Senior Commercial Manager in London

Join Police Digital Service as Senior Commercial Manager. Salary starting at £75,000 per annum.

About Police Digital Service

To protect people from harm in our rapidly changing world, police services must not only keep up with technology and business changes but develop capabilities and ways of working that will enable them to adapt to and deal with the complexity of modern criminality. Police Digital Service strives to be the go-to partner for technology developments and programmes across UK policing. Our team provides technical advice and delivers services to help policing and law enforcement organisations across the UK prioritise and focus on technology efforts. Our vision is to support UK policing to keep people safe, get more from technology investments and make better use of public money, and we are always on the lookout for great talent to help us achieve this.

Our Values are:

• We value People
• We do the right thing
• We are innovative
• We are one Team
• We are proud and passionate

Why Join us?

• Balance is important and we want you to take time off to recharge - we offer 28 days' annual leave plus bank holidays, rising to 30 days after 5 years of service. Holiday Purchase also available.
• Flexible working hours - We trust you to do your job and we appreciate that life doesn't always fit around a 9 to 5 workday. We operate core hours of 10 to 4, Monday to Friday (37hr week).
• We care about your well-being - we have an EAP that offers not just welfare benefits but also retail discounts.
• Plan for the future - we offer an excellent pension scheme and life assurance cover.
• Put your mind at rest regarding your health - offering remote GP, mental health and physiotherapy appointments via video consultation.
• Family - Enhanced maternity and paternity pay along with a flexible return to work.
• Community - one paid day off per year for volunteering.

Key Responsibilities

• Undertake effective tendering activity for the whole procurement life cycle.
• Utilise category management practices to profile, benchmark, research and assess the market.
• Manage and develop supplier relationships and on-going negotiations for the assigned portfolio.
• Identify, and where possible mitigate risks, ensuring that all such contracts are operated in accordance with Financial Regulations, Contract Standing Orders, national/UK guidelines and best practice.
• Manage any assigned Commercial Managers.
• Provide a comprehensive range of procurement advice to managers and staff across the Company.
• Engage with the supplier market in developing new products and services via various working groups and programme/project boards for forces.
• Represent the Company and engage with other parties from the public and private sectors including the Home Office, Crown Commercial Service, Blue Light Commercial Organisation and the major police suppliers, to create procurement/commercial opportunities that will benefit forces.
• Promote the provision of a high quality, professional, and customer focused service to all forces.
• Participate in the contract management and the periodic reviews of existing contracts as required. Identify and implement any best-practice methodologies that can be shared throughout the Company.

What you need to succeed in the role

• Strong analytical skills to align procurement solutions with customer needs.
• Ability to identify strategic opportunities in the external market and how they may benefit forces.
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills.
• Strong commercial acumen.
• Good organisational, time management and project management skills.
• MCIPS Level 6 (or equivalent) in-line with the CIPS structure guidance or the equivalent levels of experience, technical knowledge and expertise by having worked as a successful Procurement professional within ICT Services for a complex, public sector organisation.
• Extensive knowledge and understanding of contract law and the application of EU Public Procurement Regulations and legislation.
• Experience of procurement and contract management across the ICT category and a broad, high-level technical understanding of ICT products and services and how technology is advancing.
• Experience of managing staff, preferably across a number of locations.
• Strong negotiating, influencing, interpersonal and communication skills.
• Proven success in working in a political environment with senior stakeholders (Chief Executive level).
• Provide innovative thinking and impetus to drive through change and develop and enhance an integrated commercial and contract management function.
• Significant experience of translating business needs into commercial procurement strategies.

Diversity, equity and inclusion

We are committed to equal opportunities for all and will not discriminate on any grounds. We encourage applications from people from the widest possible span of experience. All applicants will be considered without attention to age, ethnicity, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, parental status, nationality, neurodiversity or disability status.

Working Arrangements

This is a remote role. All applicants must be eligible to undergo NPPV3 (Non Police Personnel Vetting Level 3) and SC vetting clearances. Successful applicants will require NPPV3 clearance to have been cleared before starting with PDS. Please note, we may choose to close the advert early if we receive a high volume of applications for this role so please endeavour to complete your application as soon as possible.