Contents Location About the job Benefits Things you need to know Apply and further information Location Abercrombie House, East Kilbride, Glasgow (moving to Glasgow City Centre 2025/26) Or King Charles Street, London Occasional travel required to London/East Kilbride and overseas to visit stakeholders Relocation costs will not be reimbursed. About the job Job summary The FCDO delivers for the UK internationally, leading the governments diplomatic, development and consular work around the world. Our work aims to: Shape an open and stable international order through strong alliances and future partnerships. Protect our national and international security and mitigate any threats. Reinvigorate the UKs leadership role in international development to tackle shared global challenges, respond to humanitarian crises, and support the Sustainable Development Goals. Support British nationals around the world by providing resilient 24/7 Consular services and agile crisis response. The Commercial Directorate provides an end-to-end procurement and commercial solutions to deliver FCDO business, whether that's development programmes, corporate and people services, or managing and improving our overseas estate, IT and security. Overall, the Commercial Directorate provides robust and proportionate review and assurance of FCDOs third party spending. The Commercial Vision is: Delivering better diplomatic and development outcomes through global commercial excellence. This role sits within the Commercial Programme Delivery teams where we provide commercial advice and procurement support to a wide range of international development and humanitarian programmes. The teams are aligned with our Thematic (Category) Directorates, with specialist thematic category teams structured to provide support and advice at all stages of the procurement lifecycle, with particular emphasis on the pre-procurement (Define) and procurement (Procure) stages. Regional programming focuses on Africa, Middle East, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Eastern Europe & Central Asia, Americas, Overseas Territories and IndoPacific, while our thematic categories align include: Climate, Education, Health, Gender, Trade, Humanitarian, Conflict, Security & Open Societies and Science & Research. The role reports to the Deputy Director Programme Delivery and it forms part of the Programme Delivery Leadership Team (PDLT), a fundamental role where not only it leads a team of commercial professionals, it also gives the opportunity to form, shape and implement new commercial strategies and lead on the new operating model. Job description The Programme Delivery Commercial Team (PDCT) sits within the FCDO Commercial Directorate and is responsible for delivering excellent value for money and commercial outcomes across a range of category/thematic spend delivered globally. This role is to manage a team providing Commercial Delivery and Sourcing services to a combined Thematic and Geographic portfolio. Portfolios may change depending on prevailing business priorities. The purpose of the role is to deliver optimal commercial outcomes across FCDOs overseas development spend. The postholder will: Operate as a trusted advisor to the senior executive team (Director General, Directors and Deputy Directors) by providing expert commercial advice and challenge on strategic, complex and key investment decisions and contracts; Lead the commercial category management approach for their pillar; Lead market engagement (category & regional), prioritising supplier intelligence on the category capability of the supply base; Lead and manage the allocation of commercial resource to support the achievement of the Directorates commercial objectives and priorities; Commercially influencing project design via effective early market engagement; Invest in Commercial people, reward and celebrate success, build capability and deepen our expertise; Drive the agile and effective operation of the Directorate in line with FCDO priorities, Cabinet Office commercial standards and in line with budget and headcount targets for the commercial function; Application of full suite of public procurement routes and leading team on introduction of Procurement Reform changes due to be deployed in October 2024 FCDO is looking for an experienced leader to join the Programme Delivery Commercial Team. We are looking for inspiring individuals who understand senior stakeholder needs, can span functions, and engage collaboratively with the marketplace to deliver excellent commercial outcomes. Locations The successful candidate(s) will be able to agree a contractual workplace from those locations listed in this advert. When selecting your location listed in this job advert please be aware that this will be your contractual base location with a requirement to spend a minimum of 60% of your working time in this organisational workplace. Your time spent on official duties at workplace locations other than your contractual office such as supplier, customer or partner locations required to perform your role is included in the 60% attendance. This requirement will however take into consideration any reasonable adjustments agreed upon appointment for people with a disability, flexibilities agreed for those with specific caring responsibilities, or other similar temporary flexibilities. Person specification This senior role will report to the Deputy Director for Programme Delivery and will be a whole systems thinker, thought leader, innovator and shaper of future commercial services, whilst leading and driving forward commercial capability. Provide commercial guidance at senior management (Director) level, securing engagement and business buy- in and develop and implement robust category strategies for directorates and spending departments Demonstrate senior leadership, influencing and driving transformational change and commercial thought leadership Overseeing the commercial lifecycle across various funding routes (contracts, accountable grants, memorandums of understanding and other types of innovative finance); Bring understanding of market and commercial drivers to support policy development and programme design teams to build and shape markets, and drive delivery partner innovation Leading on commercial governance for owned categories; Developing and managing supplier relationships, influencing them to contribute towards delivery of FCDO priorities. Identifying and achieving value for money, delivering against savings targets and continuous improvement initiatives. Contributing to the wider Government Commercial Function (GCF) agenda through initiatives to be agreed with directorate senior managers. Experience of line managing a team with a diverse and complex portfolio, across multiple geographic locations. This is a Reserved role. Candidates internal to FCDO who were employed prior to 30th September 2020 are exempt from reserved status. Technical skills We'll assess you against these technical skills during the selection process: Risk Mindset Able to utilise risk management and a collaborative solution focused approach to deliver effective results at pace whilst delivering on business strategy within a large and complex international environment Commercial Focus Ability to define a commercial outcome from concept note to delivery, utilising a broad spectrum of funding routes, articulating the benefits, opportunities & risks to deliver outcome based results in complex environment Builds Relationships Experienced in delivering an extensive wide-ranging pipeline of commercial activity, positively influencing senior stakeholders to deliver strong results Coaching Manager Experience managing commercial teams in different geographic locations, building capability through coaching & leading in challenging environments. Successfully managing staff wellbeing, resilience & maintaining delivery Procurement Process Demonstrates strong knowledge of the end-to-end procurement lifecycle with an ability to ability to innovate and use judgment to deliver results Benefits As a valued employee of the Government Commercial Organisation (GCO), you will have access to all the benefits the centre has to offer; including flexible working, generous benefits, Career Coaches, Mentors, L&D, a Commercial College, active talent management and, most importantly, access to commercial projects that will far exceed the scale and complexity on offer elsewhere in the UK. For existing Civil Servants: For full details of the impact on any move across the civil service on your existing terms and conditions, please read the candidate pack. Please note that any move across the Civil Service may have implications on your ability to continue to claim childcare vouchers. Things you need to know Selection process details This vacancy is using Success Profiles (opens in a new window), and will assess your Experience and Technical skills. Please be advised that the Virtual ADC is taking place on 10 th and 19 th February 2025 (you will only need to attend one date. Please ensure availability as alternative dates cannot be guaranteed). This will require a full day's attendance. If you are invited to attend a virtual ADC, but for any reason are unable to meet the date outlined then please get in touch with the team on commercialresourcinghubcabinetoffice.gov.uk as soon as possible. The ADC is booked and paid for in advance by departments, therefore it is only in certain circumstances we are able to accommodate alternative dates. Details of schemes available are attached in the advert. For full details of our process, and a likely timeline, please read the explanation provided in the attached candidate pack. Throughout our selection process, we will make decisions about your capability to do the job, based on evidence you provide against the essential criteria for the role which are detailed in the attached Candidate Pack. Your application will be reviewed by a panel and should you be successful at sift we will invite you to attend a Virtual commercial Assessment and Development Centre (VADC). The panel will review results of the VADC and determine which candidates will go through to a subsequent final panel interview. Please note: Only candidates that achieve an A grade at ADC will be invited to interview for this role. IMPORTANT: If you do not receive an acknowledgement of your application within 2 working days please contact: commercialresourcinghubcabinetoffice.gov.uk Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment. Security Successful candidates must undergo a criminal record check. Successful candidates must meet the security requirements before they can be appointed. The level of security needed is security check (opens in a new window). See our vetting charter (opens in a new window). People working with government assets must complete baseline personnel security standard (opens in new window) checks. Nationality requirements Open to UK nationals only. Working for the Civil Service The Civil Service Code (opens in a new window) sets out the standards of behaviour expected of civil servants. We recruit by merit on the basis of fair and open competition, as outlined in the Civil Service Commission's recruitment principles (opens in a new window). The Civil Service embraces diversity and promotes equal opportunities. As such, we run a Disability Confident Scheme (DCS) for candidates with disabilities who meet the minimum selection criteria. The Civil Service also offers a Redeployment Interview Scheme to civil servants who are at risk of redundancy, and who meet the minimum requirements for the advertised vacancy. Diversity and Inclusion The Civil Service is committed to attract, retain and invest in talent wherever it is found. To learn more please see the Civil Service People Plan (opens in a new window) and the Civil Service Diversity and Inclusion Strategy (opens in a new window). Apply and further information This vacancy is part of the Great Place to Work for Veterans (opens in a new window) initiative. The Civil Service welcomes applications from people who have recently left prison or have an unspent conviction. Read more about prison leaver recruitment (opens in new window). Once this job has closed, the job advert will no longer be available. You may want to save a copy for your records. Contact point for applicants Job contact : Name : Lynsey Munro Email : commercialresourcinghubcabinetoffice.gov.uk Recruitment team Email : commercialresourcinghubcabinetoffice.gov.uk Further information If you feel your application has not been treated in accordance with the Recruitment Principles, and you wish to make a complaint, you should direct this to the Head of Commercial Resourcing Hub at the following email commercialresourcinghubcabinetoffice.gov.uk quoting the vacancy reference number (if applicable) and the details of your complaint. If you are not satisfied with the response you receive, you can contact the Civil Service Commission via the following web page: http://civilservicecommission.independent.gov.uk/civil-service-recruitment/complaints/ Attachments 384891 - Candidate Pack - Head of Category _ International Development Programmes .docx Opens in new window (pdf, 540kB) Guaranteed Interview Schemes Opens in new window (pdf, 70kB) Share this page Print Email Facebook Twitter LinkedIn GMail