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Job summary

The Government Commercial Organization is an employer which is truly committed to creating a welcoming, inclusive workplace where all our people are able to bring their whole selves to work and are able to perform to their potential. We understand the importance of diversity and inclusion and strive for a workplace that reflects the communities which we serve. We especially welcome applications from underrepresented groups including Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic candidates, candidates with a disability and candidates with gender-diverse identities. Appointments will be made on merit on the basis of fair and open competition.

We have already made significant progress through the establishment of the Government Commercial Organization (GCO), our single employer of senior commercial talent across government. This role will sit within the GCO, but is based in the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero commercial team delivering Departmental priorities.

Over the past few years, the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ) has been through a considerable period of positive transformation. This role in the DESNZ commercial team represents a truly unique opportunity to help shape and support the DESNZ commercial function as it supports the execution of multiple high priority Government objectives.

We are building a cadre of commercial talent in all Government departments; people who can manage our commercial portfolios, who can lead our most complex and novel programmes and projects, people who have the gravitas and depth of experience to work alongside our policy and operational leaders to develop innovative commercial arrangements through best-in-class contracts.

Job description

The Government Commercial Organization is an employer which is truly committed to creating a welcoming, inclusive workplace where all our people are able to bring their whole selves to work and are able to perform to their potential. We understand the importance of diversity and inclusion and strive for a workplace that reflects the communities which we serve. We especially welcome applications from underrepresented groups including Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic candidates, candidates with a disability and candidates with gender-diverse identities. Appointments will be made on merit on the basis of fair and open competition.

We have already made significant progress through the establishment of the Government Commercial Organization (GCO), our single employer of senior commercial talent across government. This role will sit within the GCO, but is based in the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero commercial team delivering Departmental priorities.

Over the past few years, the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ) has been through a considerable period of positive transformation. This role in the DESNZ commercial team represents a truly unique opportunity to help shape and support the DESNZ commercial function as it supports the execution of multiple high priority Government objectives.

As a Commercial Lead, you will provide expert commercial leadership across a diverse portfolio of research, modelling, technical assurance, consultancy and grant-funded programmes — ensuring full compliance with commercial, grant, and subsidy control rules.

These roles might include line management, supporting their performance, growth and professional development.

We have two positions of which one of each sits in the below Teams

Net Zero Buildings and Industry:

The Net Zero Buildings and Industry team contribute to the UK’s clean heat transition and net zero ambitions. They focus on Heat decarbonisation initiatives, working with Clean Heat directorate, supporting the delivery of complex commercial arrangements and ensuring robust contract and supplier management. The team specialise on the commercial delivery of heat network programmes that are central to the UK’s net zero strategy.

Non-Nuclear Energy:

Non-Nuclear Energy encompasses a wider range and diverse set of business areas. These include the UK’s first of a kind Carbon Capture Utilisation and Storage programme, Energy Affordability, Clean Power supporting the 2030 decarbonisation targets and beyond, Office of Clean Energy Jobs, Electricity Networks and how these operate and support the electrification of our lives, Renewables for On-shore, Off-shore and floating windfarms, solar, wave, even maintaining support for fossil fuels as well as Analysis Directorate that underpins all the decisions we make.

Locations
The successful candidate(s) will be able to agree a contractual workplace from those locations listed in this advert. When selecting your location listed in this job advert please be aware that this will be your contractual base location with a requirement to spend a minimum of 60% of your working time in this organisational workplace.

Your time spent on official duties at workplace locations other than your contractual office such as supplier, customer or partner locations required to perform your role is included in the 60% attendance.

This requirement will however take into consideration any reasonable adjustments agreed upon appointment for people with a disability, flexibilities agreed for those with specific caring responsibilities, or other similar temporary flexibilities.

Person specification

This role will include but not be limited to supporting teams to:

Commercial Strategy & Advisory

• Develop and deliver commercial strategies for technical, analytical and affordability portfolios.

• Provide authoritative commercial advice on sourcing routes, pricing models, risk allocation and market shaping.

• Contribute commercial input into business cases and investment papers.

• Briefing and influencing stakeholders at all levels.

• Advising on Social Value

Procurement Delivery

• Planning the procurement approach, conditions of participation, evaluation, and pricing mechanism. Noting these will have to reflect the new Procurement Act.

• Lead procurements through full lifecycle — market engagement, ITT drafting, evaluation planning, moderation, contract award.

• Ensure compliance with the Procurement Act 2023, Sourcing Playbook, GCF standards and DESNZ commercial governance.

• Work collaboratively with UKSBS, ICS Commercial and GLD Legal as well other Pan-government stakeholders.

Contract & Supplier Management

• Oversee contract mobilisation and supplier performance frameworks.

• Manage commercial risks, KPIs, variations and assurance processes.

• Provide audit-ready documentation and continuous commercial oversight.

• Supporting the development of a high value contract/s and advising on sourcing approaches and contract models, reviewing and contributing to weekly papers and focus topics.

• Leading on an extensive series of market engagement activities through workshops, 1:1 meetings, and RFIs which require commercial oversight in this high-risk environment.

Grant Management Responsibilities

You will act as the commercial partner on grant-funded activity, with responsibility for:

• Supporting design and assurance of grant schemes (including affordability and supply-chain support programmes).

• Advising on the appropriate commercial vs. grant delivery route, ensuring robust rationale and compliance.

• Ensuring grant-funded projects meet Managing Public Money, Subsidy Control Act, and DESNZ grant governance requirements.

• Reviewing grant agreements, milestones, evidence requirements, monitoring arrangements and payment controls.

• Providing oversight of grant risk registers, financial controls and performance reporting.

• Supporting policy and analytical teams in building compliant grant funding models and assessing deliverability.

• Ensuring grant schemes pass Grant Assurance Board (GCAB) processes where applicable and preparing supporting documentation.

• Providing commercial challenge during assessment, award, change control, and scheme close-down.

Innovation & Continuous Improvement

• Develop commercial models by challenging requirements and proposing creative solutions.

• Apply lean, agile, or continuous improvement techniques to enhance commercial delivery including where appropriate end to end processes.

• Maintain a forward pipeline of commercial needs and inform category planning.

Leadership & Line Management

• Demonstrate development of strong strategic relationships with a range of internal and external stakeholders, maximizing opportunities to collaborate, achieve efficiencies, improve capability, and promote the procurement profession.

• Demonstrate leadership to develop or create opportunities to improve commercial leverage and drive best practice across al areas of DESNZ.

• Demonstrate consistent and clear commercial advice and guidance to internal and external stakeholders and be a key point of contact with the department.

• Potential Line-management, including objective-setting, coaching, capability development and workload prioritisation.

• Champion commercial professionalism across the Commercial Directorate

• Contribute to cross-government commercial networks and capability uplift.

Technical skills

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

• Ability to make recommendations and decisions based on partial or incomplete information and consider multiple interconnected commercial risks to arrive at a balanced course of action or solution.
• Makes evidence-based commercial decisions, balancing value, risk and delivery. Partners with stakeholders to shape options, challenge assumptions and deliver clear, practical advice in complex situations.
• Experience of influencing and leading complex commercial activities and projects and ability to effectively prioritize a varied workload with demanding deadlines.
• Excellent stakeholder management and influencing skills and ability to build consensus around a course of action.
• Experience in the development of strategies for high value/risk, critical/complex procurements and playing a leading role in the implementation and end to end delivery of these.

Benefits

As a valued employee of the Government Commercial Organisation (GCO), you will have access to all the benefits the centre has to offer; including flexible working, generous benefits, Career Coaches, Mentors, L&D, a Commercial College, active talent management and, most importantly, access to commercial projects that will far exceed the scale and complexity on offer elsewhere in the UK.

For existing Civil Servants: For full details of the impact on any move across the civil service on your existing terms and conditions, please read the candidate pack. Please note that any move across the Civil Service may have implications on your ability to continue to claim childcare vouchers.

Kindly refer to the following link for the GCF Rewards and benefits page.

https://www.civil-service-careers.gov.uk/gcf-benefits/

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 Experience and Technical skills.Your application will be reviewed by a panel and should you be successful at sift we will invite you to attend a Virtual commercial Assessment and Development Centre (VADC). The panel will review results of the VADC and determine which candidates will go through to a subsequent final panel interview. Please note: Only candidates that achieve an A grade at ADC will be invited to interview for this role.

Please be advised that the Virtual ADC is taking place on Tuesday 15th September 2026 and will require a full day's attendance.

If you are invited to attend a virtual ADC, but for any reason are unable to meet the date outlined then please get in touch with the team on commercialresourcinghub@cabinetoffice.gov.uk as soon as possible. The ADC is booked and paid for in advance by departments, therefore it is only in certain circumstances we are able to accommodate alternative dates.

For full details of our process, and a likely timeline, please read the attached candidate pack.

Throughout our selection process, we will make decisions about your capability to do the job, based on evidence you provide against the Technical Skills (essential criteria) and your Job History (CV) that you will be asked to provide during the application process. Further help and advice on our application and selection process can be found at this web address https://www.civil-service-careers.gov.uk/gcf-how-to-apply/
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 for more information on appropriate and inappropriate use.

https://www.civil-service-careers.gov.uk/artificial-intelligence-and-recruitment/
IMPORTANT: If you do not receive an acknowledgement of your application within 2 working days please contact: commercialresourcinghub@cabinetoffice.gov.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

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 : Sean Kelly
• Email : commercialresourcinghub@cabinetoffice.gov.uk

Recruitment team

• Email : commercialresourcinghub@cabinetoffice.gov.uk

Further information

If you feel your application has not been treated in accordance with the Recruitment Principles, and you wish to make a complaint, you should direct this to the Head of Commercial Resourcing Hub at the following email commercialresourcinghub@cabinetoffice.gov.uk quoting the vacancy reference number (if applicable) and the details of your complaint. If you are not satisfied with the response you receive, you can contact the Civil Service Commission via the following web page: http://civilservicecommission.independent.gov.uk/civil-service-recruitm…

Attachments

Guaranteed Interview Schemes (GIS) Opens in new window (pdf, 64kB)472887 - Commercial Lead - Department for Energy Security & Net Zero - Candidate Pack.docx Opens in new window (pdf, 444kB)