Commercial Administrator

Job summary

Join Ofsted as a Commercial Administrator Apprentice and build your career within a team that supports strong commercial practice across the organisation. Led by the Head of Commercial, the team provides essential advice and guidance to ensure all procurement and contract management activity is compliant, efficient, and delivers value for money.

In this apprentice role, you will provide vital administrative support across the full range of commercial activities. You’ll help ensure Ofsted meets its legal and regulatory obligations, including Public Procurement Regulations and Cabinet Office guidance, while working collaboratively with colleagues at all levels.

About the apprenticeship

You will undertake a fully funded Level 3 Apprenticeship qualification in Procurement and Supply Assistant . The apprenticeship training programme will take 18 months to complete. Over this time, you will develop skills and knowledge that will support you in a wide range of duties.

When you start the apprenticeship, you will have a tutor to help you make the most of the training programme.

Every 6 to 8 weeks, you will have one-to-one sessions with a tutor. You will think about how to apply your learning to workplace scenarios. This will help you to build up a useful portfolio of tools and techniques.

Over the course of your apprenticeship, you will spend at least of 20% of your working time (one day a week) completing off-the-job learning.

Eligibility

If you're aged 16–18:

• You must work towards a Level 2 qualification in English and Maths (equivalent to GCSE grade 4/C) if you haven’t already achieved it.
• This is done through Functional Skills training as part of your apprenticeship.

If you're aged 19 or older:

• You are not required to complete English and Maths qualifications to finish your apprenticeship.
• However, if you choose, this can be done through Functional Skills training as part of your apprenticeship.

Job description

Please refer to the job specification for further information.

Person specification

Please refer to the job specification for further information.

Behaviours

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

• Seeing the Big Picture
• Making Effective Decisions
• Communicating and Influencing
• Managing a Quality Service
• Delivering at Pace

Technical skills

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

• Ability to plan, organise and manage your own time effectively, following set processes and procedures.
• Effective verbal and written communication skills, with the confidence to communicate with internal and external stakeholders at all levels; explaining processes and giving accurate information in response to enquiries.
• Good literacy and numeracy skills to undertake calculations and produce letters and other documentation.
• Competent with IT applications including Microsoft Office programmes such as Outlook, Word, Excel and Teams.

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

• Ability to plan, organise and manage your own time effectively, following set processes and procedures.
• Effective verbal and written communication skills, with the confidence to communicate with internal and external stakeholders at all levels; explaining processes and giving accurate information in response to enquiries.
• Good literacy and numeracy skills to undertake calculations and produce letters and other documentation.

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £26,840, Office for Standards in Education, Children's Services and Skills contributes £7,775 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides.

Full details of the benefits available can be found in our Ofsted Offer brochure.

Ofsted is devoted to equality, diversity and inclusion. Within our Ofsted Strategy 2023-2027 we have stated that we will improve the representation of under-represented groups across the organisation and publish our progress on this annually. We are always looking to expand on our diverse workforce by recruiting candidates from varied backgrounds and differing experiences. We are proud to be a Disability Confident – Leader, we continually engage with our 5 staff networks for protected characteristics, and highlight the work of our Equalities, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) Group. We ensure all candidates are treated with fair and open competition, with all appointments being made on merit and we use our Disability Confident Scheme (DCS) to provide assurance to all candidates of this.

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.

Application and shortlisting

The selection panel will assess your application based on your evidence you have provided against the essential criteria as set out in the person specification.

You will also be asked to provide information within the “Employer/Activity History” section of the application form. This information is equivalent to the information you would provide on a CV setting out your career history (this may be used in the sifting process).

Assessment and interview

Candidates who pass the benchmark at the shortlisting stage will be invited to an assessment and interview where you will be assessed against a combination of the the Civil Service behaviours and the technical/experience skills set out in section 3 of the job specification.

If we receive a high number of applications, an initial sift will be conducted based on the following lead criterions:

• Ability to plan, organise and manage your own time effectively, following set processes and procedures.

Applicants who meet this initial eligibility criterion will be invited to progress to the next stage of the selection process. If required, a further full sift will be undertaken, where all applicants that passed the initial sift will be assessed against the complete set of essential criteria outlined in the job description.

Assessment and interviews will be held week commencing Monday 4 May 2026 at Piccadilly Gate, Manchester.

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 : People Services Delivery Team
• Email : jobs@ofsted.gov.uk
• Telephone : 03000 131 487

Recruitment team

• Email : jobs@ofsted.gov.uk

Further information

The law requires that selection for appointment to the Civil Service is on merit on the basis of fair and open competition as outlined in the Civil Service Commission's Recruitment Principles, which can be found at:
https://civilservicecommission.independent.gov.uk/wp-content/uploads/20…

If you feel your application has not been treated in accordance with the Recruitment Principles, and you wish to make a complaint, you should email Ofsted recruitment at jobs@ofsted.gov.uk in the first instance.
If you are not satisfied with the response you receive from the Department, you can contact the Civil Service Commission at:
https://civilservicecommission.independent.gov.uk/recruitment/civilserv…

Attachments

Job specification - Commercial Administrator Opens in new window (pdf, 193kB)