About the job

Job summary

In DHSC, we are proud of our purpose – to enable everyone to live more independent, healthier lives for longer. To achieve this, and create a great place to work, we have four values: we are inclusive, we constantly improve, we challenge, and we are agile. If this sounds like an environment you’d like to work in, we’d love to hear from you.

The Commercial Directorate is a strategic and enabling function that supports all DHSC’s commercial interactions with third parties and supporting ministers in delivering their agenda. Our mission is to ensure that health and care policy is implemented at best value for the taxpayer.  

We do this by leading and overseeing the department’s direct commercial activity, implementing commercial policies across DHSC and its arm length bodies, and acting as advisors to the Secretary of State. Our vision is to provide a world-class commercial service to enable the health and care system to deliver for the public – we aim to be the best in government commercial for technical expertise and customer focus.  We do this by driving the data strategy for the Department and the Health Family, and by leading on the Head of Profession to deliver improvement across the Commercial profession.

Job description

With the broader objective of maximising value for money and minimising commercial risk within this category of spend, the team is responsible for effectively delivering all commercial activities, operating across the entire commercial lifecycle from the initial client engagement, through to needs analysis, procurement strategy, sourcing, contracting, contract management and renewal / exit / re-procurement.

In this fast-paced environment, the Joint Heads of DDaT priorities will include leading on commercial process and approaches, stakeholder management, achieving commercial outcomes to deliver value for money, and reporting to Cabinet Office.

Locations

The successful candidate(s) will be able to agree a contractual workplace from those locations listed in this advert. When selecting your location listed in this job advert please be aware that this will be your contractual base location with a requirement to spend a minimum of 60% of your working time in this organisational workplace.

Your time spent on official duties at workplace locations other than your contractual office such as supplier, customer or partner locations required to perform your role is included in the 60% attendance.

This requirement will however take into consideration any reasonable adjustments agreed upon appointment for people with a disability, flexibilities agreed for those with specific caring responsibilities, or other similar temporary flexibilities.

Person specification

The successful candidate will:

• Lead, coach and develop the technical and softer skills of your team of commercial professionals to ensure we deliver optimum commercial service to DHSC customers, across the whole commercial lifecycle.  
• Oversee the DDAT commercial portfolio, providing direct support and advice on the most complex of procurements and contracts, coaching and mentoring your team to help develop their own capability in dealing with complex and challenging commercial issues.
• Work with senior business owners to ensure contracts in their area are managed appropriately, driving improvements in contract performance on high-risk contracts and ensure significant supply risks or underperformance is managed.  
• Provide strategic direction to a team of commercial professionals to ensure that all activity supports the department’s key objectives, is underpinned with robust governance and risk management whilst complying with all relevant Government, EU and departmental policies and regulations.
• Lead your team to define, manage and monitor benefits realisation including commercial savings and sustainability outcomes.
• Develop strong relationships with a range of internal and external stakeholders at all levels within DHSC, the ALBs and government in order to maximise opportunities to collaborate. 
• Deepen category expertise within the team, and identify and deliver opportunities to improve value through strengthened category management.
• Actively identify and pursue opportunities to collaborate across the Health family to maximise value and achieve efficiencies, from aggregation of requirements, to offering a central procurement service to ALBs. 
• Lead and coach others to develop and maintain a high performing team culture that continually seeks to improve and add value through commercial intervention
• Being an inclusive leader who embraces diverse ways of working so that everyone feels they are able to flourish and work at pace to deliver expert advice
• Being an active member of the wider Commercial Directorate management team, seeking opportunities to both support and learn from wider commercial teams and working collaboratively with your peers, including commercial business partners, to maintain an excellent commercial service to the business. 

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 7th August 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.