Commercial & Industry - Associate Commercial Lead - United States Visiting Forces

About the National Armaments Director Group (NAD Group)

We are the National Armaments Director Group (NAD Group). Part of the Ministry of Defence (MOD), we bring together a wide range of expertise to develop, deliver, and sustain the UK’s national defence capabilities. Working closely with industry, international partners, and allies, we provide the equipment, technology, and support services that enable our armed forces to operate effectively and respond to the challenges of today and tomorrow.

View our YouTube video to see more about our work.

This position is advertised at 37 hours per week.

About our United States Visiting Forces (USVF) team

Within the Commercial team this role supports the United States Visiting Forces (USVF) which are permanently located at MOD sites across the UK. The team is divided into 4 work streams by location and Commercial Activity.

The teams which these roles sit within deliver major construction projects at bases around the UK covering both Procurement and Contract Management activities, ensuring the development and continuity of the United States Air Force’s (USAF) critical strategic mission in Europe. Each team is headed up by a Grade 7 with considerable Procurement experience to whom you would report.

The team are based around the UK with small hubs around Wyton (Cambridge), Whittington (Lichfield), Andover and Glasgow and have all adopted a hybrid approach to working, with some travel to sites throughout England required.

Why join the USVF team?

USVF Commercial is a dynamic and talented, friendly team working at the heart of some of the most exciting and interesting infrastructure projects in the UK, in support of the United States Air Force mission in Europe. You will be working closely with both US military & civilian personnel and UK colleagues to deliver operational capability across the USVF sites within the UK, on a wide variety of infrastructure projects, many of considerable strategic importance. The scale and scope of these will ensure you develop your career in a demanding and varied environment which will further hone your procurement and contract management skills, build your market knowledge, and allow you to make a contribution to maintaining national security.

The size and nature of Commercial and Industry (C&I) ensures that, for the right candidate, onward career prospects are excellent.

Open to UK nationals only.

This vacancy is using Success Profiles (opens in a new window), and will assess your Behaviours, Experience and Technical skills.

Please ensure that at the application and interview stages of the campaign you review the Success Profiles Framework and Commercial Skills and Competency Framework to assist you in the demonstration of your skills and experience.

Your suitability for the role will be assessed using the Success Profile and the Commercial Skills and Competency Framework elements that have been chosen for this campaign. Each element will be scored accordingly, and the successful candidate will be appointed on merit.

Please provide your evidence using the STAR Technique using the attached information on how to apply.

Situation: Describe the situation you found yourself in. You must describe a specific event or situation. Be sure to give enough detail for the job holder to understand. Where are you? Who was there with you? What had happened?

Task: The recruitment panel will want to understand what you tried to achieve from the situation you found yourself in. What was the task that you had to complete and why? What did you have to achieve?

Action: What did you do? The recruitment panel will be looking for information of what you did, how you did it and why. Keep the focus on you. What specific steps did you take and what was your contribution? Remember to include how you did it, and the behaviours you used. Try to use “I” rather than “we” to explain your actions that lead to the result. Be careful not to take credit for something that you did not do.

Result: Don’t be shy about taking credit for your behaviour. Quote specific facts and figures easily understandable. What results did the actions produce? What did you achieve through your actions, and did you meet your goals? Was it a successful outcome? If not, what did you learn from the experience? Keep the situation and task parts brief.

Concentrate on the action and the result. If the result was not entirely successful describe what you learned from this and what you would do differently next time. Make sure you focus on your strengths. When providing your evidence please ensure that you avoid acronyms and company specific jargon.

At Application you will be assessed against the following:

Experience:

• CV- detailing Job History
• Personal Statement - As part of the application process, you will be asked to provide a Personal Statement of 750 words, the purpose for this, is for you to showcase your relevant skills and experience against the role responsibilities. The statement is your opportunity to give examples of how you fit the requirements of the role.

When writing a personal statement, it is important that you:

• Read the job advert so you are clear about the job requirements
• Outline the skills and experience that you have that are relevant to the job and use examples to help demonstrate this
• Keep to the word limit, if your statement is too brief it will not provide the required depth of detail and evidence to be assessed fully

We require you to provide evidence and a demonstration of specific skills, knowledge or transferable experience. This will allow you to provide evidence to show a more rounded picture of your suitability for the role.

Technical: Commercial Skills and Competency Framework - Practitioner Level:

• Section 2 - Sourcing - 3. Executing the Sourcing Strategy - Developing the sourcing strategy
• Section 3 - Contract Management - 3. Contract Performance Management - Measuring and monitoring contract performance

Please review the Commercial Skills and Competency element that we require evidence on, please ensure that you review and understand the description of this testing element at Practitioner level.

At interview you will be assessed against the following:

Behaviours:

• Communicating and Influencing
• Seeing the Big Picture

Technical: Commercial Skills and Competency Framework - Practitioner Level:

• Section 3 - Contract Management - 4. Supplier Relationship Management - Stakeholder management
• Section 2 - Sourcing - 3. Executing the Sourcing Strategy - Managing supplier clarifications

We want to offer opportunities to all who are successful at interview for our roles, but this isn't always possible, so we do hold candidates on an active reserve list for 12 months.

Application sifting is scheduled to take place on week commencing: 26th October 2026 following vacancy closure.

Interviews are currently taking place remotely through a digital platform, this will be confirmed with the successful candidates who are invited to an interview and will be conducted week commencing: Interview dates to be confirmed

A minimum of 2 full working days’ notice will be provided for interviews. We endeavour to stick to these dates, but these are subject to change around business needs.

To assist with your application please find attached below:

• Commercial Skills and Competency Framework

Further information:

The Civil Service embraces diversity and promotes equal opportunities. As such, we run a Disability Confident Scheme (DCS) for candidates with disabilities who meet the minimum selection criteria.

As a result of the changes to the UK immigration rules which came into effect on 1 January 2021, the Ministry of Defence will only offer sponsorship for a skilled worker visa under the points-based system, where a role has been deemed to be business critical. This role does not meet that category, and we will not sponsor a visa. It is therefore NOT open to applications from those who will require sponsorship under the points-based system.

Should you apply for this role and be found to require sponsorship, your application will be rejected and any provisional offer of employment withdrawn.

The Ministry of Defence requires all candidates who are successful at interview to declare any outside interests. These declarations will be discussed with successful candidates following the interview process and before a formal offer of employment is made, as some outside interests may not be compatible with MOD civilian roles. This will not, in the majority of cases, prevent employment in MOD, but it is a measure that must be taken to ensure that appropriate mitigations can be put in place to manage any potential, perceived or actual conflicts of interest from the first day of employment.

The Ministry of Defence adopts a zero-tolerance approach to unacceptable behaviours, which includes bullying, harassment, sexual harassment, discrimination, and victimisation. You will not be eligible and will not be considered for this post if you have been dismissed from a role for such unacceptable behaviours within the last five years. This will also apply if you resign or otherwise leave a role but, because of an adverse decision, would have been dismissed for gross misconduct had you continued in that employment. Pre-employment checks will be carried out.

Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.