About the job

Job summary

• Do you want more scope in your role, more ownership, accountability and visibility?
• Do you want to take your public sector procurement and contract management skills to the next level?
• Do you enjoy working with across a wide range of stakeholders, contracts and suppliers?

As Head of Commercial, you will oversee a portfolio spend of circa. £10m, 80% of which is IT and digital related.

You will be the Head of Profession for all commercial matters, accountable for working with budget holders to ensure that; all contracts deliver excellent quality and smooth-running services to end users; that the best possible vfm is achieved; and that all activity is compliant with government procurement rules.

You will achieve this by applying your professional (CIPS) skills at all stages in the life of a contract, and as importantly, through a continuous programme of embedding a culture of challenge and commercial awareness across all internal customers. 

Your aim is to ensure that bidders submit the best value for money bid and that they aspire to deliver the highest quality services to the Commission. Success in this role means that internal stakeholders will value and demand the expertise of the Commercial unit from the outset of any spending project and demonstrable efficiencies on all contracts can be evidenced to the Board.

Job description

Key Responsibilities:

• Assuring CEO and Directors that commercial activities fulfil the needs of the business strategy, and to plan and report regularly on savings and efficiencies
• Working closely with directors and other senior leaders, including the Chief Operating Officer and Director of Digital, Data and Technology to support programme delivery and best value using the most advantageous route to market to meet key business outcomes and minimise rework on subsequent contracts.
• Design market and commercial studies, and subsequent scrutiny and negotiation of supplier’s bids to deliver a “best fit” for the organisation in terms of delivery and value for money
• Providing visible leadership to support contract managers to deliver effective monitoring/management process including evaluation throughout the life of a contract
• Building a culture of continuous learning around commercial awareness throughout the Commission to ensure commercial behaviours are adopted and embedded in the organisation
• Owning and evolving innovative commercial solutions for continual refreshment of strategic supply chains
• Working with third parties such as CCS to achieve as much leverage as possible with the market.

Person specification

Ability:

• Comfortable being single point of expertise, challenging peers and senior managers constructively but with purpose
• Proactive- being in the process from conception and steering direction of commercial activities
• Able to explain the complicated procurement issues/criteria and their relevance in simple terms to internal stakeholders
• “Out of the box” innovative thinking - to evaluate risks and make judgements on the most appropriate solution for the organisation
• Ability to plan and prioritise competing demands to ensure performance targets and deadlines are met.

Experience:

• Of strategic commercial management of high value IT contracts and key suppliers
• Of working with stakeholders to understand how best business benefits can be achieved
• Of establishing and harnessing the commercial capabilities throughout the organisation and achieve improvements through matrix working/champion approach
• Collaborative working at the highest levels of the organisation to match commercial strategy to business need
• To influence and persuade rather than mandate to achieve better buy-in.

Technical:

• Expert knowledge of government procurement rules
• Expert IT market knowledge
• Understanding of where Crown Commercial Suppliers can help but equally where other routes might be more beneficial to the business
• MCIPS qualification
• Application of risk management principles during the management of work and when making decisions
• Handling data and information sensitively in accordance with the business procedures and/or law.

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £56,764, Charity Commission contributes £15,326 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.

To apply for this post, you must complete an online application with the following: 

• A blind CV setting out your Job History/Full Qualifications/Previous skill and experiences.

A Personal Statement (maximum 750 words) demonstrating how you meet the essential criteria for the role outlined on the Job Description.

At interview you will be asked to do a presentation on a prepared topic and assessed on your technical knowledge and experience, and the behaviours outlined above in the advert.

Interview Arrangements

Interviews will be taking place Face to Face Liverpool Office.

The sift is due to take place on 11/04/2024.

Interviews will be held:

• 23/04/2024 – Newport
• 24/04/2024 - Liverpool

We will try to meet the dates set out in the advert. There may be occasions when these dates change. You will be provided with sufficient notice of the confirmed dates. 

At the interview, the panel can then probe further and ask applicants to provide further specific examples that show how they best demonstrate their skills.

We reserve the right to raise the score required at any stage of the process to manage numbers.

The Civil Service welcomes applications from people who have recently left prison or have an unspent conviction. Read more about prison leaver recruitment.

Behaviours:

The distinguishing Behaviours (the required skills, knowledge, and behaviours) for this role are set out in the Civil Service Behaviours Framework 2018 (Success Profiles - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)) and should be referred to when making this application.

You are required, under the Behaviours approach, to describe how you have dealt with a specific situation.

You must give evidence of your knowledge, skills, and behaviours and how you have applied this, such as what you did or said and how you interacted with other people.

When you are giving your examples, do not spend too many words on description and background information. Avoid using general or unspecific statements. Instead say what the situation was, what you did, what your thought process was and what was the result.

Reasonable Adjustment:

If a person with disabilities is put at a substantial disadvantage compared to a non-disabled persons, 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 Charitycommissionrecruitment.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 an interview, or if you’re deaf, a Language Service Professional.

Reserve Lists

If we have more successful candidates than available vacancies, we will hold a 12-month reserve list as standard.

During that time, we may use the list to fill the same, or similar roles with closely matching essential criteria, without further testing of merit. Any appointments from the Reserve list will be made in strict merit order.

Applying

We recognise everyone as an individual, accepting people for who they are and treating everyone fairly

All applications for these vacancies must be made online. There are limited exceptions to this. Paper applications will only be considered if you have a disability that will prevent you from applying online. If this is the case, please email Charitycommissionrecruitment.grs@cabinetoffice.gov.uk

Once you have submitted your application it cannot be amended; only submit your application when you have completely finished and answered all the relevant questions.

Please note that late applications will not be accepted.

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

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

Concerns/Complaints

The Charity Commission’s recruitment processes are underpinned by the Civil Service Commissioner’s Recruitment Principles, which outlines that selection for appointment is made on merit based on fair and open competition.

If you feel your application has not been treated in accordance with the values in the Civil Service Code and/or if you feel the recruitment has been conducted in such a way that conflicts with the Civil Service Commissioner’s Recruitment Principles, and wish to make a complaint, then you should contact in the first instance hrselfservice@charitycommission.gov.uk.

If you are not satisfied with the response that you receive, then you can contact the Civil Service Commission. For further information on bringing a complaint to the Civil Service Commission please visit their web page here.

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.