Commercial Manager (Software and Cloud Hosting)(Ref: 81476)

We encourage applications from people from all backgrounds and aim to have a workforce that represents the wider society that we serve. We pride ourselves on being an employer of choice. We champion diversity, inclusion and wellbeing and aim to create a workplace where everyone feels valued and a sense of belonging. To find out more about how we do this visit: https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/ministry-of-justice/about/equality-and-diversity.

ABOUT THE DEPARTMENT

The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) 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 Ministry of Justice (MoJ) has one of the largest and most complex spend profiles in central government. The Commercial and Contract Management Directorate (CCMD) is responsible for coordinating procurement and contract management across the MoJ, its agencies and non-departmental public bodies.

The MoJ spends £6.7bn a year and manages over 1000 active contracts, all of which are sourced and managed by CCMD. We are running some of the most groundbreaking programmes such as Prison Reform and His Majesty’s Courts and Tribunal Service Reform. The scope of our contracts ranges from building, maintenance and the operation of Prisons, Courts and Young Offender establishments through to food for prison dogs. The directorate also buys and manages contracts for feeding up to 80,000 prisoners, the secure escorting of prisoners from numerous establishments based around the country and translation services.

CCMD is organised into category teams, each with an interesting portfolio of contracts and diverse customers and suppliers to manage. We also have systems, programme management office, supplier relationship and risk management teams who work across all areas. 

SCOPE

Portfolio – Software & Cloud Hosting Team

The Software & Cloud Hosting team within CCMD procures and manages all the Software and Cloud Hosting services across the department and its agencies. It manages an annual spend value of c. £600m a year on a diverse set of products and services ranging from software licences and subscriptions, enterprise agreements, licenced service provider agreements, cloud hosting services, to delivering complex digital programmes and emerging technologies. 

These roles sit within the Software and Cloud Hosting team which manages the following categories:

• Software: This category manages all the contracts related to the software licences and subscriptions. Our work includes the purchase and contract management of both bespoke and off the shelf software for both Ministry of Justice (MOJ), its arm’s length bodies (ALBs) and the wider MOJ estate.
• Cloud Hosting: This category manages contracts related to the cloud infrastructure of the Ministry of Justice.

The role holders will be required to manage the end-to-end commercial process for contracts within the Software and Cloud Hosting category. Utilising their understanding of government commercial policies and process, they will assist the implementation of the commercial continuous improvement assurance framework (CCIAF) within the relevant categories of spend.

The role holders will use their commercial expertise to deliver value for money outcomes for the business areas we serve. They will contribute to savings targets and be responsible for reporting commercial data.

The role holders will take a collaborative approach to working with suppliers and key stakeholders. They must have the ability to explain complex commercial issues in a simplified manner and communicate the commercial benefits to their approach to work.   

Key Responsibilities

• Managing the end-to-end procurement cycle for software and cloud hosting contracts; from defining the requirement and the route to market; the management of the procurement activities; through to contract management activities. 
• Understanding the client needs and how they apply to the procurement of software and cloud hosting
• Implementation of Government Commercial Function (GCF) policy and principals, particularly the Digital Data and Technology (DDAT) playbook. 
• Working with key stakeholders to ensure that appropriate commercial controls are applied to the procurement.
• Drafting Procurement strategy
• Utilising market insight and working with analysts to better manage contracts and suppliers.
• Implementing key government initiatives such as sustainable procurement, carbon net zero emissions and a commitment to eradicating modern slavery in government contracts
• Utilising digital solutions (such as Jaggaer) to record, manage procurement and contract management activities, report savings and publish notices.
• Commercial administration, scrutiny and approval of requisition and purchase orders.
• Procurement activities including drafting of specifications, drafting contracts,
• Leading contract implementation and management activity, working closely with stakeholders to deliver mobilisation, performance management, contract variation, negotiation and exit activities.
• Management of a range of internal and external stakeholders.
• Supplier Relationship Management of key strategic suppliers
• Working with the Software and Licensing Asset Managers to drive efficiency and improved utilisation of contracts.
• Developing and implementing strategies for cost savings, through efficiency savings and the negotiation of pricing/discounts.
• Strategy development at contract level, using business acumen and software and cloud hosting market insight to drive commercial opportunities to deliver continuous improvement, value for money and/or savings
• Analysing market, spend and performance data and presenting this to support commercial activity and reporting requirements.
• Leading on collaborative commercial opportunities, working with other government departments
• Leading conflict and issue resolution with suppliers and stakeholders, seeking support from the Senior Commercial Manager where appropriate.
• Supporting the Senior Commercial Manager and leading on activities which support the development of category management procedures, tools and ways of working
• Ensuring compliance with the Public Contract Regulations 2015, Policy Procurement Notices and other governance, legislative and policy requirements as appropriate.
• Liaising with the Crown Commercial Service (CCS) to better understand and utilise framework agreements, to facilitate procurements.
• Representing MOJ at wider public sector forums and working groups.
• Delivery of continuous improvement in the way we operate to drive best practice for our contracts.

Person Specification

Essential Criteria:

• Experience of supplier relationship management,
• Understanding of Government Commercial Function policies such as the sourcing playbook,
• A strong understanding of public procurement and the Public Contracts Regulations,
• Experience of technology and digital contracting, with experience of having run an end-to-end commercial procurement in this area
• Strong understanding of contract management practices, in line with Government Commercial Organisation (GCO) and GCF policies.
• Strong negotiation skills,
• Excellent people engagement skills across all levels of internal and external stakeholders,
• Delivery and management of contractual agreements,
• An understanding of relevant commercial risks and mitigation strategies,
• Ability to work at pace, juggling multiple work streams at once,
• Relevant commercial & procurement management experience with a strong understanding of the end-to-end procurement process,
• A collaborative approach to drive decisions and deliver on timely outcomes,
• Customer and delivery focus to meet deadlines in a fast paced and ever-changing environment,
• Strong verbal and written communication skills. 

Desirable Criteria:

• Experience in a public sector Digital and Technology commercial role including management of Software, Applications, Hosting or network contracts,
• Working knowledge of procurement systems, e.g. Oracle and/or Jaggaer (Bravo),
• Experience of purchase to pay (P2P) systems e.g SOP
• Category Management experience,
• Understanding of commercial spend requirements,
• Experience of commercial management of bespoke digital and technological solutions.
• Understanding of public sector payment mechanisms
• Strong written and verbal communication skills, particularly in delivering commercial advice to senior leaders,
• Evidence of strong data analysis skills and presenting data in a clear and user-friendly way,
• An understanding of the CCS memorandum of understanding (MOU) for technology products.
• Experience of having used public sector frameworks e.g Crown Commercial Service (CCS) G-Cloud, CCS Cloud Compute; and an understanding for how they operate.

Application stage (Sifting):

An initial sift will be performed against the following elements:

Experience

• CV
• Statement of Suitability – 750-word limit 

Areas of experience that we’ll assess, through the CV and Statement of Suitability, during the selection process may include:

• Evidence of defining requirements, market analysis and sourcing activities.
• Evidence of having worked on the commercial teams delivering procurement and contract management activities for digital and technology projects.
• Evidence of excellent stakeholder management experience, collaborative working and supplier relationship management.

Behaviours

• Delivering at Pace (250 words),
• Making Effective Decisions (250 words), and
• Seeing the Bigger Picture (250 words). 

If shortlisted, you’ll be invited to an interview and will be assessed on the selected success profile elements at the interview stage. Please carry a valid proof of Id that has your photo on it (passport, BRP, driving licence etc) at the interview.

Interview stage:

There is one interview stage for this vacancy and as part of the interview process you will be required to provide evidence on the following: 

Behaviours

• Delivering at Pace,
• Communicating and influencing,
• Making Effective Decisions, and
• Seeing the Bigger Picture. 

Experience

Throughout the interview, we will assess your experience of delivering end-to-end projects, as well as your understanding and experience of procurement and contract management within digital and technology. We will also ascertain your understanding of Government Commercial Function (GCF) and Government Commercial Organisation (GCO) policy and process. Furthermore, we will look at how you manage competing priorities, manage suppliers and stakeholders, and work collaboratively.

Please also refer to the People Standards for the profession (Associate Commercial Lead) – Attributes for Government Commercial Professionals – Section A: Judgement and Leadership. [https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/984460/__Government_Commercial_Function__GCF__People_Standards_for_the_Profession_Version_3.0_.pdf  

Please use STAR approach to structure your examples.

• Situation – Describe the situation you found yourself in and what happened.
• Task – The Hiring Manager will want to understand what you tried to achieve from the situation that you found yourself in.
• Action – What actions did you take and how did you do it. Make sure to use “I”, not “we” to explain how your actions lead to a result.
• Result – Use facts and statistics to demonstrate the results that your actions produced. Explain whether it was a successful outcome, and if not, what you learned from the experience.

Further information on the Success profile elements can be found on Success Profiles – GOV.UK (www.gov.uk) 

 New entrants are expected to join on the pay minimum. Higher starting salary and / or Recruitment & Retention Allowance (RRA) may be available for successful candidates with exceptional skills and experience. 

‘’The specialist allowance applies to suitably qualified candidates (CIPS, World CC or any other Commercial Professional Qualification). We will consider applications from non-qualified candidates, who are willing to develop and work towards a recognised qualification in order to meet the full requirements of the role. Further details can be provided during the recruitment process’’ 

We’ll assess you against these behaviours during the selection process:

• Delivering at Pace
• Making Effective Decisions
• Seeing the Big Picture
• Communicating and Influencing

• Access to learning and development
• A working environment that supports a range of flexible working options to enhance your work life balance
• A working culture which encourages inclusion and diversity
• A Civil Service pension with an average employer contribution of 27%
• Annual Leave
• Public Holidays
• Season Ticket Advance

For more information about the recruitment process, benefits and allowances and answers to general queries, please click the below link which will direct you to our Candidate Information Page.

Link: https://justicejobs.tal.net/vx/candidate/cms/About%20the%20MOJ

Job contact :

• Name : SSCL Recruitment Enquiries Team
• Email : Moj-recruitment-vetting-enquiries@gov.sscl.com
• Telephone : 0845 241 5359

Recruitment team

• Email : Moj-recruitment-vetting-enquiries@gov.sscl.com