About the job

Job summary

The Government Legal Department (GLD) is the largest provider of legal services across government, working on high profile matters that are frequently scrutinised in Parliament and the media. We are at the heart of delivering the Government’s priorities and our success depends on our people. GLD is a non-ministerial government department, sponsored by the Attorney General. We are headed by the Treasury Solicitor, our Permanent Secretary and employ nearly 3000 people, including over 2000 legal professionals. Our offices include London, Leeds, Bristol, Croydon and Manchester as well as overseas. We provide specialist legal services including Litigation, Employment and Commercial Law as well as advising most Government Departments on the policies and services they deliver.

GLD also depends on a range of vital corporate services. These are essential to the smooth and efficient running of the Department and provide the foundation to enable GLD to deliver outstanding legal services. Our corporate functions include Strategy, HR, Finance, Digital, Data and Technology, Communications, Security, Commercial and Project delivery. The GLD Procurement function sits within the Finance function under the direction of the Finance and Operations Director for the Department.  The Procurement function is a new team, this role having been previously outsourced.  

The Government Legal Department is looking to recruit a new Head of Commercial Sourcing to help develop the newly insourced Procurement function.  This is an exciting opportunity to help build on the Department’s existing commercial strategy and work with stakeholders across a wide range of categories to deliver an evolving procurement pipeline, which includes a wide range of corporate services as well as specialised legal services that are key to supporting the delivery of the Department’s legal business. The role also offers the opportunity to recruit and develop a new sourcing team and to work with other parts of the Government Commercial Function to support delivery of the Department’s commercial pipeline.

Job description

The Head of Commercial Sourcing will lead the Commercial Sourcing Team and will report directly to the Assistant Director for Financial Management, Accounting and Procurement. The position has two direct reports and will involve significant liaison with budget holders and contract managers across GLD to support a wide range of commercial requirements. The main categories that the role holder will be involved with sourcing are: Legal Services and a wide range of Corporate Function Services. 

The role will provide leadership to the Commercial Sourcing Team in the delivery of specific sourcing requirements, as well as acting as the Commercial Lead on more complex requirements and managing stakeholder engagement with the main buyers in the Department.

The Head of Commercial Sourcing will also work with other members of the Procurement Senior Management Team to manage the Department’s commercial pipeline, develop the Department’s commercial strategy, raise commercial awareness within the business and promote commercial best practice.

The post holder will work with other members of the Procurement Senior Management Team to ensure that commercial activity is in line with statutory requirements and best practice and evolves to meet business need and developments in the Department’s wider commercial strategy.

Person specification

The key responsibilities and accountabilities for the role are to:

• Lead and manage the Commercial Sourcing Team in providing a high-quality service including ensuring that the team is appropriately resourced, structured and developed;
• Work closely with stakeholders to develop requirements and deliver procurements which ensure that the Department gains value for money from its contract activity;
• Ensure that the procurements that are run are compliant with commercial governance and assurance requirements, policy and processes;
• Ensure the provision of accurate, comprehensive, and transparent analysis and advice, with recommendations to senior decision makers based on whole life costs;
• Ensure the sourcing team is creating positive supplier relationships, and encouraging innovation and “value add” initiatives where appropriate;
• Provide expert advice on commercial risk management and deliver mitigation plans / strategies to manage identified risks at corporate level.

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.

Please note that any move across the Civil Service on or after 4 October 2018 may have implications on an employee’s ability to carry on claiming 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 14th May 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.