Commercial Practitioner

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) is the UK’s largest producer of official statistics, covering a range of key economic, social and demographic topics. These include measuring changes in the value of the UK economy, estimating the size, geographic distribution and characteristics of the population, and providing indicators of price inflation, employment, earnings, crime and migration.

Commercial Services sits in the Finance, Commercial, Audit and Systems (FCAS) Directorate. On behalf of ONS, Commercial Services deliver all procurement and contract management activity within the organisation and are looking to appoint six Commercial Practitioners.

The Government Commercial Function defines how all government departments should operate commercially to guarantee consistency of commercial behaviours and purchasing across government. Commercial Services uses their standards, benchmarks and training materials for staff involved in procurement and contract management to make sure best practice is followed. The strategic aim is securing optimum value for ONS through delivery of Commercial excellence.

In this role you will have an opportunity to support the Commercial Director in delivering the Commercial vision of being a key partner in strategic business decision making, adding value through innovation, collaboration and a shared sense of purpose. You will have responsibility for providing commercial support to ONS stakeholders that enables business goals through market knowledge, effective communication and teamwork. You will contribute to the aim of delivering value for money through innovation, cost reduction and efficiencies, with fairness, transparency, sustainability and diversity woven into everything we do.

You will work collaboratively with colleagues from within Commercial Services and stakeholders from across the business to ascertain demand and manage and deliver effective commercial activity in line with the new step-change approach to Commercial activity delivery within ONS.

You will ensure delivery compliance whilst driving successful application of quality and Value for Money (VfM). You will be accountable for ensuring complete end to end Commercial activity from pre-sourcing to contract management and the successful development and ongoing management of a comprehensive Commercial pipeline of work for your area of responsibility.

Your role will strengthen commercial oversight across our portfolio of strategically important supplier service provision, providing increased resilience and continuity within the commercial intelligent client function. We expect the postholders will deliver a range of commercial activity, providing development opportunities across the commercial cycle, including market engagement, procurement, contract management, supplier performance monitoring, risk and issue management, contract governance and change control, financial oversight, and governance reporting.

Key Responsibilities

• Support the management of all commercial activities, including Census 2031 contracts, throughout their lifecycle.
• Contract management, including development and maintenance of effective contract management plans, performance monitoring and reporting, supplier relationship management.
• Maintain contract records, governance documentation and commercial reporting.
• Support contract change, extension and renewal activities.
• Prepare papers, briefings and recommendations for governance forums.
• Procurement projects, commercial pipeline and commercial lifecycle.
• Regulatory compliance such as publishing notices.
• Supplier performance monitoring including management information reporting, contract review activity and process mapping and management.

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 Behaviours and Experience.

Security Clearance

For ONS the requirement for SC clearance is to have been present in the UK for 3 consecutive years immediately prior to applying and the department will consider eligibility by exception on a case-by-case basis. You will be asked to provide information regarding your UK residency during your application, and failure to provide this will result in your application being rejected.

At the point of SC application, you will need to provide or give access to the following evidence:

• Departmental or company records (personnel files, staff reports, sick leave reports and security records)
• UK criminal records covering both spent and unspent criminal records
• Your credit and financial history with a credit reference agency
• Security Services records

ONS is unable to offer visa sponsorship for this role. Applicants must have a valid right to work in the UK when employment commences. If you are currently in the UK on a time-limited visa, it must have at least 18 months remaining at the point of application.

To work at ONS, applicants must meet the Civil Service nationality requirements, satisfy UK right to work requirements and, where applicable, meet the relevant security clearance requirements.

If you are unsure whether you meet the appropriate right to work or security clearance eligibility criteria, please refer to the guidance on Gov.uk or contact the recruitment email provided in the advert before applying. Failure to meet these requirements will result in your application being rejected and employment offers being withdrawn.

Application Process

Number of Stages: 2 stage process

Stage 1: Application

Stage 2: Interview

Stage 1 – Application

The assessment process at the application stage will be based on your work history, CV, skills, experience, and personal statement. It is important that your application is tailored to highlight the skills, knowledge, and experience relevant to the role.

A personal statement is required at application stage, the maximum wordcount allowed is 1250 words, which should not be exceeded. You should provide evidence for each essential skill criterion listed in the person specification. As these criteria are scored, it is advisable to give clear examples for each one, including the impact of your actions, ideally utilising the STAR technique (Situation, Task, Action, Result).

Please note that Success Profiles Behaviour examples are not required at this stage of the application process.

When a high volume of applications are received, the sift pass mark may be adjusted. Candidates will be invited to interview based on their merit order, with those achieving the highest scores being prioritised. Applicants who score below the adjusted pass mark but still pass will be placed on hold and may be invited to interview at a later date.

We often have similar roles available at different grades. If a candidate is suitable for a similar role or a lower grade than they have applied for, we may offer the candidate that role without the need to go through a further selection process providing the role has the same behaviours, and essential skills.

Stage 2 – Interview

If invited to interview, you will be assessed using techniques aligned with the Civil Service Success Profiles framework, covering all behaviours listed in the job advert.

Interviews will be held online via Microsoft Teams.

A reserve list may be held for a period up to 12 months from which further appointments may be made.

The Sift will be conducted from 15th October 2026.

Interviews will be conducted w/c 9th November 2026.

Dates are subject to change.

For the full terms and conditions of the post, please see attachment. Please note that all campaigns may be subject to withdrawal at any stage if the internal resource position changes.

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