Commercial Procurement Lead - Technology

As a Technology Commercial lead your role will be pivotal to the operational management and future development of our portfolio which we provide to a huge range of public sector organisations., You will be joining a team of around 130 technology procurement professionals who have a wide range of knowledge across public procurement and IT. You will lead a part of this team in the delivery of CCS’s objectives.
You will lead a team of between 5-15 people in various procurement lifecycle stages, including live framework agreements, strategy and design of replacement and new agreements, supplier management, and customer engagement.
You will form part of the category senior management team, becoming an expert in your domain. You will have the chance to further develop through exposure to other categories as well as stretch assignments, or objectives, as and when you feel comfortable to do so.
Your role as a people manager will also be critical to continue to maintain CCS as a great place to work.
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
As a Commercial Lead you will:
+ Lead your teams to deliver against the business plan objectives (customer value, operational excellence, growing our capability) for the Commercial Directorate
+ Be part of the senior management and leadership team for Technology, collaborating, supporting, and driving our team’s success
+ Help deliver procurement strategies including the production of category strategies, joint planning with customers, and using market insight to drive innovative solutions for our customers.
+ Drive operational excellence with our supplier base
+ Line manage a team of procurement professionals (typically around 5-15 people)
+ Help our commercial capability grow and learn through sharing your experience and driving personal development actions.
+ Work with our CCS business partners and wider stakeholder to ensure we deliver compliantly and consistently

Technical skills
We'll assess you against these technical skills during the selection process:
+ Manages Complexity – Experience of supporting enterprise IT solution delivery enabled through procurement and commercial supplier management
+ Market Insight – Knowledge of the technology industry, current trends, strategic suppliers to the public sector. Areas of knowledge in one or more of the following; cloud, software, networks, services
+ Commercial Focus – Expertise in the delivery of commercial benefits and value add through procurement and supplier management activities
+ Builds Relationships – Ability to build relationships with managers to set, and influence, strategic direction and deliver on their business requirements
+ Coaching Manager – Demonstrated management of, and developing, high performance procurement teams
+ Strategy and Policy Development – Can demonstrate knowledge of procurement category strategies, 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 on 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. Please note: Only candidates that achieve an A grade at ADC will be invited to interview for this role.
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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Your knowledge of technology procurement will help drive best practice in the delivery of our agreements as well as contribute to the development of category strategies, value add services, and procurement routes to market, working closely in partnership with the CCS organisation and many central and wider public sector organisations.
Your role will be focused on the operational delivery of our agreements including supplier management activities, customer help and assistance, and working with the wider public sector to drive value (e.g. speed, innovation, commercial benefits, social value, policy implementation)
We are looking for a wide set of technology category procurement knowledge, but a focus in either digital capability, professional services, cloud, or software would be an advantage.

CCS is the largest provider of commercial agreements to Central Government and across the wider public sector, leveraging around £30bn per annum spend. As part of the Commercial Directorate you will be focused on our Technology category which delivers significant value across all aspects of IT procurement, products and services., Please be advised that the Virtual ADC is taking place on 16th December 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.
For existing Civil Servants: For full details of the impact on any move across the civil service on your existing terms and conditions, please read the candidate pack. Please note that any move across the Civil Service may have implications on your ability to continue to claim childcare vouchers.