Commissioning Lead

ESPO Trading Limited; East Midlands; Hybrid; GBP 48,000 - 51,000; Full time

Job summary

Nottingham City Council is seeking a talented commissioning lead to shape services for children, young people and families within Education and SEND. You will lead commissioning activity, use evidence to identify gaps and develop effective services, with a focus on sufficiency and market development.

Strong experience in commissioning within Children’s Social Care, Education or SEND is essential, together with excellent communication, project management and stakeholder engagement in a

Qualifications

• Experience of commissioning services within Children’s Social Care, Education or SEND, with a good understanding of commissioning, sufficiency and market development.
• 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.

Responsibilities

• Lead commissioning activity and reviews, using evidence to understand need and identify gaps and develop effective services for children, young people and families.

Skills

Commissioning experience

Analytical skills

Stakeholder engagement

Project management

Leadership

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 enquiriesplease 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