Commercial Manager (Procurement)(ref: 81740)

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 – HMCTS – Language Services

This is a fantastic opportunity to work in a team which is responsible for the commercial management and procurement of the Ministry’s interpretation and translation contracts.

These contracts provide for interpreters (face-to-face, telephone, video remote, non-spoken and written translation) as well as quality assurance services. These services ensure access to justice for people who need language support to participate in court proceedings or communicate with other agencies within the Ministry, including the Legal Aid Agency, National Probation Service and others.

This role will expose the successful candidate to the commercial lifecycle, including above FTS threshold procurement, and the opportunity to present work and strategies to senior stakeholders as part of the governance route. 

Key Responsibilities

1. Leading procurement activities including the development of evaluation criteria, performance metrics and ITT documents
2. Leading contract implementation and management activity, working closely with stakeholders to deliver mobilisation and exit activity
3. Plan, deliver and track commercial activity ensuring that it is delivered to time
4. Provide market insight and intelligence to support the delivery of high-quality outcomes through commercial activity
5. Leading on collaborative commercial opportunities, working with other government departments nationally
6. Work across different stakeholders within HMCTS, and wider Ministry of Justice with a view to providing the best possible commercial service to HMCTS
7. Working across CCMD to share best practice and building a strong network 

Person Specification

Essential Criteria:

• A proven track-record delivering end-to-end contracting life cycle including shaping business requirements, procurement, contract and supplier management;
• Strong business acumen and ability to show logical, evidence-based decision making;
• Excellent written and oral communication skills;
• Experience managing relationships with other commercial teams, contractors and stakeholders. Must be able to work across teams and bring people together to achieve a common objective;
• Ownership of tasks/projects from initial stages through to completion
• Awareness of public sector procurement legislation 

Desirable Criteria:

• Application of public sector procurement legislation in a central government setting
• Working knowledge of Procurement Systems, e.g. Oracle and/or Bravo
• MCIPS or IACCM qualification or relevant industry experience and a willingness to work towards gaining qualification 

Application stage (Sifting):

An initial sift will be performed against the following elements:

• CV
• Statement of Suitability (max 500 words) explaining how you meet the criteria 

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

• Making Effective Decisions
• Changing and Improving
• Delivering at Pace
• Communicating and Influencing

Technical

We’ll assess you against these technical skills (Government Commercial Function – People Standards for the Profession) during the interview process by exploring a hypothetical scenario to test your knowledge and ability :

• Government Commercial Function – People Standards for the Profession (Commercial Practitioner) Section B: Expertise. 5. Procurement Process 

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:

• Making Effective Decisions
• Changing and Improving
• Delivering at Pace
• Communicating and Influencing

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

• Government Commercial Function – People Standards for the Profession (Commercial Practitioner) Section B: Expertise. 5. Procurement Process

• 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