Senior Commissioning Officer in Glenfield

Are you passionate about ensuring that children, young people and their families/carers receive high-quality support at the right time helping them to achieve their full potential? Would you like to help make a difference to the lives of children and young people through effective commissioning - with a focus on procurement but may at times also focus on the brokerage of individual placements, quality assurance processes and monitoring of contractual arrangements? Do you have an awareness of the Commissioning Cycle and commissioning practices, including procurement processes?

We are looking to recruit a full time Senior Commissioning Officer to join our service. Although our Senior Commissioning Officers share a generic job description, we are looking for the successful candidate to lead our Commissioning Governance and Compliance Sub Team. This team has specific responsibility for the planning and delivering of a range of procurement activities and much of the internal governance for our commissioning activity. The team operates across both the Targeted Early Help service and the Social Care, Education, Inclusion and Additional Needs directorates within the Children and Family Service, working closely with the Corporate Commissioning Support Unit and procurement legal teams.

The role has a strong emphasis on procurement, and the successful candidate will play a key part in leading and coordinating procurement activity across the service. This includes ensuring full compliance with the Procurement Act 2023 and local Contract Procedure Rules, providing advice and guidance to colleagues, and overseeing the delivery of a wide range of routine commissioning and procurement exercises. You will support the development of procurement across the Department, contribute to the drafting of specifications and tender documentation, and ensure that processes are robust, transparent, and outcome-focused.

In addition, the successful candidate will work alongside other Senior Commissioning Officers to support the Commissioning Managers and the Service Manager in the day-to-day running of the wider commissioning service, including the following areas:

• Quality Assurance - Undertaking quality assurance meetings and provider visits
• Contract Monitoring and Review - Completing annual contract management meetings to ensure services are delivered in line with contractual expectations and contribute to positive outcomes for children, young people and their families/carers.
• Brokerage and Negotiation - Brokering services and placements for children and young people

The post will primarily focus on leading the Commissioning Governance and Compliance Team. However, you may also be required to provide cover for other Senior Commissioning Officers working across the areas listed above, as needed to support departmental priorities. There is also the expectation that the successful candidate may be required to attend meetings away from the normal office base which would require appropriate insurance cover.

Qualifications and Experience:

• Degree in relevant subject Or Demonstrable experience identified within the section below.
• Experience of commissioning, contracting or providing social care services to children and young people in a statutory, private or voluntary organisation, and working in a senior position and managing/coaching staff.
• Experience of developing positive relationships and managing conflict.
• Experience of using monitoring and evaluation to inform planning, including data systems to track performance.
• Experience of business process design, process testing, and the documentation of work instructions.
• Knowledge of relevant national legislation and regulation requirements including safeguarding policies, housing law and procedures and contract procedure rules.
• Ability to analyse information and write clearly presented reports with recommendations and support the drafting of service specifications or system development.

In addition, we also expect you to share our commitment to our values and to delivering accessible and inclusive services which meet the needs of all of our residents. You will be asked to demonstrate your understanding of these commitments as part of the selection process. Reasonable adjustments will be considered for applicants with a disability. We are a Disability Confident Employer.

If you share our passion to make a difference for the people of Leicestershire, we’d love to hear from you. Click the apply button to submit your application, ensuring that you upload a supporting statement that explains how you meet the criteria listed in the 'About You' section above. Without this information, we won’t be able to assess your suitability for the role, and your application will be rejected.