Commissioning Lead

Nottingham City Council; East Midlands; Hybrid; GBP 48,000 - 51,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Hybrid working

Competitive benefits package

Pension scheme

Job summary

Nottingham City Council is seeking a Commissioning professional to lead commissioning activity for Children’s Services, Education and SEND. The role focuses on using evidence to understand need, identify gaps and design effective services for children, young people and families.

The ideal candidate will bring strong analytical capabilities, collaboration with partners, and excellent communication and leadership skills to deliver priorities in a politically restricted post.

Qualifications

• Experience of commissioning services within Children’s Social Care, Education or SEND.
• Strong analytical skills using qualitative and quantitative data to identify needs and gaps.
• Experience working with partners including children, families, schools and health providers to improve services.
• Excellent communication, project management and leadership skills, with ability to produce reports and briefings.

Responsibilities

• Lead commissioning activity and reviews using evidence to understand need, gaps and develop services for children, young people and families.
• Shape commissioning work within Education and SEND in collaboration with established teams.

Skills

Commissioning

Analytical skills

Stakeholder collaboration

Communication

Project management

Job description

Job Description

Contract Type: Permanent

Working Hours: 37 hours per week

Worker Type: Hybrid Worker

Salary: Starting Salary is £47,665 (Level one) rising to £50,908 (Level four) per annum (pro-rata for part-time)

Location: Loxley House, Station Street, Nottingham NG2 3NG

We’ve got an exciting opportunity available for talented individuals to join our workforce - perhaps this is the opportunity you’ve been looking for? Read on to find out more…

Working for Nottingham City Council has great benefits. As well as competitive pay, great leave entitlement and access to a generous pension scheme, we strive to create an innovative, inclusive and progressive work culture where everyone is supported to do and be their very best.

In return, we are looking for people like you - people who are innovative, driven and committed to serving and improving Nottingham. So, if you are passionate about making a difference to the lives of those who live and work in our city, we want to hear from you.

• You can read more about the different benefits offered to colleagues working for Nottingham City Council here.

About The Role

Our commissioning role within Education and SEND is expanding, and this is an exciting opportunity to help shape that work alongside our established Children’s Services commissioning responsibilities. You will lead commissioning activity and reviews, using evidence to understand need, identify gaps and develop effective services for children, young people and families.

Strong commissioning experience is particularly important for this role, ideally within Children’s Services, Education or SEND. Experience or knowledge of Education and/or SEND would be especially welcome as the team develops its work in these areas.

About You

The ideal candidate will have:

• Experience of commissioning services within Children’s Social Care, Education or SEND, with a good understanding of commissioning, sufficiency and market development. (applicants with Education/SEND knowledge particularly welcome)
• Strong analytical skills, with experience of using qualitative and quantitative information to understand need, demand and gaps in provision and to develop evidence-based options.
• Experience of working collaboratively with a wide range of partners, including children and young people, families, schools, providers, health partners and other stakeholders, to develop and improve services.
• Excellent communication, project management and leadership skills, including the ability to produce clear reports and briefings, present information to different audiences and support colleagues to deliver agreed priorities.
• This post is politically restricted.

You can find the job description for this post here.

At Nottingham City Council we believe that work is what you do, not where you do it. We offer different working arrangements, depending on the role, including hybrid working. Further information on Worker Types and what these mean in terms of how and where you work can be found on the additional information for applicants page.

For informal enquiries please contact Cath Cameron-Jones, Service Manager for Strategic Commissioning by email at [e-mail]

Closing Date

Monday 17th November 2026 10am.

Interviews will be held

Tuesday 24th November 2026

If you have any technical issues when completing your application, please contact our Employee Service Centre: https://emss.org.uk/support.

By applying to this job, you agree to our Terms & Conditions.

About Us

Thank you for your interest in working for Nottingham City Council. As one of the largest employers in Nottingham we offer a wide range of roles across a range of services. In return for your skill, drive and commitment to serving the people of Nottingham, we can help you to develop an exciting and rewarding career, with access to the following benefits.

In addition to working within a great team and a competitive salary you will have access to:

• 26 days annual leave (rising to 33 days after 5 years’ service) + bank holidays with the ability to buy additional leave annually
• Access to a generous, defined benefit pension scheme offering 17.9%
• Smart Working – to support your work life balance
• Health and wellbeing benefits including access to our Employee Assistance Programme
• Discounted membership at selected local sports and fitness centres, cinema, shopping and much more!

Nottingham City Council is committed to recruiting a talented workforce that reflects the communities we serve. We are a fair, inclusive and Disability Confident Employer, welcoming applications from people of all backgrounds, identities and abilities. We recruit for diversity and value difference.

If you are a disabled candidate and wish to be considered under our Guaranteed Interview Scheme, please indicate this within your application. We are committed to making reasonable adjustments throughout the recruitment process and employment journey.

We are proud signatories of the Armed Forces Covenant and welcome applications from serving personnel, veterans, reservists and military families.

We particularly want to hear from you if you are from Minority Ethnic communities, identify within the LGBTQ+ community, or are disabled. These groups are currently underrepresented in our workforce, and we are committed to better reflecting the communities we serve.

We are supportive of flexible working arrangements wherever possible and encourage candidates to discuss this with us during the recruitment process.