AMS PSR

On behalf of the Department for Education, we are looking for a Commercial Practitioner - Inside IR35 for a 6 month contract working on a Hybrid basis (2/3 days per week in Darlington, Sheffield, Manchester or Coventry office and remaining WFH)

About the role:

As a Commercial Practitioner, you will play a critical role within a category contributing to the identification and development of opportunities to achieve significant efficiency and value to schools through the delivery of the best possible commercial outcomes.

As the successful candidate you will be involved in and lead elements of the design and delivery of the category strategy which may include procurements, stakeholder engagement with the sector and sector bodies to shape, create and influence compliant value propositions and initiatives.

You will be engaging and building relationships directly with the school's sector, suppliers, industry bodies and wider stakeholders. This is a great time to join us to help shape our future success.

If you an experienced commercial practitioner who would like to develop your broader skill set across category management, stakeholder and supplier engagement and project delivery to achieve efficiency and value for money this role is a great opportunity for you. This is a great time to join us to help shape our future success.

The main duties and responsibilities of the Commercial Practitioner would be:

• Understanding of the supply market, category, and business context to inform and deliver the commercial strategy for your designated category.
• Leading and delivering key elements of the end-to-end commercial lifecycle, particularly in pre-market engagement, supplier engagement & management & contract management.
• Designing, developing & maintaining products specific to support the category commercial solutions
• Building strong relationships with key suppliers to deliver robust contract management with a strong focus on performance management and driving continuous improvement
• Engaging with stakeholders both internally and externally including but not limited to Trusts/ Schools and sector bodies to develop strong relationships and ensure a quality service
• Leading and manage a range of tasks associated with delivering all stages of the project/commercial solutions e.g. onboarding to the energy service including the transition from a project environment to live running.
• Responsibility for maintaining the data capture of information from schools and suppliers to support and contribute to our reporting requirements.
• Proactively leading, supporting and challenging stakeholders throughout the design and mobilisation of the project commercial life cycle.
• Contributing to the development, maintenance and delivery of the category savings plan
• Complying fully with public procurement law, DFE commercial procedure, policy, and assurance processes.

Essential:

• Proven end to end procurement experience with up to date knowledge of public procurement regulations and contemporary commercial methodologies including PA2023 and PCR2015
• Experienced managing multiple strands of various complex procurements, through the full lifecycle (strategy, market engagement, competition design, evaluation, award, and mobilisation).
• Previous experience in IT, Tech and Digital sector
• Experience of building and influencing strong, productive relationships at all levels and with a variety of stakeholders with different backgrounds, perspectives, and motivations, in a highly complex, dynamic, and commercially focused environment.
• Ability to engage, challenge, and influence senior stakeholders across functions, building consensus and guiding non commercial colleagues through best practice and compliant processes.
• Strong track record navigating public sector governance, including preparing/defending commercial cases through assurance boards and ensuring compliance with Spend Controls and internal commercial policies.
• Experience managing large/complex contracts and key suppliers (performance, KPIs, SLAs, change control, and disputes), driving continuous improvement and value for money throughout contract life.
• Advanced skills in identifying, quantifying, and mitigating commercial risks; strong negotiation capability to secure optimal commercial outcomes and measurable savings.
• Hands on experience using procurement/cycle management systems (e.g., Jaggaer) to manage sourcing events, assurance artefacts, pipeline/records, and reporting across the end to end lifecycle
• CIPS/MCIPS (or equivalent, e.g., CMCP Expert/Practitioner)

Desirable:

• Previous experience in the Education sector

Please be aware that this role can only be worked within the UK and not Overseas.

Disability Confident 

As a member of the Disability Confident Scheme, DfE guarantees to interview all candidates who have a disability and who meet all the essential criteria for the vacancy. In cases where we have a high volume of candidates who have a disability who meet all the essential criteria, we will interview the best candidates from within that group. This scheme encourages candidates with a disability and/or neurodivergence to apply.

Armed Forces Covenant 

DfE guarantees to interview veterans or spouses / partners of military personnel who meet all the essential criteria for the vacancy. In cases where we have a high volume of ex-military candidates / military spouses or partners, who meet all of the essential criteria, we will interview the best candidates from within that group. In exceptional circumstances, we may also need to apply the desirable criteria in our shortlisting process which may include holding active security clearance.

In applying for this role, you acknowledge the following "this role falls in scope of the Off Payroll Working in the Public Sector legislation. Any rates of payment quoted will reflect the gross rate per day for the assignment and will be subject to appropriate taxes and statutory costs. As such the payment to the intermediary and your income resulting from this contract will be different".