Head of Sector Insights and Commercial Strategy

In DHSC, we are proud of our purpose - to enable everyone to live more independent, healthier lives for longer. To achieve this, and create a great place to work, we have four values: we are inclusive, we constantly improve, we challenge, and we are agile. If this sounds like an environment you'd like to work in, we'd love to hear from you. The Commercial Directorate is a strategic and enabling function that supports all DHSC's commercial interactions with third parties and ministers in delivering their agenda. Our mission is to ensure that health and care policy is implemented at best value for the taxpayer. We do this by leading and overseeing the department's direct commercial activity, implementing commercial policies across DHSC and its arm's length bodies, and acting as advisors to the Secretary of State. Our vision is to provide a world-class commercial service to enable the health and care system to deliver for the public - we aim to be the best in government commercial for technical expertise and customer focus. This is an exciting time to be part of the DHSC Commercial Directorate (CD) with an ever-growing need for policy and commercial professions to work closely to solve some of the most fascinating challenges in health and care. The Head of Sector Insights and Commercial Strategy post sit in the Sector Insights and Commercial Strategy Team (SI & CS) of the Commercial Strategy and Partnerships division which is part of the CD. Within SI & CS we believe diversity of perspectives improves our service and decision making. The team consists of people from wide range of backgrounds and professions, including, commercial/commissioning, policy and project delivery, health and social care. The post of Head of Sector Insights and Commercial Strategy is a highly varied role, that requires strategic thinking, the ability to deal with ambiguity and build relationships quickly. The role is to lead a multi-disciplinary team in their work to ensure commercial and market considerations are embedded in policy design. This role specifically leads the work on sector insights for Social Care, Local Authorities and Integrated Care Boards. The team offers an inward and outward facing service to senior DHSC policy officials, Ministers, and our ALBs. We provide long-term strategic commercial advice and support to major policy agendas with significant market forces in play. The department spends or influences billions of pounds through commissions and market policy, outside of core procurement and contracting. The team operates as a trusted partner with policy colleagues, taking commissions for fieldwork, industry consultation, market research, policy options appraisal and implementation design. Projects within the team a broad ranging and examples include social care reform, medicines pricing, life sciences collaborations, obesity interventions. Responsibilities

• Lead a team and giving strategic direction;
• Lead a multi-disciplinary team that ensures commercial considerations are a key part of DHSC policy making and embedded into policy thinking from the earliest stages;
• Lead a team to develop deep sector knowledge and use that knowledge and experience to work with policy areas, using a collaborative approach to bring a business, financial and commercial perspective to policy design and delivery. Offering a valued service that is credible and valued by our colleagues and includes bespoke project work, deep dive reviews, make vs buy analysis, stakeholder engagement and consultation, commercial options appraisal, market assessments plus market and sector engagement;
• Prioritise resources to ensure your team can deliver projects and advice for policy teams on some of the most complex and high-profile areas across the department and works across the Health and Care system. This will include managing a diverse workload across multiple independent projects whilst meeting deadlines and providing high quality work;
• To use creative thinking, commercial awareness, and experience to make well-informed judgements and influential proposals to policy colleagues. This will include drawing on additional expertise in analysing complex or conflicting evidence, presenting options, and making recommendations to enable the most appropriate solutions to be developed;
• Lead engagement with markets and suppliers to ensure policies and strategies are deliverable;
• Foster deep relationships within the Department, across the NHS and the wider health and care system, other Arms-Length Bodies (ALBs) and government departments;
• Ensure value for money. Briefing ministers and senior leaders across Health and Care organisations, providing recommendations to shape service transformation and design, and encouraging innovation including through digital solutions and new technology;
• Work Collaboratively and establish, build, and maintain relationships with key stakeholders who are of strategic importance to the organisation. This may include internal Ministers and senior employees from the DHSC or external government departments or organisations, (recognising potential differing views and priorities);
• Engaging with DHSC Policy Units to generate new project opportunities by assessing the strategic commercial implications of new policies and projects, potential to improve services, improve efficiency or generate revenue from public sector assets/activities;
• Build deep sector insights knowledge to better understand the structure, functions and significant activities in key sectors within the health and care system. Supporting the delivery of health and care outcomes at best value for the tax payer;
• Support the Deputy Director to brief ministers and senior leaders both in person and via submissions which summarise the issues and seek their advice, approval, or action;
• Lead by example, role modelling ethics, integrity, impartiality and the elimination of bias by building a diverse team and promoting a work environment that supports the Civil Service values and code.