About the job

Job summary

The Government Digital Service (GDS) Commercial team is a team based within the Cabinet Office under the governance of the Commercial directorate, providing commercial advice and support to GDS directorates.  GDS is responsible for providing and assuring public facing and cross-government platforms including GOV.UK, One Login and the Emergency Alerts Service.  The role is for a Commercial expert in one of the three core GDS Directorates. You will report directly to one of three Commercial Leads and support the management team.

Job description

The Commercial team works in a fast-paced and dynamic environment delivering a large volume of new contracts, often working to tight timelines.  The types of procurements are generally focused on Digital and Delivery Partner activity, so experience and an interest in working in the digital/ technical sector would be beneficial for this position. Having an in-depth working knowledge of public procurement, in particular CCS frameworks, will be beneficial for this role.

You will be expected to provide commercial guidance and support to enable appropriate decision making and maximise value for money both in new procurement activity and existing supplier management. You will be a self-starter and able to act under your own initiative, leading and driving commercial projects. You will be comfortable engaging with senior leadership and have demonstrable experience engaging and influencing a wide range of key stakeholders with differing priorities across the department.

You will also work collaboratively with other commercial team members to enable continuous improvement and commercial capability development with your customers, working to implement new policies and processes as required.

Person specification

We’re interested in people who:

• lead on commercial activities, providing sound advice, guidance and support to customers to enable commercial opportunities and risk(s) to be understood 
• build effective relationships with internal/external stakeholders, including other Government departments, fostering trust and transparency in order to allow you to provide the best level of commercial advice and guidance
• provide hands-on targeted procurement or contract management support where required, for example where a contract or procurement activity is identified as being at risk or of high importance
• enable your customers to act intelligently to create their requirements, considering Commercial strategy and Contract Management planning
• work with the Commercial Lead to implement any new governmental commercial policies across the department, engaging with the Government Commercial Function and other cross government departments where necessary
• take proactive responsibility for ensuring a robust commercial pipeline and contracts register is in place for the business unit, working in partnership with the central Commercial Pipeline Manager
• provide accurate Management Information (MI) and build weekly, monthly and quarterly Management reports, feeding into other requests for information as required

Benefits

The benefits of working at GDS

There are many benefits of working at GDS, including:

• flexible hybrid working with flexi-time and the option to work part-time or condensed hours
• a Civil Service Pension with an average employer contribution of 27%
• 25 days of annual leave, increasing by a day each year up to a maximum of 30 days
• an extra day off for The King’s birthday
• an in-year bonus scheme to recognise high performance
• career progression and coaching, including a training budget for personal development
• paid volunteering leave
• a focus on wellbeing with access to an employee assistance programme
• job satisfaction from making government services easier to use and more inclusive for people across the UK
• advances on pay, including for travel season tickets
• death in service benefits
• cycle to work scheme and facilities
• access to children's holiday play schemes across different locations in central London
• access to an employee discounts scheme
• 10 learning days per year
• volunteering opportunities (5 special leave days per year)
• access to a suite of learning activities through Civil Service learning

GDS offers hybrid working for all employees. This means that everyone does some working from home and also spends some time in their local office. You’ll agree to your hybrid working arrangement with your line manager in line with your preferences and business needs.

Any move to Government Digital Service 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

Things you need to know

Selection process details

The standard selection process for roles at GDS consists of:

• a simple application screening process - We only ask for a CV and cover letter of up to 750 words. Important tip - please ensure that your cover letter includes how you meet the skills and experience listed in the “person specification” section above
• a 60 minute video interview

In the event we receive a high number of applications, we will conduct an initial sift on the lead criteria which is:

• lead on commercial activities, providing sound advice, guidance and support to customers to enable commercial opportunities and risk(s) to be understood 

Depending on how many applications we get, there might also be an extra stage before the video interview, for example a phone interview or a technical exercise.

In the Civil Service, we use Success Profiles to evaluate your skills and ability. This gives us the best possible chance of finding the right person for the job, increases performance and improves diversity and inclusivity. We’ll be assessing your technical abilities, skills, experience and behaviours that are relevant to this role.

For this role we’ll be assessing you against the following Civil Service Behaviours: 

• making effective decisions
• communicating and influencing 
• delivering at pace

To be successful, you will need to demonstrate capability against the following criteria (described in our application system as Technical Skills) at the final panel interview: 

Manages Complexity - Evidence of the ability to evaluate and present complex contractual issues resulting in sound recommendations to senior managers for solutions 

Commercial Focus - Proven experience working within a digital commercial setting in government or the public sector or in a regulated environment 

Contract and Supply Management - Understanding of commercial, contract and supplier relationship management techniques and demonstrable experience of applying them in practice

Candidates that do not pass the interview but have demonstrated an acceptable standard may be considered for similar roles at a lower grade.

A reserve list will be held for a period of 12 months, from which further appointments can be made.

We are an equal opportunity employer and value diversity at our company. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, colour, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, age, marital status or disability status.

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.