Commercial Administrator

On behalf of UKRI, we are looking for a Commercial Administrator Inside IR35 for a 6 month contract working on a Hybrid basis - 2 days per week in Didcot office (Tuesday and flexible on the 2nd day) with remaining WFH.

UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) is the national funding agency investing in science and research in the UK. UKRI invests £8 billion of taxpayers’ money each year into research and innovation and the people who make it happen. They work across a huge range of fields – from biodiversity conservation to quantum computing, and from space telescopes to innovative health care. They give everyone the opportunity to contribute and to benefit, bringing together people and organisations nationally and globally to create, develop and deploy new ideas and technologies.

An important part of this mission is procuring the goods, services, and partners critical to achieving these aims. If you are interested in contributing and helping to shape the UK’s world class research and innovation system to benefit lives, then UKRI has an exciting opportunity for a procurement professional to join the team supporting UKRI in all its procurement activities!

As a Commercial Administrator, you will be joining an established, supportive team and will be involved in a wide variety of projects ranging from Research & Development, Professional Services, and Data and Technology. You will have the opportunity to shape commercial strategy, develop your own skills & experience, and contribute to projects that may have wide-ranging positive impacts for all.

We are looking for a dynamic, enthusiastic individual who enjoys bringing their skills and experience to all projects they undertake. This role will work with a highly varied mix of stakeholders, and confidence, communication & professional credibility are vital to ensure your presence and involvement is positively felt throughout the procurement lifecycle.

Commercial Administrators play a key part in ensuring that procurements are run in the correct manner and that our organisation obtains maximum benefit. The main duties and responsibilities of the Commercial Administrator would be to:

• Provide local expertise and support to end-users to undertake a range of procurement tasks (varying in both value and complexity) including sourcing and contracting;
• Provide advice on all aspects of regulations and controls;
• Keep local end-users up to date with UKRI procurement policy and best practice in public procurement;
• Act as initial contact and escalation route to the local Procurement Manager or Commercial Business Partner;
• Support the development of local procurement and contract management skills.

Requirements:

• Have a good general education and qualifications;
• Be customer focused, able to deal with key stakeholder questions and queries;
• Have good interpersonal and communication skills;
• Have good commercial awareness;
• Have an understanding of the context and meaning of terms and conditions;
• Have a good level of skills with Word & Excel and it is desirable to have used e-sourcing applications;
• Be able to perform a wide range of administration duties;
• Some experience in a commercial or procurement environment is desirable.

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, UKRI 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.

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.