JOB SUMMARY

The Insolvency Service is a leading Government agency which plays a crucial role in providing essential services to the public and to business. The work we do is important to the proper functioning of markets, the economy in general and support for thousands of people each year who are in financial difficulty.
Inclusive and diverse teams are important to us. We welcome and encourage applications from everyone, including groups underrepresented in our workforce. The Insolvency Service strives to ensure that the agency is a safe, inclusive and welcoming place for everybody to bring their true self to work and to help the agency to achieve its diversity objectives. We have 10 active employee network groups available to join or become an ally, these include, Carers Network, Disability & Health, FACES Network Group, Grass Roots, LGBT+, Mind Matters, No Limits, Part Time Workers, The Shed, and Women’s Network Group.
We offer full-time, part-time, job share and flexible ways of working. We value capability, technical skills and experience and we place great emphasis on lifetime development to support our people. We encourage our employees to become more involved in areas they feel strongly about, whether it be for the benefit of the agency, though our Engagement network or in their own local communities via volunteering opportunities.
The Insolvency Service is a great place to work, learn and grow your career!

JOB DESCRIPTION

Do you want to take your public sector procurement, contract management and commercial skills to the next level?
Do you want more scope in your role, more influence and ownership, accountability and visibility?
Do you enjoy working on a variety of different types of Technology contracts and with multiple suppliers in a distributed SIAM eco-system?
If the answer is yes, we want to hear from you!
Role title: DDAT Commercial Business Partner (1 role - Enterprise Technology and Licencing Category)

PERSON SPECIFICATION

The Attributes for Government Commercial Professionals are set out in Government Commercial Function (GCF) People Standards for the Profession, Version 3.0.

In this role, you’ll be responsible for the following key areas;

• Lead specific areas of Commercial activity across the category and across the full commercial lifecycle (the entire process, Identification of need & commissioning, market engagement, sourcing strategy development, ITT, evaluation & contract award) as well as performance and relationship management. Your role shall include contract management of your portfolio through to contract termination exit or transition to alternative arrangements.
• Act as the Procurement and Contracts Manager (Commercial Business Partner) for impacting and actioning contractual / service changes that affect the Insolvency Service in your area of responsibility.
• Occasional support to the Official Receiver offering commercial advice and guidance for non-public spend.
• Risk and Opportunity Management – develop and maintain commercial risk / opportunities log across the services you manage, establishing and delivering appropriate risk mitigation.
• Communicating new / changed requirements to the wider Category team and share best practice.
• Support the Head of Category in handling supplier issues, formal challenges / disputes, providing options and making recommendations.
• Developing and sustaining relationships with internal agency and external stakeholders including DBT, Cabinet Office, GDS, GCO and CCS as well as suppliers.
• Working collaboratively and flexibly to meet the Agency’s needs in terms of commercial provision, recognising the complexities and dependencies of our contract landscape and the aims of our Agency Five Year Strategy.
• Applying robust governance and assurance to meet compliance requirements across the Agency, DBT, Cabinet Office, GDS and HMT and ensuring adherence to Government Commercial Functional Standards (“CCIAF”).
• Support the category team in implementing the new Procurement regulations.
• A confident and experienced commercial professional with proven end-to-end category management experience. You will have experience of sourcing within a range of markets, including those outlined above.
• You should have experience of and be familiar with sourcing within a Public Sector environment, i.e. use of G-Cloud, other Cross-Government Frameworks, Above Threshold Tenders etc.
• Well-developed relationship/stakeholder management skills - a strong communicator, able to challenge stakeholders and influence decisions up to Director level.
• A conscientious Procurement professional, astute and aware of the wider context of their work, particularly around risks and opportunities.
• Someone who is willing to share experiences and knowledge with colleagues, to the benefit of the wider commercial team and the agency as a whole.
• Keen to “make a difference” to the agency. Working with colleagues across the Agency to develop/inform the Agency’s sourcing strategies, seeking to streamline and simplify the overall picture. Our expertise and advice directly shape the strategy and operating models of the Insolvency Service.
• You should maintain an awareness of the market in which we operate, able to horizon scan to inform the commercial pipeline.
• Happy working collaboratively within a team, able to re-prioritise work and support colleagues when required to, sometimes at the expense of your own planned work.
• Flexible – able to successfully deal with uncertainty and change and adapt accordingly.
• A self-starter, able to take ownership of matters.

MANDATORY QUALIFICATIONS

Be CIPS qualified, working towards accreditation or willing to do so. IACCM or specialist degree may be considered as an alternative
Have achieved the Government Commercial College Contract Management Capability Programme (CMCP) Practitioner accreditation, be working towards this or willing to do so. At a later date, the Insolvency Service may elect to accredit all Procurement and Contracts Managers (Commercial Business Partners) to “Expert” level so a willingness to work towards this would be desirable.
This vacancy is advertised across 11 locations; however, Stratford and Croydon are only available to current Insolvency Service Staff. The advertised salary includes London weighting, which is only applicable to internal candidates.

TECHNICAL SKILLS

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

• Commercial Judgement
• Contract Management
• Procurement Process
• Presentation

NATIONALITY REQUIREMENTS

This job is broadly open to the following groups:

• UK nationals
• nationals of the Republic of Ireland
• nationals of Commonwealth countries who have the right to work in the UK
• nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities with settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS)
• nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities who have made a valid application for settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS)
• individuals with limited leave to remain or indefinite leave to remain who were eligible to apply for EUSS on or before 31 December 2020
• Turkish nationals, and certain family members of Turkish nationals, who have accrued the right to work in the Civil Service

Further information on nationality requirements

RESPONSIBILITIES

The current vacancy sits within our Enterprise Technology & Licencing Category, which along with the Digital and Operational IT (DOIT) Category Team comprises the DDAT expertise within the Commercial function.
The Enterprise Technology & Licencing team is responsible for all enterprise wide IT commercial sourcing and contract management, supporting enabling technologies including for example Network Services, MFD (Printer) services, Document Repository services, Hosting, End User Compute, SIAM, Cyber Security, Microsoft Enterprise licencing. The team works closely with technology and business stakeholders, garnering market intelligence and maintaining key business and supplier relationships, working closely with DDAT colleagues in the DOIT team.
The Digital and Operational IT (DOIT) category team is responsible for all commercial sourcing and contract management in relation to the delivery of IT-related services specific to our operational teams, such as the delivery and development of the agency’s case management system (CMS), key Customer Digital Services such as the Debt Relief Orders, Redundancy Payments and Breathing Space services as well as managing licensing and applications development and integrations for our operational colleagues’ Commercial Off-The-Shelf (COTS) software solutions. The category is also responsible for undertaking commercial activity in support of some of the agency’s leading-edge activities in areas such as Generative AI and Automation.
Reporting to one of the Grade 7 (D2) Heads of Category, you will be responsible for leading on a portfolio of commercial activity within the DDAT space in the Insolvency Service’s wider Commercial team. We operate a cross functional relationship model and you’ll build relationships and manage stakeholders across a directorate and the agency, in order to provide them with commercial support for their varying requirements and existing and future contracts.
This role offers a unique opportunity to work with technology colleagues and across the organisation to support the underpinning business and IT strategies to improve our services to the public and the country, by providing commercial insight and expertise.

In this role, you’ll be responsible for the following key areas;

• Lead specific areas of Commercial activity across the category and across the full commercial lifecycle (the entire process, Identification of need & commissioning, market engagement, sourcing strategy development, ITT, evaluation & contract award) as well as performance and relationship management. Your role shall include contract management of your portfolio through to contract termination exit or transition to alternative arrangements.
• Act as the Procurement and Contracts Manager (Commercial Business Partner) for impacting and actioning contractual / service changes that affect the Insolvency Service in your area of responsibility.
• Occasional support to the Official Receiver offering commercial advice and guidance for non-public spend.
• Risk and Opportunity Management – develop and maintain commercial risk / opportunities log across the services you manage, establishing and delivering appropriate risk mitigation.
• Communicating new / changed requirements to the wider Category team and share best practice.
• Support the Head of Category in handling supplier issues, formal challenges / disputes, providing options and making recommendations.
• Developing and sustaining relationships with internal agency and external stakeholders including DBT, Cabinet Office, GDS, GCO and CCS as well as suppliers.
• Working collaboratively and flexibly to meet the Agency’s needs in terms of commercial provision, recognising the complexities and dependencies of our contract landscape and the aims of our Agency Five Year Strategy.
• Applying robust governance and assurance to meet compliance requirements across the Agency, DBT, Cabinet Office, GDS and HMT and ensuring adherence to Government Commercial Functional Standards (“CCIAF”).
• Support the category team in implementing the new Procurement regulations.
• A confident and experienced commercial professional with proven end-to-end category management experience. You will have experience of sourcing within a range of markets, including those outlined above.
• You should have experience of and be familiar with sourcing within a Public Sector environment, i.e. use of G-Cloud, other Cross-Government Frameworks, Above Threshold Tenders etc.
• Well-developed relationship/stakeholder management skills - a strong communicator, able to challenge stakeholders and influence decisions up to Director level.
• A conscientious Procurement professional, astute and aware of the wider context of their work, particularly around risks and opportunities.
• Someone who is willing to share experiences and knowledge with colleagues, to the benefit of the wider commercial team and the agency as a whole.
• Keen to “make a difference” to the agency. Working with colleagues across the Agency to develop/inform the Agency’s sourcing strategies, seeking to streamline and simplify the overall picture. Our expertise and advice directly shape the strategy and operating models of the Insolvency Service.
• You should maintain an awareness of the market in which we operate, able to horizon scan to inform the commercial pipeline.
• Happy working collaboratively within a team, able to re-prioritise work and support colleagues when required to, sometimes at the expense of your own planned work.
• Flexible – able to successfully deal with uncertainty and change and adapt accordingly.
• A self-starter, able to take ownership of matters

To be successful in this role you should;

• Ability to deliver at pace, manage competing priorities, and considering multiple solutions to achieve the desired outcome in collaboration with stakeholders. This includes both the sourcing process and quality contract drafting and handover into Contract Management.
• Be able to demonstrate your skills in identifying, influencing and applying best route to market and contracting options, including Frameworks (CCS, ESPO, YPO, G-Cloud, DOS etc), FTS, Dynamic Purchasing Systems etc. You must also be able to exercise good judgement in selecting appropriate sourcing strategies, and consideration of cost optimisation.
• Demonstrate hands-on experience of leading Commercial activity in a Business Partner role where you have managed relationships with stakeholders as well as undertaking Sourcing and Contract Management activities (such as managing contract exits and transition).
• Be CIPS qualified, working towards accreditation or willing to do so. IACCM or specialist degree may be considered as an alternative.
• Have achieved the Government Commercial College Contract Management Capability Programme (CMCP) Practitioner accreditation, be working towards this or willing to do so. At a later date, the Insolvency Service may elect to accredit all Procurement and Contracts Managers (Commercial Business Partners) to “Expert” level so a willingness to work towards this would be desirable

We want you to have a good work-life balance and want to support you in all that you do, so we offer a great benefits package including:

• flexible working arrangements and flexi-time
• full time new entrants to the Civil Service and those Civil Servants on modernised terms and conditions will be entitled to 25 days leave increasing on a sliding scale to 30 days after 5 years’ service
• in addition to this you are entitled to 8 public/bank holidays plus an additional day of privilege leave
• competitive maternity, paternity and parental leave
• 5 days paid leave for learning and development
• 5 days paid for volunteering
• a Cycle to work scheme
• staff have access to an employee assistance programme, Workplace Wellness, for confidential, independent support and advice during difficult times in either their professional or personal lif