Head of Commercial - Consumer Protection

We currently operate a business partnering structure here in DESNZ Commercial. This means you and your team will partner with the Project Hawthorne policy team (your primary stakeholders) and provide them with a commercial service, which covers the full procurement lifecycle, albeit currently with light touch contract management as that normally is carried out by the stakeholders themselves. You will be key in our journey to move from being seen as a procurement function to becoming trusted partners in more complex, challenging and exciting commercial work.

You will lead a team of 6 people, including 4 G7 direct reports, providing coaching, mentoring, direction and support across the team.

The successful candidate will:

• Line manage and lead a team of G7 Commercial Leads, supporting and developing the needs of immediate team and wider commercial colleagues.
• Develop, maintain and manage pipeline of activity for your stakeholder customer group, managing resources to deliver priorities.
• Manage commercial risk appropriately and strive to maximise commercial opportunities for DESNZ.
• Develop productive relationships with stakeholder teams Deputy Directors and their teams.
• Leverage the UKSBS procurement service, channeling work between your in-house team and the shared service centre at UKSBS.
• Provide advice and guidance to stakeholders on a range of delivery issues and support policy teams at supplier meetings as necessary.
• Manage the relationship with the Central Loans and Grants team to ensure that appropriate grant standards are maintained.

• Support the Department in delivering aspects of the Government Commercial Functions Define, Procure, Manage Commercial lifecycle, as set out in the GovS 008 Commercial Standard and the Grants Functional Standard. Deliver commercial activity across the Energy groups, including the conduct of compliant procurement processes leading to compliant contracts. Support on grant design and delivery, MoUs with OGDs and new types of investment that might involve taking equity stakes.
• Coaching, leading, managing and mentoring G7 team members as they deliver a large amount of commercial work which can be complex and challenging.
• Be responsible for maintaining and improving the quality of commercial advice (i.e. from commercial strategy to contract exit) both directly and through others.
• Work collaboratively with finance, project delivery and commercial legal to offer a seamless and integrated corporate service offering.
• Build trusted relationships with senior stakeholders to ensure the commercial team is engaged early and throughout the commercial cycle working collaboratively with policy teams.
• Develop a strong interface between the policy teams and your Commercial team.
• Deliver cashable savings to target and other financial/non-financial benefits.
• Create an inclusive culture and a working environment where everyones skills and talents are recognised, developed and valued.
• Champion Diversity and Inclusion across your team, wider Commercial and across DESNZ, ensuring it is embedded into the team culture.
• Promote and implement the best practices of the Sourcing Playbook and other key Cabinet Office publications, including Procurement Policy Notes and latest case law.
• Be a senior member of the Government Commercial Function and play a role in the broader commercial reform programme led by the Government Chief Commercial Officer.
• Provide contract and supplier management assistance to policy teams where required.
• Report on your teams performance using accurate data from Jaggaer/Power BI and make decisions on strategy based on that data.
• Lead the reporting and escalation of risks for your team.
• Lead team members and policy teams successfully through all relevant governance.
• Focus on continuous improvement.