About the job

Job summary

This is a chance to join a dynamic SAP management, technical support and delivery team with big ambitions and an exciting implementation roadmap. DLUHC is continuing to implement bold plans to transform our SAP IT landscape and digital services. We have an ambitious 18 months ahead of us which will see us implementing and transitioning to SAP S4 and BW4 on a cloud-based platform. 
 
As a part of Digital Directorate, the SAP Business Solutions Team, is responsible for the management and control of all SAP Finance, HR and Commercial changes and implementations across the organisation. 

The SAP team is a small, busy team and the successful candidate must demonstrate highly effective management and leadership skills to organise the team’s demanding workload and handle often conflicting priorities.  

We are keen to attract an individual who can provide leadership and technical direction and support in this area, utilising your experience of previous procurements to work with BST’s team leaders, and with the Digital, Commercial and Finance directorates, to manage us though procurements, the administration of our contracts and suppliers and finance/budget management and reporting.  

Find out more about what it's like to work in a digital, data and technology role at DLUHC including our culture, ways of working, career progression and staff benefits. You can also read the DLUHC Digital blog to learn about the work we're doing.

Job description

The successful candidate will proactively support BST team leads to manage our many contracts and suppliers, and advise in areas we need expertise e.g., compliant routes to market and supplier management, based upon your personal knowledge or advice you have obtained from the Commercial directorate. Also be responsible for supporting the Finance Manager to manage various budgets and forecasts. You will do this by carrying out the following tasks: 

•    Lead the ongoing maintenance of the BST commercial pipeline and progress procurements  with Commercial colleagues and share knowledge, enabling teams to have a good understanding of their contract position, budgets and actions

•    Supporting budget holders and contract managers by setting up/amending POs using the Department’s SAP under/over £10k Buying Request process

•    Drafting or providing input to business cases and procurement documentation  

•    Writing new requirements for the procurement of resources or services, following the Department’s procurement process 

•    Leading the procurement process by obtaining quotes/information and guiding and advising BST through the commercial process in collaboration with the Commercial directorate. 

•    Facilitating supplier engagement workshops by providing admin support to Commercial colleagues

•    Managing the onboarding of technical resources via the agreed commercial route and control of timesheets/invoices

•    Providing admin support to supplier reviews and keep records of outcomes and actions. Facilitate supplier relationship management

•    Collaborating with other government departments on the alignment of commercial opportunities 

•    Being the commercial champion for the team, helping to build capability, drive best practice, and leading the improvement work that will increase the efficiency of the procurement process, ensuring materials produced are high quality and add value to decision making

•    Support the BST Finance Manager by providing cover in their absence and assisting them during busy periods. Tasks may include resource/cost control, budgeting, forecasting and reporting for the Corporate group

Person specification

We are looking for a self-starter who is energetic, engaging, with good communication, people and negotiation skills and the flexibility to adapt to a rapidly changing business environment. 

Essential Criteria:  

•    The ability to build a network of relationships across teams to support collaborative working 

•    Excellent communication skills with the ability to present complex information clearly 

•    Good negotiation skills and ability to seek opportunities when refining commercial arrangements such as leveraging volume discounts 

•    Excellent planning skills to support the monthly financial reporting/forecasting cycle, organising the team’s demanding commercial portfolio pipeline working closely with the finance lead, budget managers and the Commercial team 

•    Strong numeracy, budget and forecasting management skills with confident use of  MS Excel

•    Good personal time management, demonstrating an ability to manage competing priorities 

•    Experience working in a finance or commercial environment or on procurements 

•    Ability to deliver at pace within a dynamic technical environment 

Desirable Criteria:  

•    A financial or commercial qualification 

•    Strategic thinker, able to work with and influence key stakeholders 

•    Experience working with cloud-based technology solutions 

•    An understanding of Agile or similar project management tools

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £38,732, Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities contributes £10,457 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, Strengths, Ability and Experience.

We are for everyone 

At DLUHC we value diversity and inclusion and actively encourage and welcome applications from everyone, including those that are underrepresented in our workforce. We promote equality of opportunity in all aspects of employment and a working environment free from discrimination, harassment, bullying and victimisation. 

We would strongly recommend that applicants get in touch with the vacancy manager to find out more information about this role. 

We are for everyone 

CV and Cover Letter Declaration 

We recruit based on your knowledge and skills, and not background, gender or ethnicity - this is called name blind recruitment. 

Please remove references to your: 

• name/title
• educational institutions
• age
• gender
• email address
• postal address
• phone number
• nationality/immigration status

You will need to merge your CV and covering letter into one document. When submitting your application Applied will ask you to upload a CV, when doing this you should upload your merged document of your CV and covering letter. 

Most of our campaigns utilise multiple assessors and so it is possible that your application would be viewed by different assessors. 

At sift, through your CV and covering letter, we will be assessing your experience and ability to undertake the tasks carried out in the job description and essential criteria.

In your CV and covering letter, please include:  
 
a. why you are interested in the role; 
b. how you meet the essential skills and experience required 

 

The interview will be of a blended nature consisting of experience, behaviour, ability and strength based questions as listed in the advert. The strength based questions will require natural responses from the candidates.  

 

In full the campaign will test the below Success Profile Elements: 

Experience: Yes - Experience questions will be based around the essential skills and criteria as listed in the job description.

Technical: Yes - Technical questions will be based around the essential skills and criteria as listed in the job description. 

Strength: Yes

Behaviours: Changing and Improving, Making effective decisions, Communicating and Influencing, Working Together, Delivering at pace

Ability: Yes

 

We do not consider direct CV applications – you must apply for this role via the application link on Civil Service Jobs: 

Please note that near miss offers may be made at the lower grade to candidates who do not meet the grade criteria for this campaign. 

SEO salary 

• The salary for this role is £42,208 (London) or £38,732 (National).

• For existing civil servants, the usual policy on level transfer and promotion will apply and is non-negotiable. If you apply for a role that requires a transfer of location, for example if you are transferring from London to a National location, your salary will be adjusted in accordance with our policy on transfer between HQ pay ranges. 

Please note that the average employer pension contribution is based upon the National minimum salary for this role. Should your agreed starting salary for this role be different, the average employer pension contribution will be calculated accordingly. If you are a Secondee, this will not apply as you will remain on your home organisation’s terms and conditions. 

Benefits 

Transfers across the Civil Service on or after 4 October 2018: 

Any move to DLUHC from another employer will mean you can no longer access childcare vouchers. This includes moves between government departments. You may however be eligible for other government schemes, including Tax-Free Childcare. Determine your eligibility at https://www.childcarechoices.gov.uk. 

For further information about the benefits available to DLUHC employees, please see the attached Candidate Pack. 

 

Location 

• Hemel Hempstead
• Wolverhampton 
• Darlington* 
• Manchester
• Leeds
• Bristol

There may be opportunities for candidates to work flexibly depending on the business needs. This will be discussed with the vacancy manager on a case-by-case basis if you are successful for the role. 

*Please note: The Darlington Economic Campus is a pioneering new cross-government hub which will bring together people across departments and public organisations to play an active role in the most important economic issues of the day. The work of the Campus will make a real difference to people both across the UK and internationally. There will be substantial career opportunities and exciting prospects - a career at the Campus means you will be working at the heart of Government, with access to the benefits and fantastic opportunities offered by the civil service.  This role is based at DLUHC and we will be joined on the campus by: 

• HM Treasury  
• Department for International Trade 
• Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy  
• Office for National Statistics  
• Department for Education 

For further information on the DEC, please take a look at the attached DEC candidate pack.

Sift and Interview dates

Sifting is envisaged to take place from Monday 12/02/2024 with interview dates to be confirmed. All interviews are currently being held remotely via videocall. 

Reserve List 

In the event that we identify more appointable candidates than we currently have posts available, we will hold applicant details on a reserve list for a period of 6 months from which further appointments can be made. This may include roles at a lower grade. Candidates placed on a reserve list will be informed of this. Due to the length of time CTC checks can take, our HR Shared Services team will contact reserve list candidates for London based roles to commence CTC checks. Those candidates who do not wish to remain on the reserve list should contact recruitment@levellingup.gov.uk to be removed from the reserve list. 

Before starting your application it’s very important to make sure that you are eligible to apply and meet the Civil Service nationality requirements. All candidates are expected to read the information provided in the DLUHC candidate pack regarding nationality requirements and rules 

 

Candidate Pack Information 

Please see attached Candidate pack for further information. 

 

Internal Fraud Database 

The Internal Fraud function of the Fraud, Error, Debt and Grants Function at the Cabinet Office processes details of civil servants who have been dismissed for committing internal fraud, or who would have been dismissed had they not resigned. The Cabinet Office receives the details from participating government organisations of civil servants who have been dismissed, or who would have been dismissed had they not resigned, for internal fraud. In instances such as this, civil servants are then banned for 5 years from further employment in the civil service. The Cabinet Office then processes this data and discloses a limited dataset back to DLUHC as a participating government organisations. DLUHC then carry out the pre employment checks so as to detect instances where known fraudsters are attempting to reapply for roles in the civil service. In this way, the policy is ensured and the repetition of internal fraud is prevented.  

For more information please see- Internal Fraud Register

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.