Commercial Officer

Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman

Hybrid

Expires: Expiring in less than 2 weeks

Procurement

Full time

£35,541 per year

Job summary

Please note, we reserve the right to close the advert early if we receive a high volume of applications, so we encourage you to apply as soon as possible.

Closing date: 15 March 2026

Interview dates: 23 and 24 March 2026

Join a team where Excellence drives standards, Independence shapes decisions, Fairness guides actions, and Transparency builds trust.

At The Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman, we make final decisions on complaints that have not been resolved by UK Government departments and the NHS in England. We work closely with people to understand where, how and why public services sometimes fall short and fail to put people first. We share findings from our casework to help Parliament scrutinise public service providers. We also share our findings more widely to help drive improvements in public services and complaint handling.

Our culture is open, friendly and supportive. We listen, we learn, and we treat everyone with dignity and respect. Inclusion and wellbeing are at the heart of how we work, and we strive to create a workplace where every colleague feels valued, supported and able to thrive.

We work in a modern, flexible way built on trust and autonomy. You’ll split your time between working from home and spending around 40% of your week in our Manchester or London office, where collaboration and connection with your team are an important part of how we work.

Job description

The role:

The Commercial Officer plays a key role in supporting the Head of Commercial to deliver the organisation’s commercial objectives. The role supports and leads on procurement and contract management activity, ensuring all work is compliant with UK procurement legislation, public sector frameworks, and internal governance.

Working closely with stakeholders, the Commercial Officer provides clear, high‑quality procurement advice, identifies commercial risks, and helps embed best practice across the full procurement and contract lifecycle. The role supports effective supplier management, maintains robust records and data integrity, and contributes to financial planning through transparent and value‑driven commercial activity.

Alongside day‑to‑day procurement administration and reporting, the Commercial Officer champions PHSO values, promotes continuous improvement, and supports colleagues across the Commercial team and wider organisation.

Person specification

The successful applicant will have:

a strong understanding of UK Public Contracts Regulations 2015 and 2023, including public sector frameworks and competitive procedures
experience of managing contracts through the whole contract lifecycle
skilled in building trust in stakeholder relationships and influencing at various levels

We recognise the value of lived experience. If you have experience of complaining about any public body, we strongly encourage you to apply.

We know the value of having diverse, representative teams across our organisation. Which is why we particularly encourage applications from candidates who are likely to be underrepresented within the team. These include people who are:

Asian, Black, Mixed Ethnicity or another ethnic background
disabled
LGBTQ+

Benefits

Our benefits:

Civil Service Pension scheme
32.5 days annual leave, plus bank holidays
hybrid working, 40 percent office based
flexible working
access to a free, confidential Employee Assistance Programme offering 24/7 advice and support from professionals and counsellors
comprehensive learning and development programme
employee discount scheme across hundreds of retailers
bicycle loan scheme
season ticket loan
gym membership subsidy
paid for professional memberships
eye test reimbursement.

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

Inclusion & Wellbeing

Equality, diversity, inclusion, and wellbeing are vital to the way we work and our culture. We want our colleagues feel included, valued, and supported at work. It is essential that we are representative and accessible for the people who work here and those who use our service.

Actions we take to embed this include:

an anonymised shortlisting process to make sure it is fair and unbiased
monitoring the demographic trends in our workforce and making measured, sustained efforts to improve our diversity at all levels
providing wellbeing support and opportunities for personal and professional development for all colleagues
creating spaces for connection and engagement through our employee network groups and social clubs
part of the disability confident scheme
providing reasonable adjustments
engaging in regular inclusion learning to enhance the cultural competency of our organisation.

If you want to join a dedicated team that makes a real difference and helps raise standards in public services, then is the opportunity for you.

If you would like to learn more about the role, please contact

Roz Pedersen, Assistant Director of Finance, Roz.Pedersen@ombudsman.org.uk

Interviews will be held onsite.

Please do not use AI as this may result in in your application being rejected.

Please note that we don’t offer feedback at application stage.

PLEASE NOTE: We can only consider applications from candidates who have the right to work in the UK. We are unable to offer sponsorship as we do not have a licence.

We do not accept CV’s. To apply for the role, please complete the application form by clicking on the ‘apply online’ button.

No agencies. Applications from individuals only.

Important notice: fraudulent job postings

We have been made aware that some websites are falsely advertising job vacancies for the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman (PHSO). We only advertise job vacancies through these official channels:

- our website

- LinkedIn

- Civil Service Jobs

- GOV.uk

- Indeed

- Ombudsman association

- BMEjobs.co.uk

- Disabilityjob.co.uk

- Neurodiversityjobs.co.uk

- LGBTjobs.co.uk

Do not share personal details with any other websites claiming to represent PHSO. Contact our recruitment team to report any concerns at recruitment@ombudsman.org.uk

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

Please note this Post is NOT regulated by the Civil Service Commission.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.

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

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

Salary range

£35,541 per year