Commercial Specialist

Student Loans Company; Glasgow; On-site; GBP 45,000 - 52,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

28 days annual leave

Option to buy/sell annual leave

Flexi-time and flexible working

Civil Service pension scheme

Life insurance 4x annual salary

Enhanced sick pay and family leave

Lifestyle benefit options

Job summary

Student Loans Company in the United Kingdom is seeking a Commercial Specialist to support governance, training materials and templates, ensuring alignment with current legislation and the Procurement Act 2023.

The role will oversee assurance activity, implement controls, and provide reporting to demonstrate governance and procurement compliance across the organisation.

Qualifications

• Excellent knowledge of compliance and assurance principles.
• Experience applying procurement regulations in a Public Sector environment.
• Track record of improving commercial compliance.
• Understanding of audit processes.
• Excellent stakeholder management and influencing skills.
• Experience in risk profiling and risk management in supply chains.
• Strong analytical, numeracy and literacy skills.

Responsibilities

• Maintain guidance, training materials and templates to stay current with legislation.
• Oversee assurance activity and ensure governance and procurement requirements are met.
• Coordinate controls, processes and reporting for confidence in compliance.
• Engage stakeholders effectively and manage competing deadlines.

Skills

Compliance principles

Public sector procurement

Stakeholder management

Risk management

Analytical skills

Communication skills

Attention to detail

Audit processes

Meeting deadlines

Policy interpretation

Tools

MS Word

MS Excel

Job description

Salary: £45,462.00 - 52,247.00 GBP Annual Pension: A Civil Service Pension with an employer contribution of 28.97%.

Type: Full time

Please note: The advert will close at 11:59PM the night before the listed closing date.

SLC offer a blended working model which will typically be 2 days in the office and 3 days from home.

Is it time you unlocked your potential? Student Loans Company is a non-profit making Government-owned organisation to provide loans and grants to students in universities and colleges in the UK. Since 1989, we have enabled our customers to invest in their futures by delivering secure, accurate and efficient assessment, payment and repayment services.

Our Values Culture is at the heart of everything we do at SLC and we are guided by our five values which help make SLC a great place to work: Honesty: We act with integrity and transparency, sharing information openly and addressing challenges with courage. Empowerment: We enable people to take initiative, make impactful decisions, and continuously learn and grow. Accountability: We deliver on commitments, own our successes and mistakes, and strive for quality outcomes. Respect: We value diverse perspectives, actively listen, and create an inclusive environment where everyone belongs. Trust: We collaborate across teams, build dependable relationships, and work as one to deliver for our customers. These values are more than words—they guide our decisions, shape our collaborations, and strengthen our impact on the students we serve.

About the role

We have an exciting opportunity for a Commercial Specialist. This is a permanent role. As Commercial Specialist, you will support in the maintenance of guidance, training materials and templates to ensure they remain current, effective and aligned with the current legislation, Cabinet Office requirements and the Procurement Act 2023.

The role will oversee and coordinate assurance activity, ensuring that appropriate controls, processes and reporting mechanisms are in place to provide confidence that governance and procurement requirements are being met.

What you bring

• Excellent knowledge of compliance and assurance principles, processes and practices
• Working knowledge of applying the procurement regulations within a Public Sector environment.
• A proven record of improving commercial compliance
• An understanding of audit processes
• Excellent stakeholder management and influencing skills
• Knowledge and experience of supply chain risk profiling and risk management
• Skilled Communicator
• Ability to deliver to strict deadlines and targets
• Intermediate Microsoft Office Skills – particularly MS Word and Excel
• Well-developed analytical skills
• Intermediate Microsoft Office Skills – particularly MS Word and Excel
• Excellent analytical, numeracy and literacy skills with attention to detail
• Experience of working in a Public Sector procurement environment and applying Procurement Regulations; identifying changes in the Governance landscape and applying the changes to process and guidance
• Experience of public sector over threshold commercial activity
• Experience of implementing compliance and assurance principles, processes and practices
• Experience in interpreting policy requirements and monitoring compliance against these
• Stakeholder management experience, influencing and communication skills
• Experience of risk management and supply chain risk profiling

You can expect more from a career with SLC

We support colleagues to unlock their potential through our Career Pathways development programme and offer an excellent benefit and rewards package that includes:

• 28 days annual leave plus 8 public holidays
• Option to buy/sell annual leave
• Flexi-time and enhanced flexible working options available
• Option to join the Civil Service pension scheme
• Life insurance cover for 4 x annual salary
• Enhanced company sick pay and family leave including maternity, paternity and adoption
• Contributory lifestyle benefit options including discounts at hundreds of retailers, cycle to work scheme, access to the Civil Service Sports and Leisure Club for discounted gym memberships, and an optional dental insurance scheme

The Legal Bits

We’ll need you to confirm you have the right to work in the UK. If we offer you a job and you accept, there are some background checks we need to complete before you can start with us. This will include employment history, criminal record check, credit reference check and fraud check.

EDI

As a proud Disability Confident Leader, we’re committed to creating an inclusive recruitment experience that empowers people of all abilities. Our team actively promotes accessible hiring practices, supports candidates with disabilities throughout their employment journey to help build a diverse equitable workplace at SLC. SLC will make reasonable adjustments for those who consider themselves to have a disability or long-term condition in line with the Equality Act 2010. Our application process provides candidates with the opportunity to request reasonable adjustments but if you would like to discuss this in more detail, please email [e-mail].

Use of AI in Job Applications

Artificial Intelligence can be a useful tool to support your application, however, all examples and statements provided must be truthful, factually accurate and taken directly from your own experience. Where plagiarism has been identified (presenting the ideas and experiences of others, or generated by artificial intelligence, as your own) applications may be withdrawn and internal candidates may be subject to disciplinary action. Please see Candidate Guidance for more information on appropriate and inappropriate use.

About SLC

When you join SLC you will become a valued member of our team which has a strong purpose - enabling more than 1.5 million students each year to invest in their futures via access to further and higher education. The Student Loans Company is a non-profit making government-owned organisation, who enable opportunity by providing funding to students in universities and colleges in the UK. Each year, we process around 1.5 million student finance applications worth £22 billion in loans and grants. We dedicate ourselves to supporting 9.7 million customers and administer a loan book valued at £260.8 billion. Whether a customer is applying for student finance or repaying their loan we want to make their experience as easy as possible, at the same time as delivering the exceptional service that they deserve.