IT Commercial Manager

Manchester, Lancashire
Cafcass

IT Commercial Manager

Flexible location

£60,475 (+ London weighting of £4,492 if applicable)

While predominantly known for the role Cafcass takes in supporting 135,000+ Children and Young People in family court cases, what may be less well known is that our targeted use of technology is a key factor in ensuring we are at the forefront of our sector.

We’re a digital organisation rated ‘Outstanding’ by Ofsted in 2018, and we continually invest to drive performance and efficiency; we have a wholly cloud-based technology stack that is essential for supporting and enabling a diverse, flexible and highly mobile workforce. Technology is a critical enabler for our staff and we are proud to work hand-in-hand with colleagues to provide the tools and service that ultimately benefits children and families.

We are recruiting for an IT Commercial Manager, which is a senior role within the team reporting to the Chief Information Officer (CIO). If you join us in this role, you will have primary oversight of contractual and commercial management for Cafcass IT, including managing third-party contracts across the technology supply chain. You will also play a key role in identifying new opportunities to meet strategic objectives, whether through maximising existing services / contracts, or by procuring and negotiating new services, all while demonstrating effective budget management, delivering service improvement and supporting future business plans.

You will be a successful IT Commercial Manager by building positive relationships internally and externally to actively support the delivery of the best possible services. You will be responsive when it comes to matters that are escalated to you such as disputes or payment issues, proactive when it comes to driving the annual budgeting cycle and identifying emerging sourcing opportunities and be insightful to colleagues when advising on the budgetary impact of major technology changes and projects.

Does this sound like a role that interests you? Are you attracted to working for an organisation that supports children and young people who are often going through the most difficult times? If so, read on and let us tell you a little more about the role what we’re looking for.

First of all, it is important to state that our IT team is a geographically dispersed team that works flexibly and remotely, and therefore you can be based anywhere with your official office base being any of our 30+ offices across England. It is reasonable to expect some national travel may be required at times although this isn’t expected to be a predominant feature. It may be beneficial if candidates can relatively easily reach locations such as Central London, Coventry, Leeds, Manchester, which are some of our larger offices.

Furthermore, in addition to a competitive salary, if you haven’t already, please take some time to look at the rewards and benefits of working for Cafcass.

Through the application and selection process, we will be looking for you to evidence that you have:

• The essential qualifications (degree level, post-graduate preferred) or appropriate experience. We would be looking for this to be supplemented by ITIL (Strategic Leader) and/or CIPS (Diploma level) and/or accountancy or other appropriate qualification.
• Demonstrable and significant experience of successful procurement and contract negotiation and management.
• Able to identify issues, analyse, and recommend and implement changes to working practice
• High level of data analysis and data management skills
• Familiarity with a variety of business strategies and an understanding of the application of IT to realise business improvements
• Experience of managing cross-organisation communication relating to IT

All applicants are encouraged to read the full job description (which is available prior to applying) to ensure their application / CV reflects how they meet the outlined requirements. We particularly welcome applications from individuals from diverse backgrounds as we strive to ensure our workforce reflects the diversity of the children and families we work with.

If you would like to informally discuss this role prior to applying, please contact Rob Langley, CIO ( ) with your contact details and the best times / days to contact you, although please note he will be on leave from 24 th December to 4 th January.

Finally, we’d like to outline the indicative timescales we are working towards:

• Closing date: Tuesday 12 th January
• Initial interview: w/c 18 th January
• Final assessment: w/c 1 st February

All interviews / assessments will take place remotely via either telephone or MS Teams.

We look forward to receiving your application.