C2/SEO Commercial Business Partner

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!

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!

About the agency

Part of the Department for Business and Trade, we are a government agency that helps to deliver economic confidence by supporting those in financial distress, tackling financial wrongdoing and maximising returns to creditors. We maintain the standards that help make Britain one of the best places in the world to do business. More information can be found here.

About the Directorate

The Finance, Commercial, Sustainability & Property Directorate is responsible for managing both the Insolvency Service’s finances and for all commercial related activities. We are a close-knit directorate, committed to supporting the agency’s operational business and objectives as well as its estates, sustainability and health & safety remit.

About the Team

The Commercial Team is a small team of dedicated and highly competent commercial professionals, performing at an exceptionally high level and dispersed nationally across the Insolvency office estate. The team works on a flexible working basis, with a mix of remote and office-based working. The Commercial Team is embedded within the Government Commercial Function applying the Government Commercial Operating Standards, working in accordance with the People Standards for the Commercial profession and undertaking the Commercial Continuous Improvement Assessment Framework. The Senior Commercial Leadership are members of the Government Commercial Organisation.

The Commercial team at INSS is facing exciting challenges across the Sourcing Pipeline, Contract Management landscape, Transforming Public Procurement (Procurement Act) and to drive best practice against the Commercial Functional Standards. A vacancy has arisen and any candidate who passes the interview but is unsuccessful in being offered this role, may be considered via the Reserve List for any other Commercial roles that may arise in the next 12 months.

We operate a Category Management approach within our Commercial Team, consisting of 4 Category Teams; Enterprise Technology & Licencing category; Digital & Operational IT category; Corporate Services & Operations category; and Commercial Governance & Policy category. As such we are responsible for a whole lifecycle approach to commercial activities. This will usually include leading a requirement from inception, through the Commercial sourcing cycle, mobilisation and contract management, through to Exit and Transition.

Within the Commercial Team at the Insolvency Service, we believe there are huge benefits to working within a small team. We are able to give our Commercial Business Partners (Procurement and Contracts Managers) access to complex and strategic work which enables them to demonstrate their abilities and take on extra responsibility more than other roles. This is clearly demonstrated by the fact that our leavers nearly always leave on promotion!

If you’re interested in applying for this role, we’ll be running two meet and greet sessions so you can get to know more about the role, the team, the Insolvency Service and to ask any questions you have. We’re keen to meet you and share as much as possible about this fantastic opportunity. We’re planning on hosting these sessions on 17/06/25 and 18/06/25. See 'Further Information' below.

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.

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.

Essential Criteria

To be successful in this role you should;

• Be able 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.

Further Information

We will be holding engagement sessions ("Meet and Greet") on Tuesday 17/06/25 and Wednesday 18/06/25 to allow candidates to hear further information about the role and the opportunities for working within the Commercial team at the Insolvency Service. To request an invite to either session (candidates who are interested need only attend one session) on the 17th or 18th June, please email [email protected]. Kindly include "DDAT C2" in the subject line of your email.

Candidates who are offered an interview will be asked to deliver a brief presentation on a relevant commercial topic. Details of the presentation will be sent to interview candidates one week before their interview to allow for preparation.

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

• Making Effective Decisions
• Communicating and Influencing
• Working Together

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

• Commercial Judgement
• Contract Management
• Procurement Process
• Presentation

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 life

Your pension is a valuable part of your total reward package where the employer makes a significant contribution to the cost of your pension. Your contributions come out of your salary before any tax is taken. This means, if you pay tax, your take-home pay will not be reduced by the full amount of your contribution; and your pension will continue to provide valuable benefits for you and your family if you are too ill to continue to work or die before you retire. For more information, visit www.civilservicepensionscheme.org.uk

A Recruitment and Retention allowance of up to £5150 p/a is available, eligibility is based on qualifications.

Job contact :

• Name : Phil Harding
• Email : [email protected]

Recruitment team

• Email : [email protected]