Future Supplier Partnerships Engagement Lead

The Civil Service must have the skills needed to support the delivery of the government's priorities. Training in the Civil Service needs to support the development of skills for 558,000 civil servants. It must support these civil servants in improving their performance in role as well as advancing their career development, whether they are in central policy roles, front line delivery, or any number of arms length bodies.

Government Skills was created in 2020 to improve the coherence and quality of learning and development in government through better training, knowledge and networks. Ministers have now asked us to make an ambitious Spending Review bid to transform the operating model for skills in government, delivered under The National School of Government and Public Services. As part of this transformational change of delivering training, we are reviewing the balance between training procured externally and design and/or delivered internally in the civil service. We expect this balance to shift more towards in-house design and/or delivery as we move away from the current approach of outsourcing to external training providers.

The Learning Infrastructure Team is responsible for three enabling workstreams under the National School of Government and Public Services Portfolio. Between them, these workstreams cover the current, transitional and future infrastructure to support centralised training for Civil Servants.

The post-holder will be within the team that is working with the Cabinet Office Commercial Function on implementing the new operating model for learning services. They will support the Future Partnerships Design Lead in defining a new model for procuring external training and collaborating with delivery partners, getting the right balance between flexibility to adapt to changing needs and gaining the best value for money.

Key Responsibilities

• Strategy Development: Working with commercial colleagues to develop, own, and deliver the overarching market engagement strategy for the Future Learning Partnerships programme. Working with other government skills colleagues to achieve our internal engagement strategy objectives. This includes stakeholder mapping and engagement to help inform the requirements and model development.
• Engagement Delivery: Support the operational delivery of all informal and formal; market engagement activities across HMG departments and professions, technology, Learning & Development (L&D), academia, and business schools.
• Supplier Network Cultivation: Build and facilitate a robust ecosystem of prospective partners, convening stakeholders through collaborative workshops, information sharing sessions, social value initiatives, and procurement guidance forums.
• Liaison and Alignment: Work to align the Civil Services future training requirements with market offerings, to ensure the new learning model is high-quality, efficient, and attractive to key suppliers.
• Operational Oversight: Provide day-to-day oversight of operational delivery, working closely with and directing the EO Future Supplier Partnerships Support lead for administrative and logistical support.
• Collaboration: Work with the G7 Future Partnerships Design Lead and commercial colleagues to ensure market feedback and intelligence are captured and used to inform the development of future commercial/procurement models and the Commercial Strategy.
• Reporting: Track, analyse, and report on the effectiveness of engagement activities to the G7 Future Partnerships Design Lead and other senior stakeholders.
• Analysing: Supporting the development of business cases through the provision of data and information that analyses and presents options in support of the commercial strategy.

Experience & Knowledge

• Experience of working within a market-facing role with a proven track record of regular stakeholder and business engagement.
• Knowledge of commercial practice in the public sector, including social value.
• Demonstrable experience in working within a learning environment with training providers, designing new delivery models, developing and delivering market engagement strategies and stakeholder management.

Skills

• Strategic Thinking: Strategic thinking skills, including the ability to spot trends, interpret market intelligence, and identify engagement opportunities that deliver against wider organisational goals.
• Communication: Excellent communication skills, both oral and written, with the ability to confidently explain and present complex issues/information to a range of internal and external audiences.
• Organisational Skills: Excellent organisational skills, with proven ability to plan, prioritise, and deliver a complex schedule of activities to agreed time and quality standards.

Desirable

• Understanding of Civil Service/public sector procurement law.
• Experience in managing / coordinating corporate events.

Additional information:

Cabinet Office policy is that a minimum 60% of your working time should be spent at your principal workplace. For some roles, due to their nature and the business need, this may be up to 100%. Requirements to attend other locations for official business will also count towards this level of attendance.