Commercial Practitioner

Job summary

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) is the UK’s largest producer of official statistics, covering a range of key economic, social and demographic topics. These include measuring changes in the value of the UK economy, estimating the size, geographic distribution and characteristics of the population, and providing indicators of price inflation, employment, earnings, crime and migration.

Commercial Services sits in the Finance, Commercial, Audit and Systems (FCAS) Directorate. On behalf of ONS, Commercial Services deliver all procurement and contract management activity within the organisation and are looking to appoint six Commercial Practitioners.

The Government Commercial Function defines how all government departments should operate commercially to guarantee consistency of commercial behaviours and purchasing across government. Commercial Services uses their standards, benchmarks and training materials for staff involved in procurement and contract management to make sure best practice is followed. The strategic aim is securing optimum value for ONS through delivery of Commercial excellence.

Job description

In this role you will have an opportunity to support the Commercial Director in delivering the Commercial vision of being a key partner in strategic business decision making, adding value through innovation, collaboration and a shared sense of purpose. You will have responsibility for providing commercial support to ONS stakeholders that enables business goals through market knowledge, effective communication and teamwork. You will contribute to the aim of delivering value for money through innovation, cost reduction and efficiencies, with fairness, transparency, sustainability and diversity woven into everything we do.

You will work collaboratively with colleagues from within Commercial Services and stakeholders from across the business to ascertain demand and manage and deliver effective commercial activity in line with the new step-change approach to Commercial activity delivery within ONS.

You will ensure delivery compliance whilst driving successful application of quality and Value for Money (VfM). You will be accountable for ensuring complete end to end Commercial activity from pre-sourcing to contract management and the successful development and ongoing management of a comprehensive Commercial pipeline of work for your area of responsibility.

Your role will strengthen commercial oversight across our portfolio of strategically important supplier service provision, providing increased resilience and continuity within the commercial intelligent client function. We expect the postholders will deliver a range of commercial activity, providing development opportunities across the commercial cycle, including market engagement, procurement, contract management, supplier performance monitoring, risk and issue management, contract governance and change control, financial oversight, and governance reporting.

Key Responsibilities

• Support the management of all commercial activities, including Census 2031 contracts, throughout their lifecycle.
• Contract management, including development and maintenance of effective contract management plans, performance monitoring and reporting, supplier relationship management.
• Maintain contract records, governance documentation and commercial reporting.
• Support contract change, extension and renewal activities.
• Prepare papers, briefings and recommendations for governance forums.
• Procurement projects, commercial pipeline and commercial lifecycle.
• Regulatory compliance such as publishing notices.
• Supplier performance monitoring including management information reporting, contract review activity and process mapping and management.

Person specification

Essential Criteria

• Experience of successful service delivery, coordinating and completing activities to agreed timescales that deliver outcomes.
• Experience of problem solving and dispute resolution.
• Experience of applying business acumen and judgement to develop strategies that demonstrate an understanding of actions required to support delivery of Value for Money (VfM) and efficiency.
• Experience of relationship management and working with stakeholders (at all levels) demonstrating strong communication skills (verbal and written).
• Sound commercial judgement and an ability to analyse information and data to support evidence-based decision making, identify risks and opportunities, and contribute to service improvements.
• Strong interpersonal, influencing and communication skills, with experience of building effective relationships with stakeholders and suppliers and supporting negotiations to achieve successful commercial outcomes.

Qualifications

• Relevant contract management, procurement, or commercial related experience, including qualifications such as CIPS, MCIPS, World CC (formerly IACCM) or Contract Management Capability Programme accreditation; or willingness to work towards.
• A non-pensionable allowance maybe available, depending on your qualification level: MCIPS (£3,000) or CIPS (£1,750).

Behaviours

We'll assess you against these behaviours during the selection process:

• Communicating and Influencing
• Delivering at Pace
• Making Effective Decisions
• Managing a Quality Service

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £34,587, Office for National Statistics contributes £10,019 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides (opens in a new window).

The Office for National Statistics is part of the Civil Service, and as such we share a number of key benefits with other departments, whilst also having our own unique offerings to support our valued colleagues across the organisation.

Whether you are hearing about us for the first time or already know a bit about our organisation, we hope that our careers site will give you a great insight into the benefits and facilities available to our colleagues, and our fantastic working culture.

Inclusion & Accessibility

At ONS we are always looking to attract the very best people from the widest possible talent pool, and we are proud to be an inclusive, equal opportunities employer. As a Disability Confident Leader we’re committed to ensuring that all candidates are treated fairly throughout the recruitment process.

As part of our application process, you will be prompted to provide details of any reasonable adjustments to our recruitment process that you need. If you would like to discuss any reasonable adjustments before applying, please contact the recruitment team in the first instance.

If you would like an accessible version of any of the attachments or recruitment documents below or linked to in this advert, please contact the recruitment team who will be happy to assist.

Things you need to know

Artificial intelligence

Artificial intelligence can be a useful tool to support your application, however, all examples and statements provided must be truthful, factually accurate and taken directly from your own experience. Where plagiarism has been identified (presenting the ideas and experiences of others, or generated by artificial intelligence, as your own) applications may be withdrawn and internal candidates may be subject to dis