National Police Chiefs' Council - Commercial Lead

Job Title: Commercial Lead – National Police Chiefs' Council

Salary: The starting salary is £74,680, which includes allowances totalling £2,928.

The salary is broken down as £71,752 basic salary, which will increase annually until you reach the top of the scale £79,042. Plus, a location allowance of £1,982 and a non-pensionable allowance of £1,000.

Location: Remote working nationally within UK. NPCC is currently based in close proximity to St James Park underground station, London and therefore some travel will be required to this premise and other Police locations across the UK. We encourage applications from candidates living across the UK. Further details on flexible arrangements will be discussed at interview stage.

Contract – 12 months Fixed Term Contract (with the potential for further extension subject to funding and performance). 

THE NATIONAL POLICE CHIEFS’ COUNCIL (NPCC)

Policing is operating in a time of global change and uncertainty, the public and our staff need a service which is responsive, able to tackle future challenges and embrace opportunity.

The National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) brings UK police leaders together to set direction in policing and drive progress for the public. We achieve this through:

Coordination – by joining up the operational response to critical national policing issues to deliver policing today and shape the future.

Collaboration – by working in partnership as part of the whole policing system and beyond to improve public safety.
Communication – by sharing the collective expertise, views and action of UK police chiefs.

NPCC Strategic Hub

This role sits within the NPCC Strategic Hub and is responsible for establishing an agile and responsive commercial capability to deliver for the varied requirements of the NPCC.   The role will consolidate NPCC’s access to relevant commercial frameworks, including those existing relationships with Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) and BlueLight Commercial, as well as identifying new commercial routes, for example via Government Frameworks. The role will ensure that NPCC’s commercial assurance process are robust, with responsibility for advising on pipeline planning, procurement, commercial contract management and specialist projects. The role will work closely with the Metropolitan Police Service Commercial Function, who will provide professional support and advice.   

You will be contributing to delivering Commercial Excellence for NPCC, providing a customer focused service, understanding the business need and stakeholder’s drivers, developing a pipeline of activities with the aim of becoming a trusted Commercial Lead. You will specifical run and manage multiple commercial activities, liaising with stakeholders and facilitators and providing commercial advice on appropriate use of regulations in order to manage sensitives and ensure Value for Money.   You will work closely with colleagues within the commercial functions in MPS and BlueLight as well as with stakeholders across the NPCC to develop relationships with NPCC’s existing key and strategic suppliers.  

You will be expected to work autonomously and with discretion to ensure effective stakeholder management. A priority will be to ensure workable processes for the NPCC, including focus on alignment with the financial and commercial requirements of NPCCs host, the MPS. You will drive performance management, risk management, issues resolution, financial management, change control and overall contract and statutory compliance whilst being responsible for continuous improvement (service and value). 

As a leader and specialist in the Commercial arena, you will support rolling out contract management standards across the NPCC. 

THE ROLE

Key Responsibilities 

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

Identifying and building appropriate routes to market and managing a pipeline of commercial activity for NPCC.

In liaison with MPS and BlueLight Commercial, developing a clear Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) for NPCC commercial activity and ensuring effective delivery of this.

Supporting contract owners and external organisations to ensure effective day to day delivery of the contract against its objectives.

Providing practical advice to stakeholders enabling early engagement and challenging business need and demand as well as reviewing contract risks.

Driving innovation and improvement in contracts.

Building close relationships with senior business lead colleagues within NPCC and relevant business units – including with MPS and BlueLight commercial and legal colleagues and NPCC finance - to provide commercial advice.
Developing and overseeing a commercial and contracts pipeline for NPCC, ensuring engagement with NPCC leads and considering the right Frameworks to ensure effective delivery.

This role is aligned with the levels of the Government Commercial Organisation, which sits within the Government Commercial Function. This role has been mapped to Commercial Lead level.

The successful candidate would need to have the following experiences and skills:

Essential Criteria

Experienced and knowledgeable in how the market works and what drives business decisions, innovations and commercial strategy in consumers and suppliers alike.

Evidence of having delivered organisational benefits to customers through effective design and/or implementation of procurement / contract management strategies; able to describe value added and savings in a strategic context in a complex commercial environment.

Excellent understanding of managing a pipeline of sourcing and procurement activities and their methodologies, ideally within a regulated or public sector environment.

Experience of developing, delivering, and implementing contract management plans evidencing commercial management and delivery at a senior level in complex and high value environments.

Evidence of developing effective supplier relationships and the ability to resolve issues in performance or variations in supply without the need for legal or contractual recourse, working in partnership to deliver continuous improvement and innovation for all parties including complex performance management and incentivisation mechanisms.

Experience working and effectively influencing senior stakeholders, projecting personal impact and credibility at all levels (including senior) of the organisation and the external market, demonstrating an ability to influence, persuade and effectively communicate.

Ability to prioritise and manage a demanding workload whilst balancing both operationally urgent and important tasks to deliver to deadlines aligned with strong project management capabilities gained through practical professional experience. 
Evidence of inspirational and inclusive leadership, developing a professional culture and building commercial capability. Empowers team members through coaching, mentoring and sharing of expertise/knowledge.

Desirable Criteria

Working knowledge of policing.

Working knowledge of purchasing processes and systems (Purchase-to-Pay)

CIPS qualification / IACCM certification (or working towards)

Experience of designing and implementing category strategies

EMPLOYEE BENEFITS - If you join and work for us, you will get access to:

A competitive salary with yearly increments.

Support networks, free Employees' Assistance Programme, Occupational Health and wellbeing services.

Flexitime, with the ability to undertake your hours flexibly and in line with business need.

Hybrid working, with the ability to work remotely dependent on role.

Competitive pension scheme.

Company sick pay.

Job related equipment supplied.

Specialist equipment supplied, under Occupational Health referral.

Access to the Blue Light Card Scheme for discounts and services (requires a one-off payment of £5).

Development, coaching and mentoring opportunities available.

Supportive and flexible onboarding plan, including regular check-ins throughout your initial period of joining us to ensure you are up to speed with the role and getting the support you need.

VETTING

This post requires access to the most sensitive intelligence material on a daily basis. Applicants must hold or be prepared to undergo National Security Vetting (NSV) Security Check (enhanced) (SC(e)) level before taking up the post.

APPLICATION REQUIREMENTS

Please provide a CV and a statement of suitability (circa 1000 words), evidencing how you meet the essential criteria and why you are interested in the role. Please detail, as part of the application, if you have undertaken the Commercial Assessment and Development Centre and your pass mark. Shortlisting will be undertaken against the Government Commercial Function People Standards for this level role.  

Should you want to know more about the role, we would strongly encourage you contact hr-recruitment@npcc.police.uk to arrange an informal conversation.

Please do not attach 2 copies of your CV.

REASONABLE ADJUSTMENTS

With all recruitment processes, we support reasonable adjustments. This aligns with the Equality Act 2010 and reflects best practice in inclusive recruitment. Please let us know in advance so we can support you appropriately. See the following examples of adjustments recommended by Optima Medical Team for prior candidates.

Examples:

Assistive technology e.g. transcription software

Advance access to interview questions

Extra time for assessments and interviews

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

Occasional national travel may be required. Travel expenses will be paid if location allowance is not being received, or when travel falls outside of the home to work journey. NPCC will pay for overnight accommodation if required.

The Metropolitan Police manage HR for NPCC recruitment.

Completed applications must be submitted by 23:55 on 21st September 2025.

Once received, your application will be reviewed against eligibility criteria, following this, your application will be reviewed by the hiring manager.

Following application review, successful candidates will be invited to interview. Interviews will take place around week commencing 6th October 2025.

Please note that if you are applying as a secondee from another national police force or government organisation, please contact HR-Recruitment@npcc.police.uk, do not apply online via Oleeo. Online applications will only be accepted for external candidates, or existing Met employees.