Length of employment: Job Summary: DIO provides the infrastructure which supports the ability for this country's Defence operation to live, work and train in the UK and abroad. Our teams play a key role in delivering the UK's Defence objectives and are responsible for a land mass which represents 2% of the entire UK. Our estate is incredibly complex but highly interesting, and for the right candidate who's interested in empowering a Commercial team to deliver great supply chains to deliver across the Estate this would be a fantastic role. Our commercial teams manage ~300 contracts at any one time with a total value of £25BN. This huge scale means that we link closely into MOD and Government commercial networks and best practice via the GCO. Commercial is a major corporate function in Government The Government Commercial Function (GCF) People Standards for the Profession link sets out the standards expected from commercial professionals within Government. The eight professional levels covered in this document supports our commercial staff who are responsible for ensuring that the Civil Service achieves excellence in all its commercial activity. Please refer to these standards to ensure that you fully understand the attributes for Government Commercial Professionals for each professional level. We may also make reference to DIO Commercial Strategy as published on Gov.UK: this strategy explains how the Defence Infrastructure Organisation (DIO), part of the Ministry of Defence, aims to transform the way it does business. The strategy focuses on increasing supplier numbers, offering greater opportunities to small and medium-sized enterprises as well as our larger suppliers. The strategy also sets out information on the types of opportunities available to all prospective suppliers. DIO Procurement Pipeline : DIO spends around £3-billion each year buying infrastructure services in the UK and overseas. The Procurement Pipeline complements the DIO Commercial Strategy. It aims to inform industry what DIO will procure on behalf of its Armed Forces customers. The pipeline is updated regularly to ensure that the latest information is available to industry and the public. Job Description: The provision of good quality homes for Service personnel and their families is a critical priority for the Ministry of Defence (MOD). The Defence Infrastructure Organisation (DIO) handles around 49,000 homes in the UK on behalf of the MOD and is also responsible for planning for future requirements and targeted improvement programmes. The Accommodation Commercial team plays a key role in delivering contract management and procurement services for the UK's armed forces. The contracts we handle are diverse and include the Future Defence Infrastructure Services (FDIS), Accommodation, allocation of service personnel to accommodation in the private rental sector, management of the contracts for Legal Services and Furniture, in addition to numerous Housing PFI contracts in addition to providing support for procurement and contract management to offer orientation and integration services to Afghan families. Following the purchase of 36000 Homes in January 2025, MoD and the Secretary of State has now committed to significant investment in the homes of our Service Personnel. SoS recently announced the Service Family Charter - a commitment to improve the experience of those living in our Defence Accommodation. This is a significant period of commercial development for this category that is very much in the spotlight and also a great opportunity to deliver innovative commercial outcomes with a real-life impact for Defence. 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. As a valued employee of the Government Commercial Organisation (GCO), you will have access to all the benefits the centre has to offer; including flexible working, generous benefits, Career Coaches, Mentors, L&D, a Commercial College, active talent management and, most importantly, access to commercial projects that will far exceed the scale and complexity on offer elsewhere in the UK. For existing Civil Servants: For full details of the impact on any move across the civil service on your existing terms and conditions, please read the candidate pack. Please note that any move across the Civil Service may have implications on your ability to continue to claim childcare vouchers. Hold a Commercial Delegation to make contractual commitments on behalf of the MOD, with all the accountability and authority to ensure that there are robust procurement strategies for all procurements, that all contractual commitments represent value for money and are affordable within agreed approvals. Deliver the agreed programme of procurements on time and to a high quality, engaging as necessary with customer, the delivery team and other enabling functions, the scrutiny community and decision makers. Contribute to delivering commercial excellence for the department by leading contract management activity for one or more of the organisation's complex, high value and strategic contracts. Play an active and effective role in the Commercial Management Committee and other meetings, as a senior representative of the Commercial Function. Lead a team, building their confidence and commercial capability to drive performance and manage setbacks. Provide both decisive and educated leadership, facilitating the engagement and effectiveness of the commercial team. Successfully engage, lead, coach and inspire the team to reinforce the MOD and GCO leadership values. Deliver all required line management activities to ensure the team deliver their objectives. Ensure that DIO Projects and programmes adhere to legal and regulatory requirements, contractual obligations and ethical considerations. Advance Government policy, including sustainability and social value, through all commercial relationships. Support the portfolio Lead by being a role model within the CMC, actively engaging in decision making, leading by example, driving adoption of new ways of working and clearly communicating the DIO Commercial team to fulfil its obligations and objectives. Deliver cash and efficiency savings to support the departments financial position and maintain a category level savings pipeline, demonstrating delivery against forecast. Deliver end-to-end category management strategies ensuring appropriate routes to market are used to procure in the most time efficient way. Ensure that Supplier Relationship Management methodologies and best practice is utilised throughout the lifecycle of the projects, programmes and procurements. Represent DIO with industry executives; and support the delivery of DIO strategy and policy, as a senior leader. As an Associate Commercial Specialist in Accommodation, you will: Lead the delivery of procurement: Collating and reviewing performance information across their area of responsibility and make recommendations for improvements to senior stakeholders. Taking calculated risks in the pursuit of implementing efficient sourcing projects to deliver innovative solutions in line with policy. Applying the concept of 'value for money' with respect to political goals and using this to articulate what a successful return on investment looks like for a particular commercial project/programme. Lead the delivery of contract management: Managing underperformance to resolution. Sharing knowledge and best practice to achieve better outcomes for the department's commercial team. Ensure that Supplier Relationship Management methodologies and best practice is utilised throughout the lifecycle of the projects, programmes and procurements. Customer responsibilities: Be a key point of contact for the customer Accommodation interface into the Commercial department with a focus on improvement to delivery, risk management, problem solving and engagement to ensure that the customer requirements are met, providing expert commercial advice. Develop senior customer relationships and influence business strategies. Engage with stakeholders to understand their motivations and behaviours to influence decision making. People responsibilities: As a member of the Commercial Management Committee, accountable to the portfolio lead for the leadership and management of the Accommodation team. Lead the team, ensuring an overview of activity, and in accordance with DIO, CivHR and GCO guidance and policies. Mentoring and providing guidance to junior members of the team. Must have MCIPS level 6 or be willing to work towards obtaining it within 1 year of taking up the position. 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 be advised that the Virtual ADC is taking place on 11th July 2025 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/ IMPORTANT: If you do not receive an acknowledgement of your application within 2 working days please contact: commercialresourcinghub@cabinetoffice.gov.uk