Guidance

Category Strategy - Commercial Lead

Published 8 July 2024

Job Pillar
搁辞濒别听颁辞尘辫辞苍别苍迟
STRATEGY AND POLICY DEVELOPMENT
Commercial Category Strategy
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 managing the development of category strategies and pipeline plans. You will be expected to manage the supply chain of critical products and services and apply your knowledge of business requirements combined with your strong negotiating skills to ensure 鈥榲alue for money鈥� is delivered.听

You will lead a team, building their confidence to drive performance and manage setbacks. The role will 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):

鈼徧齇btaining data on past patterns of spend and identifying those parts of the organisation that have or are likely to have needs in the particular area in question
鈼徧齅anaging the benefits, risks and issues of a category management approach and taking the lead in developing solutions in your area of responsibility
鈼徧鼴uilding strong relationships with key internal and external stakeholders, in order to develop a clear and agreed view of the needs of the business and wider cross-government strategies which can then be built into the category strategy
鈼徧齅anaging, inputting, assessing and shaping department and ministerial policies from a commercial perspective, challenging risk averse behaviours where appropriate
鈼徧齍nderstanding the department鈥檚 commercial strategy and feeding into planning, based on commercial approaches that will deliver against requirements in line with market trends
鈼徧齅anaging, developing and applying a category strategy as well as developing and implementing sourcing plans
鈼徧齋eeking approval for and managing the implementation of a category strategy for the whole of the commercial lifecycle
鈼徧鼶eveloping and maintaining category plans for key spend areas
鈼徧鼴aselining costs in order to build expected benefits into category strategies
鈼徧鼶emonstrating the benefits specified in the business case and the impact on their own role
鈼徧齈roviding advice and challenge in the development of an overarching category strategy using a good understanding of business requirements and the marketplace
鈼徧鼸stablishing and implementing negotiation strategies with clear parameters
鈼徧齊esearching, encouraging and applying new ideas and ways of working to maximise 鈥榲alue for money鈥�
鈼徧鼳pplying a strong visual project management approach
鈼徧齋ecuring and acting on insight into customers, citizens, services, communities and markets relating to a specified set of contracts or projects
Essential Criteria Strategy and Policy Development:
鈼徧鼿as considerable experience in translating the needs of the business into policy objectives
鈼徧鼿as considerable experience in developing commercial strategies for high value procurements and contracts
鈼徧鼿as 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
鈼徧鼿as the ability to practically apply procurement rules and link them to the implementation of policy objectives

Commercial Focus:
鈼徧鼿as strong commercial knowledge, understands the need for trade-offs in an area of responsibility and can apply the commercial principles within the boundaries of contract law
鈼徧鼶emonstrates the ability to lead on securing 鈥榲alue for money鈥� 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 and takes 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 :

Seeing the Big Picture:
鈼徧鼶evelop and maintain an understanding of economic, social, political, environmental and technological developments to ensure activity is relevant. Ensure plans and activities in your area of work reflect wider strategic priorities and communicate effectively with senior leaders to influence future strategies. Adopt a governmentwide perspective to ensure alignment of activity and policy. Bring together views, perspectives and diverse needs of stakeholders to gain a broader understanding of the issues surrounding policies and activities

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

Developing Self and Others:
鈼徧齈rioritise 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:
鈼徧齈romote 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