Senior Category Lead - Newcastle upon Tyne, United Kingdom - Government Commercial Function

Government Commercial Function

Verified Company

Newcastle upon Tyne, United Kingdom

1 week ago

Posted by:

Tom O´Connor

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Description

Details:

Reference number:

Salary:

- £72,500 - £94,000

GCO Pension, GCO Terms. Up to 15% performancerelatedpay available on accreditation.

Job grade:

Grade 6
Associate Commercial Specialist
Contract type:
Permanent
Business area:
GCF
Department for Education
Type of role:
Commercial
Working pattern:
Flexible working, Fulltime, Job share, Parttime, Compressed Hours
Number of jobs available:
1Contents

Location

About the job

Benefits:

Things you need to know

Location

Coventry, Darlington, Manchester, NewcastleuponTyne, Nottingham, SheffieldAbout the job

Job summary:

Building a strong Commercial Function in Government, and with it the right commercial capability, is at the heart of a far-reaching programme of Civil Service reform.

We are building a cadre of commercial talent in all Government departments; people who can manage our commercial portfolios, who can lead our most complex and novel programmes and projects, people who have the gravitas and depth of experience to work alongside our policy and operational leaders to develop innovative commercial arrangements, whether through joint ventures, outsourcing or best-in-class contracts.

We have already made significant progress through the establishment of the Government Commercial Organisation (GCO), our single employer of senior commercial talent across government.

This role will sit within the GCO, but based in our Department for Education commercial team delivering departmental objectives.

Job description:

This senior leadership role is an opportunity to build and shape DfE commercial strategy with the objective of delivering first class commercial outcomes.

You will be accountable for all procurement activity within your team, ensuring compliance with governance policy and processes. You will have personal involvement with strategic suppliers, ensuring a robust approach to relationship management.

As a highly visible commercial leader you will build strong and trusted relationships with stakeholders at all levels across your category area.

You will work closely with senior commercial colleagues to deliver an end-to-end category model, and to support continuous improvement throughout the commercial function.

Person specification:

This is a challenging and exciting leadership role with a high degree of accountability. You will be driving functional development, encouraging teamwork and building effective relationships to deliver great commercial outcomes.

You will:

Lead a category focused team managing the full lifecycle of large, complex contracts and grants;
Be central to the development of a category strategy which will deliver best commercial outcomes, underpinning the delivery of DfE objectives;
Ensure savings targets are identified, tracked and delivered; creating initiatives for your team to deliver increasing efficiencies whilst maintaining high performance and managing risk;
Support, challenge and guide senior internal and external stakeholders; providing high quality support to Ministers, Commercial senior leadership, and other DfE stakeholders;
Ensure the team is creating positive supplier relationships, developing markets, encouraging innovation, "value add" initiatives, a strong customer service ethic, and a culture of continuous improvement;
Deliver significant organisation wide cultural change across a complex landscape through use of compliant commercial processes & facilitation of commercial capability sessions;
Represent Commercial Directorate at senior meetings across DfE and externally at industry events, actively networking with peers to remain current with industry trends and commercial best practice.

As the DfE Commercial function continues a transformational journey, you will be an advocate of change, leading and supporting your team, engaging with stakeholders to communicate and embed improved ways of working, and delivering the benefits of transformation.

You will have a commitment to high standards, demonstrate excellent influencing and relationship management skills, and contribute clear, incisive thinking on a range of areas relating to the department's most important priorities.

Technical skills:

We'll assess you against these technical skills during the selection process:

Assertive: Evidence of negotiation skills, likely to have been gained from multiple large deals. Able to demonstrate examples of having been assertive in order to secure a deal, while maintaining strong customer and supplier relationships.

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Manages Complexity: Experience of influencing senior stakeholders and suppliers in a complex commercial environment.
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Commercial Focus: Evidence of designing, shaping and agreeing innovative commercial strategies from a lead role in a complex organisation.
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Builds Relationships: Evidence of ability to gain credibility quickly, understand and digest complex and detailed inform