Assistant Commercial Lead

Job summary

Great British Energy will be a publicly owned, operationally independent energy company, designed to drive clean energy deployment, boost energy independence, create jobs and ensure U K taxpayers, billpayers and communities reap the benefits of clean, secure, homegrown energy. Setting up Great British Energy is one of government’s first steps for change and we will do this in a way that means it will have both an early impact and long-term success.

Through its five functions (Project development, Project investment, Local Power Plan, Supply chains and Great British Nuclear), Great British Energy will speed up the deployment of mature and new technologies, as well as local energy projects, to support the government’s aim of decarbonising our electricity system by 2030 whilst also ensuring we can meet future demand as we further decarbonise the economy.

To this end and as an example of what it can achieve, we have already agreed a major partnership between Great British Energy and The Crown Estate to accelerate deployment and support U K supply chains.

Great British Energy will work collaboratively with industry, local authorities and communities, and other public sector organisations such as the National Wealth Fund, to spread skilled jobs and investment across the country. Great British Energy will be backed by a capitalisation of £8.3 billion of new money over this Parliament.

In recognition of Scotland’s leading role in the UK’s clean energy revolution, Great British Energy will be headquartered and run from Scotland.

More details can be found in the Great British Energy founding statement.

Roles in what will become Great British Energy will initially be undertaken in shadow form within the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero. They will then be transferred to Great British Energy when the Great British Energy Bill becomes law and the company has the necessary procedures and systems in place to employ people directly.

Job description

In this role, you will help deliver commercial, procurement and contract management excellence for Great British Energy (GBE). With the aim of becoming a trusted commercial advisor, you’ll provide a customer-focused service that understands business needs and stakeholder priorities. You will build strong relationships with GBE’s key suppliers, driving value for money and robust risk management across the organisation.

You will lead elements of the full commercial lifecycle – from shaping strategy and policy, assessing sourcing options and running procurement processes, through to contract and supplier management. The role may also involve developing and delivering grants.

Working both independently and as part of a collaborative team, you’ll draw on your commercial expertise to drive performance, overcome challenges and adapt to changing priorities. You will manage your workload effectively, meet deadlines, and escalate risks where needed.

As part of establishing GBE’s new commercial function, you’ll embed best practice and processes developed by DESNZ, ensuring commercial principles are integrated from the outset. Building strong relationships across GBE will be key to ensuring commercial engagement in all activities.

Person specification

The activities in this role will be varied, and individual remit is subject to both size of the GBE business area you will be supporting and/or level of complexity, value and risk within that area. Typically, key responsibilities for a commercial professional in this role may include (but are not limited to):

Procurement Sourcing & Analysis:
• Lead end-to-end strategic sourcing activities and act as a subject matter expert.
• Work with stakeholders to define clear business requirements and commercial needs.
• Provide professional guidance throughout the sourcing process, evaluating models and options.
• Develop commercial input for business cases, demonstrating benefits, value for money and risk considerations.
• Influence procurement policy and standards across GBE.
• Identify opportunities for collaborative supplier partnerships.
• Deliver compliant procurement services that achieve demonstrable value for money.
• Negotiate with third parties using effective commercial techniques.
• Ensure sourcing compliance and adherence to frameworks.
• Apply these principles to grant delivery and management where required.

Effective Commercial Contract & Supplier Management:
• Manage one or more low-to-medium complexity contracts and grants, ensuring governance, performance, risk and financial controls.
• Evaluate supplier performance and report regularly.
• Contribute to supply chain strategy and relationship management.
• Maintain positive commercial relationships to enhance performance and create added value.
• Monitor demand patterns and introduce demand management mechanisms.
• Analyse supplier risk and ensure business continuity while protecting GBE’s risk position.

Internal and External Stakeholder Engagement across GBE:
• Developing effective working relationships with supplier organisations to establish appropriate governance and relationship arrangements, ensuring the effective management of clarifications and change requests
• Provision of commercial advice to stakeholders on all aspects of commercial (including Grants)
• Engaging, where required, with the relevant senior business lead, ensuring that business requirements are supported by category strategies

Strategic Delivery & Management:
• Feeding into the planning process based on commercial approaches that deliver requirements in line with business needs, category strategies and market trends
• Feeding into the development of commercial strategies and delivery of sourcing requirement within GBE, as part of the team supporting the GBE business as usual and project activities
• Understanding demand by forecasting and planning requirements with internal stakeholders and suppliers
• Developing and maintaining plans for key spend areas

Enabling and developing GBE:
• Championing procurement and Grant best practice and working collaboratively with others to create a proactive and intelligent function
• Contributing to the maintenance and updating of systems throughout the procurement and Grant lifecycle
• Playing a role in building capability of new starters and those on development programmes

Essential Criteria

Procurement Expertise:
Proven experience delivering end-to-end procurements, using central frameworks and open procedures.
Familiarity with public sector procurement regimes and compliance requirements.

Contract Management:
Experience managing one or more low-to-medium complexity contracts, with a strong understanding of contract management principles and their role in the commercial lifecycle.

Category & Commercial Management:
Background in procurement, grants, commercial or buying roles.
Knowledge of the full commercial lifecycle, including sourcing, procurement and grant methodologies, with evidence of achieving value for money in a commercial environment.

Commercial Acumen:
Understanding of commercial law and ability to apply key commercial tools effectively.

Risk & Assurance:
Ability to manage cyber, personnel and physical risks within your remit.

Ethics & Integrity:
Commitment to applying standards that prevent corruption, fraud and unethical behaviour in supply chains, and taking appropriate action when breaches occur.

Collaboration & Teamwork:
Ability to work effectively as part of a team, supporting performance and resolving issues.

Stakeholder Engagement:
Skilled in communicating effectively with stakeholders at all levels, adapting style to influence and build strong governance and relationships.

Desirable Criteria

Experience delivering under Public Contract Regulations 2015 and or Procurement Act 2023 regimes.

Behaviours

We'll assess you against these behaviours during the selection process:

• Communicating and Influencing
• Managing a Quality Service

Technical skills

We'll assess you against these technical skills during the selection process:

• Procurement Experience
• Procurement Experience
• Contract Management Experience

We only ask for evidence of these technical skills on your application form:

• Procurement Experience

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £42,385, Department for Energy Security & Net Zero contributes £12,278 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides.

The Department for Energy Security and Net Zero offers a competitive mix of benefits including:

• A culture of flexible working, such as job sharing, homeworking and compressed hours.
• Automatic enrolment into the Civil Service Pension Scheme, with an employer contribution of 28.97%.
• A minimum of 25 days of paid annual leave, increasing by 1 day per year up to a maximum of 30.
• An extensive range of learning & professional development opportunities, which all staff are actively encouraged to pursue.
• Access to a range of retail, travel and lifestyle employee discounts.

Office attendance

The Department operates a discretionary hybrid working policy, which provides for a combination of working hours from your place of work and from your home in the UK. The current expectation for staff is to attend the office or non-home based location for 40-60% of the time over the accounting period.

Things you need to know

Artificial intelligence

Artificial intelligence can be a useful tool to support your application, however, all examples and statements provided must be truthful, factually accurate and taken directly from your own experience. Where plagiarism has been identified (presenting the ideas and experiences of others, or generated by artificial intelligence, as your own) applications may be withdrawn and internal candidates may be subject to disciplinary action. Please see our candidate guidance (opens in a new window) for more information on appropriate and inappropriate use.

Selection process details

This vacancy is using Success Profiles (opens in a new window), and will assess your Behaviours, Experience and Technical skills.

As part of the application process you will be asked to complete a CV, personal statement and technical statement. Further details around what this will entail are listed on the application form.

Please use your personal statement (in no more than 500 words) outlining how your skills and expertise would be used to deliver the role's essential and desirable criteria

Applications will be sifted on personal statement, CV and any technical skills required.

In the event of a large number of applicants, applications will be sifted on the lead technical skill (Procurement Experience).

Candidates who pass the initial sift may be progressed to a full sift, or progressed straight to assessment/interview.

The interview will consist of behaviour and technical questions.

Sift and interview dates

Sift and interview dates to be confirmed.

Further Information

Reasonable Adjustment

We are proud to be a disability confident leader and we welcome applications from disabled candidates and candidates with long-term conditions.

Information about the Disability Confident Scheme (DCS) and some examples of adjustments that we offer to disabled candidates and candidates with long-term health conditions during our recruitment process can be found in our DESNZ Candidate Guidance. A DESNZ Plain Text Version of the guidance is also available.

We encourage candidates to discuss their adjustment needs by emailing the job contact which can be found under the contact point for applicants section.

If you are experiencing accessibility problems with any attachments on this advert, please contact the email address in the 'Contact point for applicants' section.

If successful and transferring from another Government Department a criminal record check may be carried out.

New entrants are expected to join on the minimum of the pay band.

A location based reserve list of successful candidates will be kept for 12 months. Should another role become available within that period you may be offered this position.

Candidates who meet the minimum benchmark may be placed on a Reserve List for consideration for similar roles, including those at a lower grade. Candidates who narrowly miss the benchmark and are not placed on the Reserve List may still be considered for an offer in a similar role at a lower grade.

Please note terms and conditions are attached. Please take time to read the document to determine how these may affect you.

Any move to the Department for Energy, Security and Net Zero from another employer will mean you can no longer access childcare vouchers. This includes moves between government departments. You may however be eligible for other government schemes, including Tax Free Childcare; for further information visit the Childcare Choices website.

DESNZ does not normally offer full home working (i.e. working at home); but we do offer a variety of flexible working options (including occasionally working from home).

DESNZ cannot offer Visa sponsorship to candidates through this campaign. DESNZ holds a Visa sponsorship licence but this can only be used for certain roles and this campaign does not qualify.

In order to process applications without delay, we will be sending a Criminal Record Check to Disclosure Scotland on your behalf.

However, we recognise in exceptional circumstances some candidates will want to send their completed forms direct. If you will be doing this, please advise Government Recruitment Service of your intention by emailing Pre-EmploymentChecks.grs@cabinetoffice.gov.uk stating the job reference number in the subject heading.

For further information on the Disclosure Scotland confidential checking service telephone: the Disclosure Scotland Helpline on 0870 609 6006 and ask to speak to the operations manager in confidence, or email Info@disclosurescotland.co.uk

Applicants who are successful at interview will be, as part of pre-employment screening, subject to a check on the Internal Fraud Database (IFD). This check will provide information about employees who have been dismissed for fraud or dishonesty offences. This check also applies to employees who resign or otherwise leave before being dismissed for fraud or dishonesty had their employment continued. Any applicant’s details held on the IFD will be refused employment.

A candidate is not eligible to apply for a role within the Civil Service if the application is made within a 5 year period following a dismissal for carrying out internal fraud against government.

Feedback

Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.

Security

Successful candidates must undergo a criminal record check.People working with government assets must complete baseline personnel security standard (opens in new window) checks.

Nationality requirements

This job is broadly open to the following groups:

• UK nationals
• nationals of the Republic of Ireland
• nationals of Commonwealth countries who have the right to work in the UK
• nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities with settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS) (opens in a new window)
• nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities who have made a valid application for settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS)
• individuals with limited leave to remain or indefinite leave to remain who were eligible to apply for EUSS on or before 31 December 2020
• Turkish nationals, and certain family members of Turkish nationals, who have accrued the right to work in the Civil Service

Further information on nationality requirements (opens in a new window)

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 theCivil 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 : Matt Bird
• Email : resourcing@gbe.gov.uk

Recruitment team

• Email : desnzresourcing.grs@cabinetoffice.gov.uk

Further information

Appointment to the Civil Service is governed by the Civil Service Commission’s Recruitment Principles. If you feel that your application has not been treated in accordance with the recruitment principles, and wish to make a complaint, then you should contact in the first instance DESNZrecruitment.grs@cabinetoffice.gov.uk. If you are not satisfied with the response that you receive, then you can contact the Civil Service Commission. For further information on bringing a complaint to the Civil Service Commission please visit their web pages: Click here to visit Civil Service Commission/Complaints

Attachments

DESNZ TCs v1.2 Opens in new window (doc, 174kB)