Commercial Adviser

Job summary

Are you a team player who enjoys collaborating and partnering with both internal and external stakeholders to deliver innovative, commercial solutions achieving great outcomes and value for money?

An exciting opportunity has arisen to join the Food Standards Agency (FSA) as a Commercial Adviser - a great opportunity for someone interested in further developing their commercial career. You will continue to develop your skills and knowledge, as the role offers the opportunity to study towards your professional MCIPS qualification.

We are a relatively small government department, but we carry out a lot of important work. In order to deliver our vast remit, we engage with a wide range of partners, spending over £85m each year on external contracts. These contracts enable us to carry out vital research and scientific projects, bring in external support to help our teams across the organisation, and generally ensure that the FSA is always in the best position possible to keep the nation’s food safe.

The Commercial team prides itself on solid foundations of commercial experience and customer service. This is a great opportunity to join a small team committed to delivering excellent service, knowledge and expertise to both internal and external customers. You’ll have the opportunity to get an overview of many areas of work and categories; something that you wouldn’t get in a large government department.

Job description

This is a challenging and exciting chance to contribute to the future direction of the team and deliver a genuine change across the FSA. You will be a key member of the Commercial team and have full involvement in activities across the entire procurement cycle, including identifying and delivering opportunities to improve our working approach, developing our use of existing systems, drafting contracts and delivering the Commercial Improvement Programme.

If you feel this could be the role for you we’d love to receive your application.

Working pattern guidance

If applying as a job share partnership you should both complete separate application forms on Civil Service Jobs but should make it clear that you are applying as job sharers. Further details on job sharing can be found here JSF – What is the recruitment process for job sharers? , Civil Service Careers (civil-service-careers.gov.uk)

Applicants who wish to work compressed hours are welcome to apply - however your preferred working pattern may not be available and you should discuss this with the vacancy holder before applying.

Please read before applying

This post is a temporary Fixed Term/Loan appointment available until the return of the substantive post holder, estimated to be 31/03/2027 with the potential, but no guarantee, of extension or permanency.

Candidates that are already established Civil Servants or from non-departmental public bodies (NDPBs) will come to the FSA on a Loan basis and will need to request permission from their Home Department for the Loan prior to applying for this vacancy.

Note for FSA employees

You must seek approval from your substantive manager before applying for any non-permanent vacancy - please refer to the ‘Temporary internal appointments framework’ on the FSA intranet for more details. Please note that if applying for a temporary post within the FSA or elsewhere on promotion, successful appointment will not automatically result in a permanent promotion - you will revert to your current substantive grade at the end of the Fixed Term or Loan period (unless funding has been approved to make the post permanent).

Person specification

Please read the attached Candidate Pack to discover further details about the role, our organisation, who we are looking for and the criteria we will assess against during the selection process.

We look forward to receiving your application and wish you every success.

Behaviours

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

• Communicating and Influencing
• Managing a Quality Service
• Delivering at Pace

Technical skills

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

• Technical Criteria: •MCIPS qualified or•working towards MCIPS or•willing to commence study to obtain MCIPS should the role become permanent.

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £34,955, Food Standards Agency contributes £10,126 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides.Our candidate pack details the benefits that the FSA has to offer. Please also refer to the attached Terms and Conditions statement.

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, Strengths, Experience and Technical skills.

Full details of the selection process are detailed in the attached candidate pack.

Application and shortlisting

You will be asked to provide personal details (not seen by the Panel) and to confirm your eligibility to apply for the role.

You will then be asked to complete an application which will be used to assess you against the following essential criteria.

Essential criteria

Experience

· Lead criteria: Practical experience within a procurement or commercial function, contributing to elements of the procurement process while ensuring compliance with relevant processes and policies. Understands the fundamental stages and principles of effective commercial lifecycle management.

· Demonstrates strong interpersonal skills, engaging confidently with stakeholders at all levels. Able to provide appropriate challenge, and establish effective governance and relationship arrangements.

· Excellent communication skills with the ability to translate complex information into clear messages for non-specialist audience.

· Demonstrates the ability to identify and communicate risks and gain agreement on how they should be managed/mitigated.

Technical

• MCIPS qualified

or

• working towards MCIPS

or

• willing to commence study to obtain MCIPS should the role become permanent.

Lead Criteria An initial sift will take place on the Lead Criteria.

In the event that we receive a large number of applications, the minimum pass mark for the Lead Criteria may be raised at shortlisting stage. Candidates who apply under the DCS, GPTW or RIS schemes and meet the minimum requirements will be unaffected by the pass mark raise.

Interview

If successful at shortlisting stage, you will be invited to a final interview in which we will assess you against the following Experience and Strengths requirements of the role and Civil Service Behaviours.

Behaviours

· Communicating and Influencing

· Managing a Quality Service

· Delivering at Pace

Full details of the positive indicators being assessed for each Behaviour can be found in the Candidate Pack.

Experience

· Practical experience within a procurement or commercial function, contributing to elements of the procurement process while ensuring compliance with relevant processes and policies.

Strengths

We will also assess you against a number of Civil Service Strengths – these are not disclosed prior to interview.

Expected Timeline

Advert closes: 8 March 2026 (23:55)

Sift: Expected to take place during week commencing 9 March 2026

Final panel interview: Expected to take place during week commencing 23 March 2026

Interviews will be held remotely via MS Teams. (If you do not have the Microsoft Teams application installed on your computer, you can join on the web without installing the application).

Please note that indicated dates may be subject to change.

Childcare Vouchers

Any move to the Food Standards Agency 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.

Determine your eligibility at https://www.childcarechoices.gov.uk

Reserve List

A reserve list will be held for a period of up to 12 months from which further appointment may be made.

Candidates that do not pass the interview but have demonstrated an acceptable standard may be considered for similar roles at a lower grade.

Visa Sponsorship

Please note that the FSA does not offer visa sponsorship and cannot provide advice on visa applications

Making a complaint

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.

If you feel your application has not been treated fairly in accordance with the principles, and you wish to make a complaint, you should email the FSA’s Director of People at jo.bushnell@food.gov.uk. If you are not satisfied with the response, you can contact the Civil Service Commission.

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 : Kevin James
• Email : Kevin.James@food.gov.uk

Recruitment team

• Email : hr.recruitment.campaigns@food.gov.uk

Further information

If you wish to raise a complaint then please email hr.recruitment.campaigns@food.gov.uk in the first instance.

Attachments

Candidate Pack - Commercial Adviser (HEO) FTA Feb 26 Opens in new window (pdf, 1104kB)Terms and Conditions as at April 2020 Opens in new window (pdf, 42kB)