Government Commercial Function
Head of Commercial – Manchester Digital Campus
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Assignment Location:
Manchester, Birmingham, Cardiff, Leeds, Nottingham, Swindon or Bristol
The Manchester Digital Campus team are all expected to have a significant presence in Manchester (averaging at least 2-days a week, so Manchester preferred). Regular travel is expected to attend GPA offices, and partner locations, especially London and occasionally Birmingham.
Salary £101,000 - £131,000 GCO Pension, GCO Terms. Up to 20% performance-related-pay available on accreditation.
A central Manchester brownfield development site will become the vibrant workplace for well over 8,000 people (including ministers) from the digitally focused departments. Manchester Digital Campus (MDC) will strengthen HMG’s skills, innovation and enable multi-department careers, whilst learning from and contributing to the exciting digital/AI sector in Manchester and the North West. The programme completes in 2032.
Role:
As the Head of Commercial for the Manchester Digital Campus (MDC) you will be dedicated to this Programme to ensure the whole programme maximises commercial opportunities and value.
- You will continue development of the procurement strategy, market engagement and contracting approach (from those within the Outline Business Case) for the c.£1bn, 5-year main construction and fit out under a JCT model, overseeing competitions and support the project director in successfully managing the contract through to its commercial and financial completion.
- You will need to pay particular attention to continued financial stability, ensuring procurement programme resilience and continuity in a changing economic context.
- Lower value, but equally important are the effective management of pre-construction works, client side support and the development of income generation propositions supporting the wider programme’s strategic aims.
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You will provide commercial leadership across the whole programme, developing the whole team’s commercial thinking and skill set. You will be focused heavily on the infrastructure delivery (a £1bn+ contract). whilst working closely with both project directors, together with the leads of the wider strands (or Lines of Development), finance team and SRO to support the whole programme, ensuring the commercial approach across the whole of MDC is generating best value from the market, maximising social value and alive to income generation opportunities. You will line-manage the small MDC Commercial team, shaping and growing the team, building its capacity and capability, within the wider Government Property Agency (GPA) commercial function and delivering the required commercial outcomes.
You will need construction sector experience and commercial and financial acumen to deliver innovative routes to market, and will work closely with the Government Property Agencies (GPA) construction partners and professional client side support team.
Person Specification:
The successful candidate will demonstrate:
- A thorough understanding of Public Procurement with particular experience preferably in JCT contracts and the construction sector. Demonstrate a trusting, effective working partnership with Crown Commercial Service (CCS) to utilise their category and sourcing teams for timely and compliant procurement.
- Able to navigate often complex and demanding regulatory, commercial and political landscapes, all the time maintaining a dynamism with a focus on achieving measurable and impactful results and delivering excellent customer value.
- Managing complex procurements and all stages of the process from tendering through to contract and supplier management. This would include: warming and engaging the market, preparing and running the tender, managing the clarification process, evaluating bids, selecting suppliers, preparing the contract documentation, managing contract sign off, feeding back to unsuccessful suppliers and then managing the contract through to completion.
- Leading and inspiring a commercial team. Supporting an integrated delivery team and building strong relationships across team/business area/departmental/ boundaries with clear evidence of an ability to deliver through others and build a network of influence.
- Strong relationship management, interpersonal, communication and influencing skills, with the ability to operate and build effective relationships at all levels within an organisation and across different clients.
- Ability to maintain a commercial focus with experience of enhancing and delivering value and continuous improvement through hands-on leadership.
- A high degree of personal resilience, tenacity, integrity and focus on outcomes.
- Able to contribute strategically across MDC as part of the leadership group as well as deliver vertically on functional objectives.
- Coaching a team to develop and continually model a can-do culture across the GPA whilst working in a ‘matrix management’ environment.
- Be amongst the most senior members of the Government Commercial Function and play a role in the broader commercial reform programme led by the Government Chief Commercial Officer;
- Play a key leadership and change management role in developing a strong commercial function for the GPA and across government.
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