AMS PSR

On behalf of Department for Education, we are looking for Commercial Practitioners - (Inside IR35) for a 6 months contract working on a hybrid basis and with an expectation of 2/3 days attendance in one of Manchester, Sheffield, Newcastle, Darlington, Coventry, Nottingham offices

The Department for Education is responsible for education and children’s services in England. We work to achieve a highly educated society in which opportunity is equal for children and young people, no matter what their background or family circumstances.

This position is based within the Department’s Commercial function, where we have a set of ambitious and exciting commercial challenges:

We are leading the delivery of commercial reform both within the Department and across the schools’ sector.

We are transforming the way in which we deliver a commercial service within the Department and its Executive Agencies. We are moving towards more direct leadership and delivery of the Department’s most complex and strategic commercial projects through the implementation of end-to-end Category Management. This will deliver improved commercial outcomes, drive value for money, embed a stronger commercial focus, reduce commercial risk and improve commercial capability across the Department.

We are one of the best commercial functions in government and as such we need to recruit the best people. The commercial function operates five categories with responsibility for a broad portfolio of activity spanning policy development and operational delivery.

As a Commercial Practitioner, you will be delivering the best possible commercial outcomes for children, young people, and the education system. The post holder will be responsible for all aspects of the procurement process from market engagement and sourcing through to contract management. With market leading guidance and development opportunities, you will have real opportunities to develop and influence DFE commercial projects, some which are valued at hundreds of millions of pounds. This is a great time to join us to help shape our future success.

The DfE commercial function saved £195 million of taxpayers’ money in the last financial year and have worked on a number of high priority procurement such as HGV Bootcamps, Free School Meals, Get Help Buying for Schools and National Institute of Teachers and allow the DfE to access digital delivery specialists across the whole Digital, Data and Technology (DDaT) sector, Education Estates Construction frameworks.

If you are experienced in using your procurement skills to deliver value for money and passionate about making a difference for children, young people, and learners we want to hear from you.

As a Commercial Practitioner, your main responsibilities will be:

• Key elements of the end-to-end commercial lifecycle, which could include pre-market engagement, sourcing and contract award.
• Managing a range of commercial projects individually and as part of a commercial project team.
• Proactively lead, support and challenge stakeholders throughout the commercial life cycle.
• Maintaining a category pipeline to allow commercial support to start in good time to ensure a full range of commercial options can be considered.
• Understand the supply market, category, and business context to inform and deliver the commercial strategy.
• Championing commercial capability throughout the Department and across wider stakeholders to ensure the successful implementation of category management.
• Contributing to the development of the category savings plan and ensuring savings are realised and tracked.
• Using an e-procurement system to effectively manage and track procurement and end-to-end category management activity.
• Complying fully with public procurement law, DFE commercial procedure, policy, and assurance processes.

Essential:

• Experienced Commercial Practitioner
• Experience of running procurements
• DDAT experience
• Experience of using frameworks DOS / DSP / G-Cloud proven experience
• Organised and able to hit the ground running
• Public Sector experience

Desirable:

• PCR 2015 experience
• Experience of using Jaggaer
• CIPD qualified

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, Department for Education 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 

Department for Education 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".