About the job

Job summary

We’re pleased to advertise this opportunity following an Operating Model review in which we have matched vacant roles to our delivery pipeline. 

The roles are based in HMRC’s award-winning IT Commercial function (GO Awards – Best IT Commercial function 2023). HMRC spends in excess of £800m/annum with technology suppliers, purchasing goods and services that contribute to delivery of cradle to grave services that impact the entire UK population. 

The roles provide a fantastic opportunity for a Commercial Specialist to develop their leadership, influencing skills and commercial expertise, and to help strengthen the commercial insight and support that is needed across HMRC’s IT and Change Portfolio.

The IT & Major Programmes Commercial function, in which these roles sit, supports a £1bn technology function with over £800m annual spend with technology suppliers across 900 applications, with a mixed economy of physical, virtual and cloud infrastructure. We’re supporting the CDIO & Change Delivery teams in a technology transformation that will result in technology stacks that reduce this portfolio and leverage fewer environments, platforms and products. The intent is that this shift toward configurable PaaS and SaaS applications will result in greater technical flexibility and reduced cost to serve. 

Our vision is to continue to increase our commercial influence and insight at the early outset of Transformation in HMRC’s End-2-End change lifecycle, ensuring access to best in class market thinking and innovation are informing – and challenging – how CDIO and our Transformation Programmes effectively deliver their outcomes.

These roles offer candidates the opportunity to work at the leading edge of digital and technology transformation in government, with a best-in-class commercial team. The roles are complex and demanding, but incredibly rewarding. They provides an opportunity for exceptional personal and career growth in a supportive team invested in collective success.

Job description

The role is a commercial leadership role. The role-holder will likely have between 1 and 3 direct reports who support development of Category and Programme sourcing strategies, support commercial business partnering with CDIO & Transformation stakeholders, and in delivering procurement events. Strategic procurement activity may include task management of as many as 10-15 team members from across multiple teams. 

HMRC Commercial operates a pre-award/post-award model, whereby Category Management and Sourcing is delivered in ‘pre-award’. Contract and Supplier Relationship Management is delivered in ‘post-award’. This is a ‘pre-award’ team role.

The role holder will be required to interfaces with senior CDIO & Major Programmes stakeholders, usually Directors, Deputy Directors and Service Line Heads. There is also expectation of cross-team working with non-IT commercial teams and other government departments.

You will identify and maintain a forward pipeline of Commercial requirements, ensuring that the pre-award team have early visibility of forthcoming activity and to give Senior Leaders confidence that they have access to high quality commercial arrangements aligned to the needs of the organisation.

We would be particularly interested in candidates who can demonstrate a track record in:

• procurement of SaaS/PaaS and/or outsourced solutions and negotiation of contracts in public sector procurement;
• experience of commercial business partnering to enable major change; and/or
• using lean, agile or continuous improvement techniques to deliver innovative commercial solutions.

The primary commercial programmes within the portfolio link to strategic customer engagement, future tax and revenue delivery and business rates transformation. Commercial activity linked to the role, however, supports varied technology programmes including: Making Tax Digital, Single Customer Account and Borders and Trade.

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

Key Responsibilities: 

• To own, or strongly support and deliver the category strategy for the allocated sub-category
  
  
• Development of commercial strategies for inclusion with Business Cases that fully meet customer requirements. You will drive delivery and execution of the commercial strategy to achieve value for money and deliver wider commercial benefits for the organisation
  
  
• To be a trusted commercial advisor to relevant CDIO & Programme stakeholder group, managing relationships and communications with relevant Extended Senior Leadership Team members (i.e. G6s and SCS-1s in the Technology function)
  
  
• To be accountable for commercial service outcomes in your assigned sub-category
  
  
• To ensure best in class supply chains are in place which deliver value and performance in-life
  
  
• Drive continuous improvement and ensure an innovative, risk-based and agile approach to commercial is consistently applied within CDIO & Programmes
  
  
• To provide deep category expertise and market knowledge to enhance commercial service value and outcomes to relevant customer groups
  
  
• Delivering measurable and significant commercial results including cost savings and other indirect benefits
  
  
• To provide leadership within the team and be a visible role model across the wider Commercial Directorate and GCO
  
  
• To provide Direct and Indirect line management and leadership to matrixed teams delivering BAU commercial activity and key commercial procurement programmes

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 20th June 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.