We encourage applications from people from all backgrounds and aim to have a workforce that represents the wider society that we serve. We pride ourselves on being an employer of choice. We champion diversity, inclusion and wellbeing and aim to create a workplace where everyone feels valued and a sense of belonging. To find out more about how we do this visit: https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/ministry-of-justice/about/equality-and-diversity.

Job Description

Job Title: Assistant Commercial Manager (Prison Industries)

Job Grade: HEO

Reporting to: Commercial Manager

Job Location: National (click here to find your nearest location)

Contract Type: Permanent

Business Area: MOJ Commercial & Contract Management Department

Type of role: Sourcing (Procurement) and Contract Management Assistant

Working pattern: Full-time, Flexible working

Number of Posts:1

ABOUT THE DEPARTMENT

The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) is a major government department, at the heart of the justice system. Responsible for courts, prisons and probation services, we work to ensure sentences are served and offenders are given rehabilitation opportunities to become law-abiding citizens.

The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) has one of the largest and most complex spend profiles in central government. The Commercial and Contract Management Directorate (CCMD) is responsible for coordinating procurement and contract management across the MoJ, its agencies and non-departmental public bodies.

The MoJ spends £7.5bn a year and manages over 1000 active contracts, all of which are sourced and managed by CCMD. We are running some of the most groundbreaking programmes such as Prison Reform and His Majestys Courts and Tribunal Service Reform. The scope of our contracts ranges from building, maintenance and the operation of Prisons, Courts and Young Offender establishments through to food for prison dogs. The directorate also buys and manages contracts for feeding up to 80,000 prisoners, the secure escorting of prisoners from numerous establishments based around the country and translation services.

CCMD is organised into category teams, each with an interesting portfolio of contracts and diverse customers and suppliers to manage. We also have systems, programme management office, supplier relationship and risk management teams who work across all areas. 

About the Team

Prison Industries Category x 1 post

The category team is responsible for sourcing a wide range of goods which support HMPPS Prison Industries (PI). This is a team of 7 people managing over 30 contracts and with an exciting and interesting pipeline to deliver.

PI have the responsibility to provide essential employment places for prisoners and opportunities for them to gain skills, qualifications, and work experience to improve their employment prospects upon release with the overall aim of reducing re-offending.

PI manage industries that run in 95 prisons in England and Wales, including some private sector prisons, and currently operate 465 manufacturing workshops employing 1056 staff and around 11,500 prisoners and detainees. PI supports other Government Departments by using offender labour to manufacture over £3million pounds worth of goods annually. PI manufacture a variety of goods in their Engineering, Woodwork, Textile, Print, Laundry, Plastics and Land Based Activities workshops.

The category team procures and manages a variety of contracts to supply capital equipment, machinery/tools, and the raw materials (including timber, textiles, metal, plastics, paper, paint) required to manufacture those items.

Key Responsibilities

Assistant Commercial Managers will have an opportunity to create a real difference and contribute to public service, with the associated development exposure this brings. Key responsibilities include:

• Support the delivery of sourcing activities working with Commercial colleagues and stakeholders including the production of: specification, procurement strategy and contract development and producing the Invitation to Tender pack, leading on sub-threshold or framework procurements.
• Supporting contract implementation and management activity, working closely with stakeholders, commercial colleagues and operational contract managers to deliver mobilisation, performance management, contract variation (including reviewing and processing digital change control notes), negotiation and exit activity.
• Analysing spend, market intelligence, performance data and producing reports for a wide variety of audiences to support commercial activity and reporting requirements.
• Supporting the Senior Commercial Manager and Commercial Manager, leading on activities which support the development of category management procedures, tools and ways of working.
• Assist the Commercial Manager in the resolution of disputes, obtaining and managing input from operational colleagues and others as directed (e.g. legal).
• Stakeholder engagement and strong relationship building including managing communication or escalation of issues from customers, predominantly in HQ or prisons, including presenting to different stakeholders.
• Complying with governance, legislative and policy requirements as appropriate.
• Supporting the response to Freedom of Information requests and Parliamentary Questions.
• Assistant Commercial Managers may also have line management responsibilities.

Person Specification

Essential Criteria:

Your application and interview must demonstrate experience in the following areas:

• Effective stakeholder management skills
• Strong communicating and influencing skills
• Ability to present to stakeholders
• Ability to work with minimal supervision, taking responsibility for outcomes
• Ability to use judgement to take a considered approach to situations
• Able to seek out and analysing information based on the best available evidence
• Ability to manage multiple competing actions, prioritising according to business criticality

Desirable Criteria:

• Working knowledge of Procurement Systems, e.g. Oracle (ERP) and/or Jaggaer (Bravo)
• Commercial sourcing experience (ideally within public sector)
• Knowledge of public sector procurement legislation
• Contract Management experience

Most importantly we are looking for people with the right personal qualities: enthusiasm, energy, proactivity, and self-motivation while being flexible and adaptive to a demanding and changing environment.

Qualifications:

There are no required qualifications. Candidates should either hold, be working towards or willing to commence studying for a professional commercial qualification such as:

• Member of a relevant professional body, e.g., CIPS, WCC (previously IACCM) or similar
• Contract Management Capability Programme, Foundation level (available through Government Commercial College)

Application Form (Sifting):

An initial sift will be performed against the following elements:

Experience:

• CV

Behaviours:

• Delivering at Pace (250 words)
• Communicating and Influencing (250 words) Lead Behaviour

If shortlisted, youll be invited to an interview and will be assessed on the selected success profile elements at the interview stage. Please carry a valid proof of Id that has your photo on it (passport, BRP, driving licence etc) at the interview.

Please note that in the event of a large number of applications being received we may run the initial sift against the CV and Lead behaviour of Communicating and Influencing.

Interview:

There is one interview stage and you will be assessed on the following success profile elements

Behaviours:

• Making Effective Decisions
• Delivering at Pace
• Communicating and Influencing
• Developing Self and Others

Strengths may also be assessed at interview.

Please use STAR approach to structure your examples for the Application stage and in the Behaviours at the interview stage.

• Situation Describe the situation you found yourself in and what happened.
• Task The Hiring Manager will want to understand what you tried to achieve from the situation that you found yourself in.
• Action What actions did you take and how did you do it. Make sure to use I, not we to explain how your actions lead to a result.
• Result Use facts and statistics to demonstrate the results that your actions produced. Explain whether it was a successful outcome, and if not, what you learned from the experience.

Further information on the Success profile elements can be found on Success Profiles - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

We'll assess you against these behaviours during the selection process:

• Delivering at Pace
• Communicating and Influencing
• Making Effective Decisions
• Developing Self and Others

• Access to learning and development
• A working environment that supports a range of flexible working options to enhance your work life balance
• A working culture which encourages inclusion and diversity
• A Civil Service pension with an average employer contribution of 27%
• Annual Leave
• Public Holidays
• Season Ticket Advance

For more information about the recruitment process, benefits and allowances and answers to general queries, please click the below link which will direct you to our Candidate Information Page.

Link: https://justicejobs.tal.net/vx/candidate/cms/About%20the%20MOJ

Job contact :

• Name : SSCL Recruitment Enquiries Team
• Email : [email protected]
• Telephone : 0845 241 5359

Recruitment team

• Email : [email protected]