Associate Commercial Specialist – Software / Estates / Central DDaT Contracts

I would like to welcome you to the Home Office Commercial Directorate and thank you for your interest in the roles we are offering.
I joined the Home Office in 2016 to lead the delivery of the Collaborative Law Enforcement Programme. With the team we were able to deliver £320m of cashable savings and transform the way policing deliver commercial activity.
The Home Office works to keep our citizens safe and our country secure. As well as working to reduce crime, enforce the law and protect our borders, it also works to protect the most vulnerable and is at the forefront of public policy making - our work is among the most challenging and rewarding in Government. Our commercial teams have been at the forefront of the Department’s responses to the COVID 19 pandemic, the protection of our borders and society.
The Home Office spends approximately £3bn each year with third party suppliers and this is managed by the Commercial Directorate, a team of around 300 procurement and contract management professionals. The range of goods and services acquired is huge and includes services to complex programmes that are unique in Europe with multi-million-pound contracts.
At the Home Office, you will have the chance to make a real and tangible positive impact to the country’s future structure, impacting the lives across the UK and work on a broad range of Missions from Borders and Migration, Public Safety and our Homeland security, the Emergency Services Mobile Communications Programme, Digital Data & Technology.
What we do matters and the opportunity to turn policy into reality is at the forefront of the commercial work we do and seeing the difference it makes to our country is hugely rewarding.
We are partway through a programme of change which has seen us recruiting across all grades. Now we are seeking enthusiastic individuals at Commercial Lead level who can help support the delivery of Commercial’s objectives. Commercial Leads are leaders and managers who will help us to build Commercial’s reputation as a strategic partner, improving business outcomes and delivering value for money through the contracts we source.
So, whatever your background, either public or private, if you are passionate about delivering first class outcomes then come and join our journey., The Home Office has one of the most challenging and critical jobs in Whitehall: to keep Britain safe and secure. We operate at the heart of the Government's agenda, leading on immigration and passports, drugs policy, crime policy, counter-extremism and counterterrorism and work to ensure visible, responsive, and accountable policing in the UK. The challenges the Department faces are significant and can change rapidly in the global environment in which we operate, making this one of the most exciting and stimulating Government Departments in which to work.
The Commercial Directorate manages the conduit between the Home Office and those supplier markets that help us provide key services to the public. It provides strategic commercial services such as market intelligence, procurement and contract management activities and its principal aims are to deliver efficiency savings, support the strategic agendas of our client groups by procuring the right products and services in a timely manner and dynamically managing contracts and suppliers, whilst delivering activities in a transparent and compliant manner.
This is an exciting opportunity to join Home Office Commercial with roles covering Estates/FM, Software Category Management and the Central DDAT Contracts, CTO, COO.
In these roles, you will be a true leader, driving development, innovation and creating a cohesive, positive mind-set to deliver great commercial outcomes with real accountability and collaboration with business and project teams. Your key focus will be planning and executing the Category Strategies for goods and services compliant with regulations and governance in support of business strategies.
The successful candidates can expect themselves to be working across a varied portfolio leading procurement and strategy development and be involved working as part of a wider commercial team leading procurement activity to deliver the business objectives.
All roles will involve the opportunity to lead a team of other commercial professionals. You will develop and maintain positive relationships with a broad range of internal and external stakeholders and encourage collaborative relationships as appropriate. Your professional expertise and judgement will be relied upon and valued by senior colleagues.
Locations, 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.
Successful candidates must meet the security requirements before they can be appointed. The level of security needed is security check (opens in a new window).See our vetting charter (opens in a new window).
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.

Diversity and Inclusion
The Civil Service is committed to attract, retain and invest in talent wherever it is found. To learn more please see the Civil Service People Plan (opens in a new window) and the Civil Service Diversity and Inclusion Strategy (opens in a new window).

Apply and further information
This vacancy is part of the Great Place to Work for Veterans (opens in a new window) initiative.
The Civil Service welcomes applications from people who have recently left prison or have an unspent conviction. Read more about prison leaver recruitment (opens in new window).
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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., Home Office - Commercial Directorate is undergoing significant transformation over the next 2-3 years across all areas.
Role 1 - A Software Category pilot took place in 2022 and we are now looking for a strategic, committed leader who will lead this category, coach, and develop a small team of Software Commercial professionals and sustain a steady state with focus on aggregation of business demand, optimising value for money deals and aligning to business strategy and future licensing and support arrangements.
Role 2 - An exciting opportunity exists for a proactive and highly motivated professional to run the Estates Category team at the Home Office. Working closely with peers and the Deputy Director, this is an important role in setting the strategy and direction of the team.This role is to lead the commercial team for the estates pillar which spans across the estates portfolio of the HO. The work will include the conclusion of procurement activity to replace long term facilities management contracts, commercial support to the mobilisation of new contracts and comprehensive handover to a commercial contract management team. It will also include the development of sourcing strategies to enable large scale construction as well as both major and minor works projects to be delivered quickly and efficiently offering value for money across the wider estates portfolio.
Role 3 - Central DDAT Contracts, CTO, COO - looking after Managed services procurements and contracts across DDaT. You will need substantial experience of managing teams, suppliers and stakeholders. Knowledge and experience of procuring, negotiating and implementing contracts in the Professional Services space. Excellent communication, leadership and influencing skills. Strong data analysis skills.

Technical skills
We'll assess you against these technical skills during the selection process:
+ Decisive Successful design & delivery of end-to-end strategic category plans and commercial strategies, combined with the ability to negotiate strategic outcomes with business teams. building and influencing strong, productive relationships
+ Coaching Manager Strong leadership of delivering commercial change, combined with experience of building capable resilient commercial teams, through coaching, mentoring and provision of clear direction and success criteria
+ Strategy and Policy Development Ability to articulate and shape the category to a steady state high performing team, with a clear Strategy agreed with business teams and successful executed
+ Procurement Process Experience working on complex commercial projects, the ability to drive improvements that deliver excellent commercial outcomes. Evidence the development of contracts of high value/complexity/reputational risk, 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 24th October 2024 and will require a full day's attendance.

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.