Commercial Manager

UCAS is at the heart of connecting people to higher education.

UCAS is the world’s leading shared admissions service for higher education. We provide application services for UK universities and colleges as well as delivering a wide range of research, consultancy and advisory services to schools, colleges, careers services, professional bodies and employers.

We’re a successful and fast-growing organisation, which helps hundreds of thousands of people every year. We're committed to delivering a first-class service to all of our customers — they're at the heart of everything we do.

Our Finance and Corporate Services business unit is a fusion of multiple functions — financial planning and accounting, facilities and building management, procurement, programme and project management, corporate governance and performance, organisational development, enterprise architecture, legal and compliance, and the CEO Office.

The Finance Team also defines UCAS' financial strategy.

• Partner with business leaders across the organisation, establishing procurement policy and controls with commercial insight and acumen.

• Manage end to end tender processes from requirement, building specifications, evaluation, contract award through to contract management.

• Embed and develop continuous Category Management improvements.

• Undertake the development, review and negotiation of large, complex contracts, ensuring the delivery of the commercial pipeline.

• Ensure contract performance and risk management.

• Deliver commercial support utilising the organisation's eProcurement tool.

• Manage relationships with stakeholders and confidently lead dialogue with these stakeholders throughout the procurement process.

• Proactively engage with supplier base for innovation and influence best practise on procurement processes.

• Carry out forward planning of procurement activity including reviewing tender event schedules.

• Collaborate with peers from the other business units to understand the existing relationship procurement has with the rest of the organisation and identify the opportunities to maximise adding value.

Please see full job spec attached 

Degree qualified or equivalent in a business-related subject.

• CIPS qualified or working towards.

• Solid experience of working in a Procurement Management team within a larger matrix management structure.

• Fully conversant with tendering requirements from conception through to contract delivery and award, through to effective relationship management.

• Capability to research markets to understand the internal and external influences to guide best practice procurements.

• Excellent IT skills, including Microsoft Office and eProcurement tools.

• Experience of liaising with Executive Directors and Senior Managers.

• Possess strong interpersonal, communication and organisational skills.

• Comfortable working under pressure and within strict deadlines.

• Possess a broad range of exposure to various technical environments and business areas.

• Possess strong business acumen.

• Possess superior influencing skills - able to influence and motivate others using personal rather than positional power.

• Ability to set expectation with IT and effectively leverage governance for a positive technology experience.

• Strategic thinker focused on business value results that utilise technical solutions.

• Experienced people leader, able to develop, motivate and drive team performance

Salary Up to £60k 

30 days annual leave, pro rata (plus 3 concessionary days over Christmas and your bank holidays!)

Flexibility – UCAS positively supports Hybrid working for its employees, meaning you can work between home and the office in a way that suits you and the business and also has a comprehensive Flexible Working Policy

A generous pension scheme

Hundreds of high street discounts and offers with Perkbox

Internal training and development

Subsidised gym and café

Be rewarded for going above and beyond with our ex-gratia bonus scheme and Celebrating U, our quarterly employee recognition scheme