Title: 7 Forces Commercial Service Head of Category for ICT & Corporate
Location: Dependent on applicant’s location, can be based anywhere across the 7Forces
Grade: Essex SPS3, Kent I, Beds SM1, Cambs MB3, Herts A7, Norfolk/Suffolk I
Salary: Starts at £59,745 Depending on location across the 7 Forces and experience.
Reporting to: 7F Head of Category Management
Manage the multiple commercial disciplines within the ICT and Corporate category, including Category Management, Supplier Relationship Management and Strategic Commercial Solutions, ensuring clear accountability, effective deployment of resources and a joined-up approach to delivering strategic, high-quality commercial outcomes across the seven Forces within these market sectors.
Manage the pipeline of procurement work for the ICT & Corporate Commercial Team members across the 7 Forces, ensuring that procurement projects are appropriately allocated to staff, based on project value, risk and complexity.
Manage the allocation of identified suppliers, to the Supplier Relationship Managers, ensuring appropriate time and resource is dedicated, based on the criticality of the contract, risk, value and complexity.
Manage the allocation and prioritisation of work to the Strategic Commercial Solutions Manager, ensuring resource is focused on the most strategically important activity, based on regional priorities and anticipated benefits.
Direct and manage all commercial activities for the relevant category including market research, shaping & development, category strategy creation, the identification of new contract opportunities, risk management, supplier & contract performance monitoring, the tendering process of contracts across the 7 Forces with the aim of delivering legally compliant value for money solutions, incorporating and promoting sustainability & innovation into all projects undertaken.
Lead and deliver ‘Gold’ level procurements, within the allocated category, across the 7 Forces.
Lead all strategic Contract Management & Supplier Relationship activity, within the allocated category, with a view to securing better value for money from contractual arrangements and ensuring the contracted benefits are delivered.
Provide regular Category updates to the Head of Category Management, the Director of Commercial Services and other Senior decision makers across the region, as required.
Establish and maintain proactive relationships with ICT and Corporate internal stakeholders across the region, whilst also ensuring links are developed with peers and key bluelight organisations nationally.
Provide expert commercial and legal advice, regarding the allocated category, to the OPCC’s and Chief Officer teams across the 7 Forces, to enable them to deliver their Policing Plans.
Manage where appropriate, complex and commercial negotiations and disputes that arise, providing expert commercial and legal advice to the OPCC’s and Chief Officer teams across the 7 Forces, to deliver successful resolution and to defend the relevant Force(s) from contractual claims.
The post holder must have the ability to interact with all senior level management and represent the 7 Forces as a collective or individually, where necessary.
They must have the gravitas to influence external bodies such as the Home Office, Government Commercial Agency, Police Digital Service, PoliceAi and BlueLight Commercial and participate, as appropriate, on nationally led initiatives, providing opinion, guidance and shaping future offerings.
The post holder must also be able to interact with budget holders and operational contract owners in the 7 Forces, ensuring the procurement pipeline accurately reflects business need priorities. The post holder is also responsible for ensuring contracts are in place within their allocated category, to enable continuity of goods and services, to support operational policing objectives for delivering the OPCC Policing Plan.
The post holder will be responsible for ensuring that information being provided to the Senior Leadership Team, Commercial Executive Board and all other Boards, as requested are provided in the correct format, contain accurate & relevant information and are delivered on time.
The post holder will support and manage their commercial category team, including the monitoring of their health, well-being, fulfilment of annual objectives and their continued professional development, ensuring your visibility and regular attendance at key sites across the eastern region.
Ensure regular communication with other Commercial Category teams and Commercial Support colleagues.
How to Apply
All applications must be made through our online recruitment portal by clicking the ‘Apply’ button
In your application we will be looking for you to demonstrate the essential and desirable criteria set out in the full job description.
Travel: Travel will be required across all seven forces.
The closing date for receipt of completed applications 30th November 2026
Interview date: TBC
For an informal initial discussion about the role please contact esther.beaumont@essex.police.uk, in the first instance.
The postholder for this role will be employed by 7 Forces Commercial Services, but the base location of the postholder could be within any of the seven police forces listed above (i.e. local to you) and is therefore open to candidates across all regions.
The Vetting level required for this post is Management MV and Security Clearance. Candidates will be required to undertake the appropriate level security vetting checks, which will include the requirement to have lived in the UK for the past three years (RV) or five years (MV) from the date of your application.
