Senior Commissioning Officer

This full-time position has a starting salary of £45,680 per annum based on a 36 hour working week.

This is a full time, permanent role.

We are excited to be hiring a Senior Commissioning Officer to join our Corporate Parenting Commissioning team. The team are based in Woking but the role is hybrid offering a mixture of home working and office days with the minimum requirement to attend the office 1-2 days per week. There are occasions when attendance to one of our hubs may be required. You will be expected to conduct visits to providers that deliver our external services.

Please note, the contractual location for this role is currently Quadrant Court in Woking, however it is our intention to move within the local area to Victoria Gate in Central Woking later this year.

Rewards and benefits

• 26 days' holiday (prorated for part time staff), rising to 28 days after 2 years' service and 30 days after 5 years' service
• Option to buy up to 10 days of additional annual leave
• An extensive Employee Assistance Programme (EAP) to support health and well-being
• Up to 5 days of carer's leave per year
• Paternity, adoption and dependents leave
• A generous local government salary related pension
• Lifestyle discounts including gym, travel, shopping and many more
• 2 paid volunteering days plus 1 team volunteering day per year
• Learning and development hub where you can access a wealth of resources

About the team

The Corporate Parenting Commissioning Service plays a key role in supporting our statutory responsibility to ensure we have sufficient accommodation and support for looked after children and care leavers in Surrey.

This aligns to our ambitions of working towards 80% of children in care living in Surrey by 2030 and 60% of care leavers living in Surrey by 2025.

Alongside supporting this statutory duty, the team also focuses on developing and implementing innovative and effective routes to market, that increase compliance, whilst aiming to secure the best possible outcomes and value for money, for the following externally commissioned service areas: foster care; residential children's homes; supported accommodation for young people; statutory support services; and short breaks services for children with disabilities.

In addition to this, the team also supports a number of current transformation projects, capital projects and new initiatives funded by external grants.

About the role

As a Senior Commissioner, you will have experience in commissioning services for children in care including familiarity around national and local drivers to inform the future requirements of the services you manage.

You will be able to create and maintain strong relationships with your peers and our stakeholder network enabling a collaborative and cohesive approach towards our commissioned services which are interlinked, meaning the performance of one can directly impact on another - understanding those impacts and shaping our services to deliver positive outcomes is imperative to a successful team and successful service.

As a senior member of the team, you will be expected to support and guide Commissioning Officers within the team.

The structure within Surrey County Council enables the contract management of our 3 largest portfolios to be managed separately by a dedicated staff team, however, some of our smaller portfolios are contract managed within the team, you will be expected to manage this responsibility alongside ownership of 1 or the 3 portfolios.

Shortlisting criteria

To be considered for shortlisting for this position, your CV and personal statement will clearly evidence the following:

• Experienced in stakeholder and relationship management with excellent relationship building skills.
• Previous experience within children's commissioning
• Local authority experience is also ideal

The job advert closes at 23:59 on 7th July 2024 with interviews to follow.

We look forward to receiving your application, please click on the apply online button below to submit.

Our commitment

Surrey County Council is proud to be a Disability Confident Employer. A guaranteed interview will be offered to all disabled applications where:

• The candidate has evidenced the minimum criteria for the role through their application
• The candidate has chosen to share that they have a disability on the application form

Our application form and on-boarding process will provide an opportunity to request any reasonable adjustments for the interview and/or the role. We want to be an inclusive and diverse employer reflecting the community we serve and particularly welcome applications from all underrepresented groups.