Associate Commercial Specialist – Estates

The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) touch the lives of everyone in the UK in some shape or form, delivering services and support to help people find work, assist with a disability or provide support through their retirement. As a key part of DWP, the Commercial Directorate (CD) shapes how services are delivered across 100’s of 3rd party contractual arrangements; with an annual procurement spend in the region of £3bn with some of the largest industry suppliers. CD has undergone a massive transformation exercise to develop into a world class Commercial function and is focused on continuously developing our achievement against Government Commercial Operating Standards.

The Estates Commercial Directorate procures services to help maintain the DWP Estates infrastructure. It delivers and manages contracts in a range of areas including Facilities Management (FM), Security, Furniture, Integrator services, Landlord and Lease Management (LLM), Property Legal Services, Projects and Professional Services. It is a lively team due to the large DWP Estate of circa 800 properties which include Job Centres and Health Assessment Centres and as a result, the contracts we let are specialised to accommodate the needs of every customer that visits one of our sites and all our staff while achieving value for money for the department. We also pride ourselves on developing the skills of everyone in the team, along with supporting other colleagues, to build a professional commercial community that progresses and supports everyone we work with.

This Associate Commercial Specialist role represents a unique opportunity to join the Senior team in DWP commercial, one of the largest and highest performing commercial teams in central government. The DWP commercial team manages third-party delivery, providing services to 80 thousand staff and over 20 million customers, with an annual contracted expenditure of almost £3bn. Our purpose is simple, we will support DWP to achieve its objectives by ‘enabling effective and value-for-money delivery of DWP policies and programmes, driving better outcomes for citizens through best use of commercial partnering and third-party supplier delivery opportunities.

We are seeking an experienced commercial professional to lead the Estates Facilities Management sub-category team. This senior leadership role presents an exciting opportunity to shape and influence the commercial management of one of the Department's most significant and strategically important contracts, ensuring the delivery of high-quality, value-for-money services across a diverse national estate.

The successful candidate will be responsible for developing and delivering the commercial strategy for a high value (£1.6bn), complex Total Facilities Management contract. Working closely with senior stakeholders across the Department, the role holder will drive contract performance, commercial governance, supplier relationship management, and continuous improvement to ensure service delivery aligns with organisational objectives and operational requirements.

A key aspect of the role will be building and maintaining strong, influential relationships with senior business leaders, operational stakeholders and strategic suppliers, providing commercial leadership and assurance across all aspects of contract management. The role holder will play a critical role in identifying opportunities to improve service outcomes, maximise value, manage commercial risk, and support the Department's wider estates strategy.

The postholder will lead a team of (currently) 5 commercial professionals located across Sheffield, Leeds and Newcastle, providing clear leadership, direction and development opportunities. They will bring the expertise and credibility required to oversee complex contractual arrangements, resolve challenging commercial issues, and ensure robust commercial governance throughout the contract lifecycle.

We welcome applications from experienced commercial leaders with a proven track record in managing complex outsourced service contracts, leading high-performing teams, and engaging effectively with senior stakeholders across multiple business areas. Candidates will demonstrate strong commercial judgement, experience of supplier and contract performance management, and a consistent record of delivering excellent commercial outcomes through effective governance, assurance and stakeholder collaboration.

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.

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)

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 the 2nd of December 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.