Senior Commercial Lead
Government Commercial Function
Apply before 11:55 pm on Sunday 27th October 2024
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About the job
Job summary
Thank you for taking the time to find out about this exciting role that will occupy a key position within the UK Export Finance (UKEF) new commercial function.
UKEF is the UK’s export credit agency and a government department strategically and operationally aligned with the Department for Business Trade. Founded in 1919 as the world’s first export credit agency, we have been innovating since day one, and now have over 100 years’ track record supporting UK exports. We support UK exports – from companies large and small – helping to create economic growth and support jobs across the UK.
The Commercial Function was launched on 31st July 2023, with a clear mandate to develop and execute a strong commercial strategy to support UKEF achieve its strategic ambitions set out in the 2024 business plan.
This new function offers a fantastic opportunity for a commercial professional to be involved in the early stages of our development and shaping our future success. We are looking for individuals who are eager to work in this new and dynamic environment, people who have the experience and dedication to deliver the best commercial outcomes for UKEF.
About the Function:
We are responsible for the delivery of all UKEF commercial activity including sourcing strategies, procurements, supplier and contract performance and the implementation of government policy and standards across the organisation.
The function is made up of three Teams:
Sourcing – developing sourcing strategies and leading the procurement of contracts to both service UKEF requirements and achieve value for money outcomes
Projects, Partnerships & Policy – delivering commercial projects and implementing policy to embed best practice across the wider organisation and adhere to defined regulations
Contract Management – delivering effective contract management to maximise supplier performance and commercial outcomes.
This role will sit within the Sourcing Team; however, the expectation is that the successful candidate will work across multiple workstreams, supporting the overarching strategy and vision of the wider function where required.
Job description
The Senior Commercial Lead is a critical role within the UKEF Commercial Function responsible for developing and delivering sourcing strategies across all UKEF categories.
The successful candidate you will have the opportunity to work with a high degree of autonomy, work flexibly across the whole commercial function and be accountable for driving commercial performance by applying your expertise and experience to deliver great commercial outcomes
This is a challenging and rewarding role providing the opportunity to make a real difference and help to continue the positive impact this newly formed commercial function has and to build towards an exceptional commercial service for UKEF. You will help set the vision and culture to build and create a commercial reputation, highly regarded both within UKEF and within the GCO.
This role provides a unique opportunity to:
- work within an integrated team, leading on commercial solutions and procurements across the UKEF contract portfolio.
- work flexibly in a new and ambitious commercial function with opportunities to use and develop a wider skillset across the whole commercial lifecycle
be part of a team that makes a strong impact on business delivery with the potential for line management responsibility
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
Key responsibilities will include:
- Ownership of the creation and execution of complex sourcing strategies, working with business owners, the market and wider government commercial community;
- Lead on sourcing activities, working across business functions to deliver commercial outcomes that deliver quantifiable benefits;
- Provide professional procurement advice and insight to inform strategies and business owners to ensure commercial risk is effectively managed across the contract portfolio and offer category insight where required;
- working alongside other Senior Commercial Leads including Contract Management Leads or have line management accountability for Senior Executive Officers or Higher Executive Officers.
Further responsibilities will include:
- Build key partnerships across the business and wider government commercial community to ensure compliance with policy, standards and drive best practice;
- Contribute to the development of effective tools and continuous best practice to help UKEF in assessing, baselining and continuously improving commercial capability through the application of the Commercial Operating Standards in all commercial activity;
- Use spend analytics and market intelligence to inform commercial options and identify opportunities to reduce cost and improve performance;
- Play a key leadership and change management role in developing a strong commercial function for UKEF;
- Lead on at least one cross-functional focus area within UKEF commercial, such as systems and data, social value, supplier segmentation, assurance, risk etc.
- Drive functional development, encouraging teamwork and building effective relationships to deliver great commercial outcomes.
Technical skills
We'll assess you against these technical skills during the selection process:
- Procurement Process - Has experience in managing the end-to-end procurement process across an area of responsibility for medium value and medium risk contracts
- Commercial Focus - Strong stakeholder engagement skills, present technical advice in order to influence internal and external decision making. Ability to articulate commercial motivations and behaviours of stakeholders, suppliers and networks
- Risk Mindset - Demonstrates the ability to analyse risks and understand margins of error in developing recommendations and making effective decisions
- Team Focus - Demonstrates the ability to manage and build confidence in a team in order to deal with setbacks, resolve internal issues and can implement change at a local level by working with affected parties to identify & overcome challenges
- Builds Relationships - Strong commercial knowledge, understands the need for trade-offs, apply the commercial principles within the boundaries of contract law. Ability to secure ‘value for money’ through achieving ROI on commercial projects
Benefits
Please note that any move across the Civil Service on or after 4 October 2018 may have implications on an employee’s ability to carry on claiming childcare vouchers.
Things you need to know
Selection process details
Please be advised that the Virtual ADC is taking place on 12th November 2024 and will require a full day's attendance.
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.
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Working for the Civil Service
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).
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Contact point for applicants
Job contact :
- Name : Hayley Parfitt
- Email : commercialresourcinghub@cabinetoffice.gov.uk
Recruitment team
- Email : commercialresourcinghub@cabinetoffice.gov.uk
Further information
