Job Description

Commercial

The Ministry of Justice has one of the largest and most complex spending profiles in central government. Each year we spend more than £5 billion with our suppliers and it’s our job to help coordinate the sourcing of what we need. We support the management of our contracts across the department, its agencies and non‑departmental public bodies.

Commercial is responsible for coordinating procurement and contract management across the MoJ, its agencies and non-departmental public bodies. Commercial 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.

Rehabilitation Services (Community)

The Probation Services team within the Ministry of Justice’s Commercial Directorate - part of the Government Commercial Function - lead the end-to-end commercial lifecycle management for all outsourced probation services. As part of this we have established the largest dynamic purchasing system in the public sector to cover a suite of core rehabilitation services.

This role within the Probation Services team provides an excellent opportunity to develop your commercial skillset in a fast-paced environment, whilst contributing to the delivery of a high-profile service aimed at reducing reoffending in our society.

We are seeking an individual who will have a desire to take ownership and bring new ideas, with a commitment to continuous improvement, collaboration and knowledge sharing.

Role Summary

In this role you will be expected to own contract management activity for one (or more) of the organisation’s medium complexity/medium value contracts, ensuring the best outcomes are achieved across the commercial lifecycle. The role includes activity relating to: mobilising contracts, managing the delivery and performance of the contract, carrying out contract changes, managing risk within the contract and managing contract transition and exit.

You will work independently and part of a larger team by drawing on your commercial experience to drive performance and manage setbacks. You will be able to prioritise and manage your own workload to deliver to deadlines, mitigate and escalate any emerging risks and to respond swiftly to changing operational demands.

Key Responsibilities

This role is varied, and individual remit is subject to regional and national priorities with varying levels of complexity, value and risk. Typically, the key responsibilities in this role will include (but are not limited to):

• Building and maintaining key relationships across the department, probation regions and with important stakeholders:

• Developing effective working relationships with your Commercial Business Partner, key internal stakeholders and functional areas.

• Devise and deploy effective and proportional commercial engagement and strategies to drive value for money, commercial compliance & enhanced commercial capability within the probation regions.

• Provide commercial expertise and advice where needed including representation at project, contract and governance & assurance boards.

• Provision of commercial advice to stakeholders on all aspects of the commercial lifecycle.

• Working with key stakeholders to develop a clear and agreed view of business requirements, and supporting business units in articulating and acquiring their commercial requirements. This may include drafting of Memorandum Of Understandings and direct awards.

• Ensuring the control and delivery of all spend through pipeline activity planning, compliant contracts and publishing details via appropriate media as required.

• Agreeing and clarifying contract management responsibilities with stakeholders and advising them on setting up effective processes.

• Developing opportunities for performance improvement (where appropriate) and identifying and implementing changes in the contract if required.

• Managing multiple, more complex requirements/projects and contracts concurrently.

• Maintaining quality and concurrency of systems, reporting and management information

• Mentoring and providing guidance to junior members of the team

• Working within a secure environment on sensitive projects as required

• Some of the roles may involve line management

As part of your own personal career development in the Commercial team, there could be opportunities to move roles at the same grade.  In some circumstances, we may need to move you on to business-critical priorities at the same grade to meet business need.

Essential Criteria

Contract Management: Has proven experience and understanding of public sector commercial legislation and principles of end-to-end commercial lifecycle, demonstrating contract management for one or more complex, high value contracts. Evidence of leading and securing ‘value for money’ in a commercial environment. Has strong commercial knowledge, understands commercial law and can use key commercial tools appropriately

Commercial Focus: Has strong commercial knowledge (procurement and contract management), understands commercial law and can use key commercial tools appropriately

Risk and Assurance Management: Demonstrates the ability to manage cyber, personnel and physical risks within an area of responsibility

Commercial Ethics: Demonstrates the ability to apply standards to eliminate corruption, fraud and unethical behaviour in supply chains, taking appropriate actions in the event of any alleged breach of standards

Team Focus: Demonstrates the ability to work as part of a team to support their performance, manage setbacks and resolve issues internally

Build Relationships: Demonstrates the ability to communicate with stakeholders at all levels using different communication styles to articulate the benefits that have been achieved and to establish governance and relationship arrangements

Desirable Criteria

• Working knowledge of systems, e.g. Oracle and/or Jaggaer (Bravo).

• Awareness of public sector commercial legislation including EU Rules and UK interpretations. 

• Candidates must have one of the following or a willingness to work towards gaining the appropriate qualification in the procurement or commercial management profession - CIPS, World CC or similar.

Application Stage

An initial sift will be performed against the following elements and will be assessed against the Civil Service success profiles framework:

• CV

• Statement of Suitability (Up to 500 words): In the statement of suitability, please demonstrate your skills for the role and how you meet the key responsibilities as detailed in the job description.

Behaviours

• Communicating & Influencing

Experience

• Please tell us about your public sector experiences in contract management (max 500 words).

If shortlisted, you will be invited to an interview and will be assessed on the selected success profile elements at the interview stage.

Interview Stage

There is one interview stage for this vacancy which will be held remotely and as part of the interview process you will be required to provide evidence on the following, and will be assessed against the Civil Service success profiles framework:

Behaviours

• Communicating and Influencing

• Making Effective Decisions

• Developing Self and Others

• Managing a Quality Service

Experience

• There will be a question based around your experience on public sector experiences in contract management.

Strengths

Strengths maybe assessed at the interview, and these are not shared in advance.

To learn more about the Civil Service success profiles framework and how they are assessed please click here.

Please use STAR approach to structure your examples for both the application and interview for behaviours. Using the STAR method can help you give examples of relevant experience that you have. It allows you to set the scene, show what you did, and how you did it, and explain the overall outcome.

Situation: Describe the situation you found yourself in. You must describe a specific event or situation. Be sure to give enough detail for the job holder to understand.

• Where are you?

• Who was there with you?

• What had happened?

Task: The job holder will want to understand what you tried to achieve from the situation you found yourself in.

• What was the task that you had to complete and why?

• What did you have to achieve?

Actions: What did you do? The job holder will be looking for information on what you did, how you did it and why. Keep the focus on you. What specific steps did you take and what was your contribution? Remember to include how you did it, and the behaviours you used. Try to use “I" rather than “we" to explain your actions that lead to the result. Be careful not to take credit for something that you did not do.

Results: Don’t be shy about taking credit for your behaviour. Quote specific facts and figures. Explain how the outcome benefitted the organisation or your area. Make the outcomes easily understandable.

• What results did the actions produce?

• What did you achieve through your actions and did you meet your goals?

• Was it a successful outcome? If not, what did you learn from the experience?

Keep the situation and task parts brief. Concentrate on the action and the result. If the result was not entirely successful describe what you learned from this and what you would do differently next time. Make sure you focus on your strengths.

Commercial Roles

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

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.

The specialist allowance may apply to fully qualified applicants with a commercial professional qualification, for example CIPS, World CC, etc.

Further details can be provided during the recruitment process.