Commercial Lead (Operations)

The Commercial Ops Lead provides senior operational ownership for Plexal's Go-To-Market engine, ensuring sales administration, pipeline management, bid governance, reporting, framework management and commercial process ownership operate as one coherent, reliable function.

The role is designed to strengthen the commercial infrastructure that enables Plexal to identify, qualify, pursue and convert government and public sector opportunities; manage the frameworks and procurement routes that create access to those opportunities; and provide leadership with accurate, timely and actionable reporting.

• Commercial operations and GTM process ownership - Own the end-to-end operating rhythm for GTM: pipeline hygiene, opportunity stage governance, bid/no-bid process, action tracking and reporting cadence.
• Lead the design, documentation and adoption of commercial processes across sales, bid management, framework management, approvals and handover to delivery.
• Own pipeline data quality across Hub Spot/CRM and reporting tools, ensuring that dashboards, forecasts and leadership reports are robust, current and decision-ready.
• Work closely with GTM, Operations and Finance to improve forecasting accuracy, commercial visibility and management information.
• Bid management, governance and quality assurance - Oversee the bid process from opportunity qualification through to submission and delivery handover, ensuring clear ownership, timelines, compliance checks, internal sign-offs and record keeping.
• Provide practical challenge and support on bid strategy, compliance matrices, win themes, content quality and final submission readiness.
• Maintain and improve reusable bid assets, including case studies, credentials, CVs, accreditations, policies, social value content and standard commercial responses.
• Embed consistent bid governance, including role clarity, document control, review points, lesson capture and post-submission outcome tracking.
• Framework and procurement vehicle management - Own Plexal's framework operating model, ensuring the business maintains a live register of framework positions, lots, expiry dates, renewal windows, call-off routes, portal access and reporting obligations.
• Monitor relevant public sector procurement routes and pipeline sources, including CCS frameworks, G-Cloud/Digital Marketplace, DPS arrangements, Find a Tender, Contracts Finder and department-specific portals.
• Manage the practical mechanics of framework applications, renewals, compliance returns and management information submissions, coordinating internal evidence and approvals on time.
• Mobilise new frameworks so that GTM and delivery teams understand how and when to use them, with clear guidance, ownership, risks, constraints and handover arrangements.
• Support security-clearance visibility where it affects framework eligibility, call-off readiness or client deployment requirements.
• Commercial governance and stakeholder coordination - Coordinate practical inputs from Sales, Delivery, Finance, Legal, People and Compliance to ensure bids and framework activity are commercially robust and operationally deliverable.
• Track key commercial risks, dependencies and decision points across live opportunities, frameworks and submissions, escalating where action or leadership direction is required.
• Support compliance with relevant public procurement requirements, the Procurement Act 2023, Social Value Model expectations, TOMs where applicable and Plexal's internal governance standards.
• Team leadership and capability building - Line manage and develop the Commercial Associate and Sales Enablement Co-ordinator , ensuring effective prioritisation, standards, knowledge transfer and resilience across core sales administration and framework activity.
• Create repeatable playbooks, templates and operating standards that reduce single-point dependency and improve consistency across GTM activity.
• Works closely with Operations and Resource Management to oversee and deliver a career development rotation scheme in Commercial department for Associates and Consultants, as appropriate.

Essential

• Strong commercial operations, sales operations or bid operations capability, with confidence owning process, data, governance and reporting across multiple parallel opportunities.
• Excellent organisation and attention to detail, with the ability to manage deadlines, dependencies, submissions and reporting cycles without loss of quality.
• Advanced working knowledge of CRM, pipeline and reporting tools, including Hub Spot, Microsoft Excel, Power Point, Share Point and Power BI or equivalent reporting platforms.
• Strong understanding of UK public sector procurement routes, including frameworks, DPS arrangements, call-offs, mini-competitions and portal-based submissions.
• Ability to coordinate and influence senior stakeholders across sales, delivery, finance, legal/compliance and leadership teams.

Desirable

• Familiarity with the Procurement Act 2023, Social
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