Guidance
Category Management - Commercial Lead
Published 8 July 2024
漏 Crown copyright 2024
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| Job Pillar Role听Component |
Cross Pillar Category Management |
|---|---|
| Commercial Professional Level |
Commercial Lead (Grade 7 equivalent) |
| Role Summary | In this role you will contribute to delivering commercial excellence for the department, providing a customer-focused service, understanding the business need and stakeholder drivers, with the aim of becoming a trusted commercial advisor. You will also develop relationships with the department鈥檚 key and strategic suppliers, driving value for money and risk management excellence across the category. 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. You will lead and own elements of the overall commercial lifecycle, including strategy and policy development, understanding needs and sourcing options, contract and supplier management and the procurement process itself. This will be achieved through the development and execution of category management strategies, leading supplier negotiations, where needed, and delivering timely and effective support, guidance and expertise to the business.听 |
| Key Responsibilities | Category Management roles are varied, and individual remit is subject to both size of category, and/or level of complexity, value and risk within a category. 听Typically, key responsibilities for a commercial professional in this role may include (but are not limited to): 鈼徧齋trategic delivery and management within a category: 潞听Developing commercial approaches that deliver requirements that are in line with business needs, category strategies and market trends 潞听Contributing to the development of category strategies and delivery of sourcing requirements within commercial, as part of the team supporting business as usual and project activities 潞听Understanding demand by forecasting and planning requirements with internal stakeholders and suppliers 潞 Developing and maintaining category plans for key spend areas 鈼徧齍nderstanding relevant sourcing options and analysis, delivering positive outcomes through the procurement process: 潞听Performing end-to-end strategic sourcing activities for the department and serving as a subject matter expert 潞听Working with key stakeholders to develop a clear and agreed view of business requirements, supporting business units in articulating their commercial requirements 潞听Advising and providing professional guidance throughout the sourcing process, considering and evaluating a range of sourcing models 潞听Supporting the development of options for a business case, including articulating associated benefits and producing supporting arguments for the preferred option 潞听Identifying opportunities to develop collaborative partnerships with suppliers 潞听Providing a procurement service to the department which delivers demonstrable value for money and compliant goods and services contracts as part of a team of procurement professionals on larger procurement activities 潞听Leading and guiding others with negotiation relating to commercial activity, using knowledge and experience with negotiation techniques 潞 Understanding and being accountable for sourcing compliance and frameworks 鈼徧鼸nsuring effective Commercial Contract and Supplier Management within the category: 潞听Managing contract variations, providing practical advice and strategic direction 潞听Evaluating whether a contract is achieving a successful return on investment, in the light of value for money considerations 潞听Overseeing the realisation of benefits achieved as a result of the performance management regime or change control, and challenging non-delivery of benefits and escalates when required 潞听Evaluating the performance of suppliers against the specification and reporting regularly on progress and/or challenges 潞听Managing risk and reward mechanisms in contracts and key performance indicators 潞听Monitoring progress against the business objectives and works with suppliers and customers to develop improvements 潞听Actively managing strategic relationships to deliver mutual benefit for those involved 潞听At a delivery level, holding both suppliers and customers accountable for delivering their contractual commitments. Resolving disputes effectively and efficiently 潞听Performing contract exit activity, from pre-emptive action to transactional, process led tasks 潞听Managing the disposal process of assets that are no longer needed once the current contract expires 潞 Advising on and mitigating risks to the continuity of supply, and owning business continuity approach for relevant contract(s) 鈼徧鼴uilding and maintaining key relationships across the department and with important external stakeholders: 潞听Developing key stakeholder relationships, enabling early engagement and challenging business need and demand. Seeking early active involvement of internal stakeholders in the sourcing process 潞听Providing commercial advice to stakeholders on all aspects of commercial protocol 潞 Engaging, where required, with the relevant senior business lead, ensuring that business requirements are supported by category strategies 鈼徧鼸nabling and developing the department: 潞听Feeding into catalogue and content management for the department, setting the direction for the category 鈼徧齈erformance and day-to-day management of category team, where applicable 鈼徧齏orking within a secure environment on sensitive projects as required听 |
| Essential Criteria |
Category Management: 鈼徧鼿as excellent understanding of the principles of end-to-end commercial lifecycle management 鈼徧鼸vidence of taking a strategic lead on securing value for money in a complex commercial environment 鈼徧鼸vidence of influencing key senior stakeholders and suppliers towards commercial solutions in a complex commercial environment Commercial Focus: 鈼徧鼿as 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 鈼徧鼶emonstrates the ability to lead on securing value for money through achieving good return on investment on commercial projects Risk and Assurance Management: 鈼徧鼶emonstrates the ability to analyse risks and understand margins of error in developing recommendations and making effective decisions Commercial Ethics: 鈼徧鼶emonstrates 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: 鈼徧鼶emonstrates 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: 鈼徧鼿as strong stakeholder engagement skills and can present technical advice successfully in order to influence internal and external decision making. 鈼徧鼶emonstrates 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 : Managing a Quality Service: 鈼徧鼶emonstrate positive customer service by understanding the complexity and diversity of customer needs and expectations. Deliver a high quality, efficient and cost effective service by considering a broad range of methods for delivery. Ensure full consideration of new technologies, accessibility and costings. Make clear, practical and manageable plans for service delivery. Ensure adherence to legal, regulatory and security requirements in service delivery. Proactively manage risks and identify solutions. Establish how the business area compares to industry best practice. Create regular opportunities for colleagues, stakeholders, delivery partners and customers to help improve the quality of service Working Together: 鈼徧�Actively build and maintain a network of colleagues and contacts to achieve progress on shared objectives. Challenge assumptions while being willing to compromise if beneficial to progress. Build strong interpersonal relationships and show genuine care for colleagues. Ensure consideration and support for the wellbeing of yourself and individuals throughout the team. Understand the varying needs of the team to ensure they are supported and their experiences are utilised. Create an inclusive working environment where all opinions and challenges are taken into account and bullying, harassment and discrimination are unacceptable. Remain available and approachable to all colleagues and be receptive to new ideas Developing Self and Others: 鈼徧�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鈥檚 experiences and change organisational plans and processes accordingly Leadership: 鈼徧�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鈥檚 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: 鈼徧鼳n additional short paragraph in the role summary 鈼徧鼳dditional key responsibilities based on the department context 鈼徧鼴espoke essential skills/experience required for the role |