Commercial Manager Operational Policing - Forensics Category

Job Title: Commercial Manager Operational Policing - Forensics Category

Salary: The starting salary is £57,301, which includes allowances totalling £2,841.

The salary is broken down as £54,460 basic salary, which will increase annually until you reach the top of the scale £66,356 Plus, a location allowance of £1,841 and a non-pensionable allowance of £1,000.

Location: KILBURN POLICE STATION

Background to the Role

The Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) Commercial Function are responsible for delivering end-to-end commercial lifecycle management and supporting the wider business in working with third parties.

The MPS spends about £800 million each year on a diverse range of goods and services, and we aim to procure them in the most cost effective and compliant way, while satisfying often urgent operational needs. We proactively manage thirty large complex and operationally critical outsourced service contracts, to ensure that we receive the quality services we are paying for and achieve value for money through the entire life of the contract.

There is a unique and ever-evolving challenge of policing London. As a member of the Commercial Services team, you will be directly supporting the MPS mission to make life safer for over 9 million Londoners. This means that there are more opportunities for you to get involved with making London the safest global city in a time of unprecedented change within the UK's largest Police Service.

MORE CHALLENGES.
MORE EXCITEMENT.
MORE OPPORTUNITIES.
BE AT THE HEART OF A CHANGING SERVICE.

Role Description

This role is an integral part of Commercial Services. This role sits within the ‘Operational’ pillar within the Commercial Services team, specifically within the ‘Forensics’ sub-pillar team. You will be working with Metropolitan Police Service’s Forensic Services across their whole commercial lifecycle, with a specific focus on procurement, to deliver commercial outcomes in the investigation of crime and the support for the victims of crime.

As an integral part of the Metropolitan Police Service, the Directorate of Forensic Services contributes significantly to making London safer through a wide range of technical and scientific expertise in order to investigate, detect and reduce crimes. These include crime scene management and examination, specialist imaging, evidence recovery, exhibit analysis (including drug and DNA analysis and comparison), fingerprint comparison, and digital examination.

You will support Forensic Services across their commercial lifecycle, gaining an in-depth understanding of their marketplaces and regulatory landscape, developing and delivering commercial strategies to solve business problems. You will provide commercial support in the management of Silver and Bronze tiered contracts within the Forensics department.

Procurements will be across a range of goods and services which are used for forensic investigations and will include the following types of requirements: lab equipment, consumables, research services, software and hardware purchasing, and working on specialist niche forensic projects as well as grant bids for funding.

You will use your commercial acumen and experience to develop the marketplace, carry out procurements, and create agile contracts to respond to changing volumes in crimes and crime types.

You will provide support and commercial advice to all areas of the Forensic Services department as well as more generally into colleagues within the MPS, helping to support the development of the Commercial Function and the commercial acumen of stakeholders across the MPS.

In this role you will be expected to undertake Category Management and Contract Management activity, contributing to delivering Commercial Excellence for the Met, providing a customer focused service, understanding the business need and stakeholder drivers, with the aim of becoming a trusted commercial advisor. You will also develop relationships with MPS’s key and strategic suppliers, driving value for money and risk management excellence across the category.

You will play an essential part in leading parts of the overall commercial life cycle. You will own key aspects of Category Management, including strategy and policy development, understanding needs and sourcing options, and the procurement process itself. You will feed into the wider Category Management team, working with a range of team members, internal and external stakeholders to drive improved commercial outcomes for MPS.

Key Responsibilities

What does the average day look like? Your core duties will include (but are not limited to):

Strategic delivery and management within a category:

Understands relevant sourcing options and undefined, and delivers positive outcomes through the procurement process:
Leading on end-to-end strategic sourcing activities for MPS and serving as a subject matter expert.
Working with key stakeholders to develop a clear and agreed view of business requirements, and supporting business units in articulating their commercial requirements.
Advising and providing professional guidance throughout the sourcing process, considering and evaluating a range of sourcing models.
Leading development of commercial input into business cases, demonstrating a project's benefits, value for money and risk.
Influencing and shaping future procurement policy and standards across MPS.
Identifying opportunities to develop collaborative partnerships with suppliers.
Provides a procurement service to the MPS which delivers demonstrable value for money and compliant goods and services contracts as part of a team of procurement professionals on larger procurement activities, including driving productivity opportunities with existing supply base to deliver further savings.
Responsible for negotiation with 3rd parties where necessary, and has knowledge and experience relating to commercial negotiation techniques.
Understanding and being accountable for sourcing compliance and frameworks.
Ensuring effective Commercial Contract and Supplier Management within the category:
Evaluating the performance of suppliers against the specification, reporting regularly.
Actively contributing to the management of the supply chain portfolio, including the development and implementation of supply chain and supplier relationship strategies
Acting as commercial lead, managing one or more contracts, ensuring effective stakeholder management, governance, performance management frameworks, escalation, risk management, issues resolution, financial management, change control and compliance.
Developing and maintaining positive commercial relationships with the supply chain to maintain and enhance performance, improve service delivery and create additional value.
Collate and verify commercial KPIs covering supplier performance, spend, contract compliance, VFM, risks and opportunities and gather it for reporting at governance level.
Ensure the control and delivery of all spend through compliant contracts and make available through catalogues (or as otherwise appropriate) online.
Help drive innovation in contracts to demonstrate continuous improvement. Continually analyse contracts in order to develop and drive value adding initiatives.
On an ongoing basis, track operation demand and patterns and introduce demand management mechanisms where applicable.
Work with, and support, other commercial contract managers to ensure clarity, resilience and consistency across the team and wider commercial family.
Analysing and assessing supplier risk, understanding impact on contingency and business continuity, driving value for money whilst protecting MPS’ risk position.
Tracking and owning risks relating to specific contracts, taking steps to mitigate commercial risks.
Seeking out and integrating with key suppliers, developing relationships at all levels to promote commercial strategies across MPS.
Building and maintaining key relationships across the MPS and with important external stakeholders:
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.
Engaging, where required, with the relevant senior business lead, ensuring that business requirements are supported by category strategies.
Internal stakeholder will include MPS colleagues who are users and buyers of the goods and services within the category, and relevant business units; MPS colleagues within Corporate Services (e.g. Finance, Legal); and Police Staff and Police Officer colleagues.
External stakeholders will include MOPAC officers; Partner Agencies staff as required; and appropriate level supplier relationships.
Enabling and developing the MPS:
Championing of procurement best practice and working with others to create a proactive and intelligent function.
Contributing to the maintenance and updating of systems throughout the procurement lifecycle.
Managing catalogues and commercial content, and may be responsible for owning key aspects of this.
Working with key stakeholders to promote the use of catalogues.
Playing a role in building capability of new starters and those on development programmes (e.g. students).
Mentoring and providing guidance to junior members of the team.
Working within a secure environment upon sensitive projects as required.

How to apply

Click the apply now button below and start your career at the Met. Applications will be via a detailed CV, Personal Statement, and online application form. Your personal statement should outline why you are interested in the role and how your skills and experience demonstrate your suitability for the role. (NB. Please do not attach 2 copies of your CV).

Completed applications must be submitted by 23:55 on 22nd November 2024.

Once received, your application will be reviewed against eligibility criteria, following this, your application will be reviewed by the hiring manager. The application review for this vacancy will commence start of December 2024.

www.metpolicecareers.co.uk