Guidance

Commercial Assurance & Governance - Commercial Lead

Published 8 July 2024

Job Pillar Role Component	STRATEGY AND POLICY DEVELOPMENT Commercial Assurance and Governance
Commercial Professional Level	Commercial Lead (Grade 7 equivalent)
Role Summary	In this role you will contribute to the delivery of commercial excellence for your department by providing assurance and advice to senior stakeholders to ensure that commercial work is controlled, on track and aligned with the policies, commercial strategies and security requirements.   You will lead a team, building their confidence to drive performance and manage setbacks. The role will also require you to use your commercial expertise to identify opportunities for improvement and implement these changes at a local level by working with affected parties to identify and overcome challenges.
Key Responsibilities	Typically, the key responsibilities in this role will include (but are not limited to): ● Managing the delivery of commercial assurance across the organisation, taking into account time, cost, quality, compliance and ongoing viability ● Identifying, mitigating and escalating risks and issues ● Managing assurance on the implementation of commercial policies ● Applying an understanding of the difference between guidance, policy and legislation to ensure delivery teams understand their risks and opportunities and can successfully operate within the agreed ● Applying an understanding of costs, risks and value through different tiers of the supply chains ● Engaging with senior commercial leaders on complex commercial arrangements and risks across the department and with wider government ● Managing the commercial assurance pipeline ● Reviewing complex, high value business cases to assist with briefing the commercial director prior to endorsement decisions ● Providing reports on assurance activity and commercial considerations for an area of responsibility ● Applying an understanding of procurement rules, security requirements and intellectual property rights to assurance activity
Essential Criteria	Strategy and Policy Development: ● Has considerable experience in translating the needs of the business into policy objectives ● Has practical experience in the development and implementation of business unit strategies through supply chain management and has the ability to challenge risk averse behaviours where appropriate ● Has the ability to practically apply the procurement rules and link them to the implementation of policy objectives Commercial Focus: ● Has strong commercial knowledge, understands the need for trade-offs in an area of responsibility, can apply the commercial principles within the boundaries of contract law ● Demonstrates the ability to lead on securing ‘value for money’ through achieving good return on investment on commercial projects Risk and Assurance Management: ● Demonstrates the ability to analyse risks and understand margins of error in developing recommendations and making effective decisions Commercial Ethics: ● Demonstrates the ability to communicate standards to eliminate corruption, fraud and unethical behaviour in supply chains, taking appropriate actions in the event of any alleged breach of standards Team Focus: ● Demonstrates the ability to manage and build confidence in a team in order to deal with setbacks, resolve internal issues and can implement change at a local level by working with affected parties to identify and overcome challenges Build Relationships: ● Has strong stakeholder engagement skills and can present technical advice successfully in order to influence internal and external decision making ● Demonstrates the ability to articulate commercial motivations and expected behaviours of stakeholders, suppliers and networks
Civil Service Behaviours	Ability to show examples across all of the following behaviours for level 4 of the Success Profiles Framework: Changing and Improving: ● Encourage, recognise and share innovative ideas from a diverse range of colleagues and stakeholders. Give people space to take initiative and praise them for their creativity. Create an environment where people feel safe to challenge and know their voice will be heard. Make changes which add value and clearly articulate how changes will benefit the business. Understand and identify the role of technology in public service delivery and policy implementation. Consider the full impact of implementing changes on culture, structure, morale and the impacts on the diverse range of end users, including accessibility needs. Identify early signs that things are going wrong and respond promptly. Provide constructive challenge to senior management on change proposals Communicating and Influencing: ● Communicate with others in a clear, honest and enthusiastic way in order to build trust. Explain complex issues in a way that is easy to understand. Take into account people’s individual needs. Deliver difficult messages with clarity and sensitivity, being persuasive when required. Consider the impact of the language used. Remain open-minded and impartial in discussions, whilst respecting the diverse interests and opinions of others. Introduce different methods for communication, including making the most of digital resources whilst getting ‘value for money’. Monitor the effectiveness of own and team communications and take action to improve where necessary Developing Self and Others: ● Prioritise and role-model continuous self-learning and development. Identify areas individuals and teams need to develop in order to achieve future objectives. Support colleagues to take responsibility for their own learning and development. Ensure that development opportunities are available for all individuals regardless of their background or desire to achieve promotion. Ensure individuals take full advantage of learning and development opportunities available to them, including workplace based learning. Encourage discussions within and between teams to learn from each other’s experiences and change organisational plans and processes accordingly Leadership: ● Promote diversity, inclusion and equality of opportunity, respecting difference and external experience. Welcome and respond to views and challenges from others, despite any conflicting pressures to ignore or give in to them. Stand by, promote or defend own and team’s actions and decisions where needed. Seek out shared interests beyond own area of responsibility, understanding the extent of the impact actions have on the organisation. Inspire and motivate teams to be fully engaged in their work and dedicated to their role
Department Context	To enhance the generic commercial role profile, additional information can be added by a department to outline the specific nature of the role. This may include: ● An additional short paragraph in the role summary ● Additional key responsibilities based on the department context ● Bespoke essential skills/experience required for the role