leadership, Seeing the Big Picture, Changing & Improving, Communicating & Influencing, Delivering at Pace (Success Profiles) Inputs, assesses and shapes pan-Government polices from a commercial perspective (Strategy and Policy Development (GCF))

The Welsh Government is committed to achieving a workforce that reflects the society it serves – at all levels. You will be asked to confirm some diversity information on your application form. Collecting this information enables us to identify whether we are recruiting from the widest possible pool of talent and check that all groups are being treated fairly throughout the process; this form will not be disclosed to anyone involved in assessing your application. If you do not wish to provide a response to a particular question, you select ‘prefer not to say.’ You will not be able to submit your application if you leave any of the questions unanswered.

If shortlisted, you will take part in the following assessments:

Online Psychometric Tests:

These include a discussion with a psychologist via Microsoft Teams. You will receive a link to the online tests within 10 working days after the shortlisting meeting. You do not need to take these tests again if you have completed these tests in the last two years for a role at the same grade.

Interview and Scenario Exercise

Before your interview, the selection panel will receive feedback on your psychometric tests. You will be given a scenario 30 minutes before your interview and will be asked to give a 5-minute verbal briefing. Interviews will be around 45 minutes and will consider how the skills and experience in your CV and personal statement meet the requirements of the role. The interview will be held in person at our Cathays Park office in Cardiff.

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

Please note this Post is NOT regulated by the Civil Service Commission. 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.