Senior Commissioning Officer Children`s and Families

Job description

Job responsibilities

Cambridgeshire County Council is looking for a Senior Commissioning Officer within the Childrens Commissioning Service, supporting the commissioning of services for children, young people and families in Cambridgeshire.

This post is temporary, for up to twelve-months to cover maternity leave, either as a fixed term post or as a secondment opportunity. Applicants wishing to apply for this as a secondment must have the agreement of their current line manager prior to submitting their application.

The focus will be on services to children and young people, leading and supporting on the delivery of commissioned projects and services.

This is a hybrid working role, working from an Alconbury office base and from home.

If you would like further information on this opportunity, or would like an informal discussion, please contact Lizzie Robertson via email: Lizzie.Robertson@cambridgeshire.gov.uk

Appointment to this post will be subject to the outcome of an Enhanced Disclosure obtained through the Disclosure and Barring Service. The Council is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and vulnerable adults and expects all staff and volunteers to share this commitment.

We value our colleagues in Cambridgeshire County Council and have developed a number of benefits in addition to the basics like annual leave, sick pay, pension and mileage

• A comprehensive wellbeing package to cover all aspects of wellbeing, both in and out of work, which can also be accessed by your family
• Buy up to 4 weeks additional annual leave (pro-rata) through our salary sacrifice scheme
• Take your bank holidays flexibly to better suit your personal circumstances
• Make Additional Voluntary Contributions (Shared AVCs) to your pension with tax and National Insurance savings
• Access to development opportunities, apprenticeships and qualified coaches to support your personal and professional growth
• Paid volunteering hours each year so you can make a positive impact on our community during your normal working day
• Access to Peer Support Groups through our IDEAL staff equality, diversity and inclusion network
• Opportunities to nominate and receive Employee Recognition Awards
• An Our Cambs Rewards account, giving you access to in-store and online discounts as well as our Car Lease and Cycle to Work schemes

Take a look at our Employment Benefits Brochure attached to this advert to find out more.

In this role you will support the Commissioning Manger to manage a varied portfolio of commissioned services for children and families where you will lead on specific commissioning projects and activities within the children and families portfolio. This could involve working on our childrens occupational therapy and speech and language provisions, the councils translation contract, and mental health services

You will ensure specific provisions are contract managed robustly, and challenged where necessary, working closely with operational colleagues, particularly with procurement colleagues on tenders and will be required to work with a wide range of stakeholders and partners to achieve optimal service implementation.

The role requires you to analyse data and collate information to inform decisions, shape and improve services and deputise for the Commissioning Manager ensuring continuity and integrity, also having direct line management of a Commissioning Officer.

You will have a passion for improving outcomes for children and young people with experience of supporting significant commissioning projects, particularly within the context of childrens services.

You will be someone able to interpret and present data and information to a variety of audiences and who can take a lead to deliver specific commissioning projects/services.

You will have strong verbal and concise writing abilities and the ability to tailor communications to different audiences from contributing to Provider Engagement Forums, producing options appraisals and presenting reports to decision makers. You will also have confident communication, negotiation and resolution skills.

You will be able to work independently and as part of a team, be able to prioritise and allocate time efficiently while at the safe time be flexible in responding to changing circumstances.

Please use the supporting statement in your application to highlight how your skills and experience match the essential criteria outlined in the attached Job Description/Person Specification.

Cambridgeshire is a great place to work and live with a diverse population, an urban centre in Cambridge, historic Isle of Ely, Huntingdon and St Ives as well as more rural landscapes.

Our four values are central to our culture, driving everything we do.

We are proud to serve the diverse communities of Cambridgeshire and want our workforce to be reflective of this diversity, which we firmly believe benefits our colleagues, the organisation and our communities.If you dont meet every single requirement in the job role but think this could be you, please dont be put off. We are committed to building a workplace that is compassionate and inclusive as well as diverse, so if you think you could be a good candidate for this role please consider applying and speak to the recruiting manager if you have any questions.

Our Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Strategy, along with our employee network 'IDEAL' and self-organised peer support groups help us to foster an inclusive, supportive and safe working environment where people feel valued, respected, and empowered. We collect relevant diversity data for monitoring as part of the recruitment process to understand the diversity of our applicants and monitor any trends throughout the recruitment processes so that we can take meaningful action.

We are proud to be a Disability Confident Employer. We fully support providing reasonable adjustments throughout our recruitment process, as well as when you join us, and we encourage candidates to contact the Hiring Manager, whose details can be found in the advert, to discuss any adjustment needs. Some examples of adjustments could include additional time to complete an assessment or printing a document on pastel coloured paper with larger font size and line spacing. We would value talking about what might be possible to enable you to join us and thrive, so if there is something that would help you to do your best during your journey with us, please get in touch.

Visit our jobs and careers section to find out more about our wide range of learning and development opportunities; apprenticeships; our wellbeing package; staff benefits; our commitment to equality, diversity and Inclusion.

https://www.cambridgeshire.gov.uk/council/jobs-and-careers

Person Specification

General Requirements

Essential

• Please refer to job description above

Desirable

• Please refer to job description above

Disclosure and Barring Service Check

This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service (formerly known as CRB) to check for any previous criminal convictions.

Employer details

Employer name

Cambridgeshire County Council

Address

Huntingdon

PE28 4YE

Employer's website

https://www.cambridgeshire.gov.uk/ (Opens in a new tab)