Senior Commercial Manager – IT Services

The Ministry of Justice is a major government department at the heart of the justice system. Responsible for courts, prisons and probation services, we work to ensure sentences are served and offenders are given rehabilitation opportunities to become law-abiding citizens.
The Commercial Directorate manages over 1000 active contracts and spends £3.5bn a year and is crucial to the successful delivery of prison and court reform programmes. It provides procurement and contract management activities across a wide range of categories, ensuring value for money agreements are in place for wider MoJ staff to source goods and services from.
We have an exciting Senior Commercial Manager role that we are looking to fill, this role sits in our Digital and Technology Commercial team. This team covers a wide range of key services delivering a range of goods and services across the MoJ.
As a Senior Commercial Manager, the successful candidate will manage a team of commercial specialists delivering supplier and contract management and procurement activities to help reduce commercial risk and exposure and increase value for money.
Working within a fast-paced environment, candidates will need to have excellent communication and organisational skills to ensure commercial processes are working effectively to meet business needs. We’re also looking for candidates that can operate in a business partnering style, therefore effective stakeholder management skills and the ability to develop strong relationships that improve commercial output are essential. Successful applicants will initially focus on roles that are contract and supplier management focused. However, a breadth of commercial experience is always advantageous as we work in an agile manner and the successful applicants will be required to support and potentially undertake procurements, and there will be the opportunity to become involved in a wide array of interesting and critical work., With an opportunity to drive value and create real difference within MOJ Digital and Technology Commercial team, the successful candidates will be part of a team responsible for the effective lifecycle management of a number of key contracts, delivering a range of goods and services across the MoJ.
The focus of the Senior Commercial Manager role will be primarily focused on Contract Management with some requirement to undertake Procurements in support of the wider Digital and Technology Commercial Team. There will be the opportunity to manage Gold IT contracts and support the transition of services as contracts are reprocured.
The roles are in an IT focused commercial team so experience in this sector is desirable, however more importantly we are looking for people with the right personal qualities – enthusiasm, energy, proactivity, collaborative. We do work in a supportive, team focused environment but there will be the opportunity for the successful candidates to take the lead on commercial process working under their own initiative. It can at times be fast paced, and demanding but there is always the opportunity to focus on how processes can be improved and there will be the opportunity to continually work on professional development.
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., + Effective contract management of all contracts within the category, establishing an understanding of them from “Cradle to Grave”,
+ Managing large, long-term contracts helping to embed and co-ordinate contract management practices,
+ Ensuring that value and quality is delivered over their entire term and that contract exit and transition are proactively planned and executed.
+ Supplier Management - building effective relationships with suppliers.
+ Responsibility for ensuring that suppliers are effectively engaged prior to any commercial activity, during the process and throughout the life of the resulting agreement and securing effective delivery of agreed services.
+ Working closely with stakeholders to establish effective, collaborative working relationships.
+ Liaising with colleagues across government to share knowledge and best practice;
+ Planning and developing procurement and exit strategies to meet business needs;
+ Engage in a timely manner with the business to allow sufficient time for commercial support on the contract lifecycle.
+ Support developing and managing the pipeline of procurements for the category;
+ Advise on best route to market and share best practices with the team;
+ Ensure timely market engagement to meet business need;
+ Planning and developing procurement and exit strategies to meet business needs;
+ Managing re-procurement activities.
+ Potential line management responsibilities, We'll assess you against these technical skills during the selection process, 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.
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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+ Manages Complexity – Experience of having had a leading role in complex commercial activities, with demonstrable experience across the commercial lifecycle
+ Commercial Focus – Track-record of delivering effective commercial processes that provide excellent value for money and a great outcome for the customers
+ Resilient – The ability to challenge senior stakeholder decisions, work under pressure, and deliver multiple projects within agreed timescales
+ Builds Relationships – The ability to build effective relationships that positively impact commercial delivery
+ Contract and Supply Management – Experience working effectively with key suppliers, and knowledge of how to effectively manage the termination/expiry of strategic contracts and transition to new suppliers

Please be advised that the Virtual ADC is taking place on 5th February 2025 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.