Commissioning Manager

ESPO Trading Limited; Glenfield; On-site; GBP 51,000 - 56,000; Full time

Job summary

Leicestershire County Council seeks an experienced Children’s Social Care Commissioning Manager to lead brokerage, negotiation, contract monitoring and QA across children’s services. You will collaborate with partners to deliver high-quality, outcome-focused commissioning, driving efficiency and financial stewardship while building a capable, motivated workforce.

You will work with operational leaders to prioritise improvement, support transformation, and ensure consistent governance, policies

Qualifications

• Experience leading change in a partnership environment.
• Proven ability to manage programmes and services with multiple partners.
• Strong analytical and data-driven decision-making skills.
• Excellent written and verbal communication and presentation abilities.

Responsibilities

• Lead Brokerage and Negotiation, Contract Monitoring and Review, and Quality Assurance functions.
• Work with providers and partners to secure high-quality services for children and families.
• Oversee commissioning activity to ensure efficiency, robustness and outcomes for young people.
• Provide direction and strategic leadership to teams; drive continuous improvement.

Skills

Leadership

Project management

Negotiation

Data analysis

Presentation & communication

Time management

Education

Degree level qualification

Job description

Organisation: Leicestershire County Council

Work Location: County Hall Glenfield LE3 8RA

Salary: £50,847 - £55,602 Per annum (pro rota for part time)

Working Hours:37 Hours per week

Contract Type: Permanent

Closing Date: 18th November 2026

Interview Date(s): 11th December 2026

Are you an experienced leader who can inspire teams, drive improvement and deliver results in a complex and fast-paced environment? If so, this could be the ideal role for you.

We are seeking an ambitious and motivated Children’s Social Care Commissioning Manager to join our Children's Commissioning Service. We are a busy service where no two days are the same.

This is a key leadership role with overall responsibility for overseeing our Brokerage and Negotiation, Contract Monitoring and Review, and Quality Assurance functions.

Working collaboratively with colleagues, providers and partners, you will build and maintain effective stakeholder relationships whilst ensuring services are delivered consistently, efficiently and to a high standard.

Working alongside colleagues across the Children and Family Service, you will play a pivotal role in ensuring commissioning activity is effective, robust and focused on achieving the best possible outcomes for children and young people. You will provide direction, professional leadership and management oversight across a range of functions, supporting teams to deliver high-quality services whilst ensuring resources are used effectively.

About the Role

We are looking for someone who can bring fresh thinking, challenge existing approaches and drive continuous improvement across the service. You will lead by example, promoting a culture of accountability, innovation and high performance whilst ensuring that policies, governance arrangements and commissioning processes are applied consistently and effectively.

You will work closely with operational colleagues, senior leaders and providers to:

• Drive service improvement and innovation across Children's Commissioning.
• Support transformation activity, helping the service develop innovative approaches that improve outcomes, enhance efficiency and support delivery of the Council's financial objective
• Identify and implement opportunities to improve efficiency and deliver savings.
• Contribute to the authority's Medium Term Financial Strategy objectives through effective oversight, challenge and strategic leadership.
• Provide leadership and day-to-day operational oversight of Brokerage and Negotiation, Contract Monitoring and Review, and Quality Assurance functions, ensuring compliance with commissioning, placement and contract management processes whilst identifying trends, risks and opportunities for continuous improvement
• Monitor performance and use data and intelligence to support decision-making.
• Promote consistency and best practice across teams.
• Support effective provider relationships, ensuring services deliver quality, value and positive outcomes.
• Develop and support a highly motivated workforce, fostering a culture of continuous learning and improvement.

Why Join Us?

This is an exciting opportunity to make a real difference in a service that plays a vital role in supporting children and young people. You will join a committed and supportive team with the opportunity to shape future service delivery, influence service developments and contribute to meaningful improvements across Children's Services.

If you are an innovative and collaborative leader who is committed to excellence, we would love to hear from you.

About You

To apply for this post, you must be able to evidence in your application how you meet the following criteria:

• Educated to Degree level ORDemonstrable evidence of delivering change in a complex and changing partnership environment
• Experience of leading project work from brief to implementation using project management skills, of working in partnership with agencies, stakeholders, children/young people and parent/carers, leading and motivating staff, managing a service, implementing change, analysis/evaluation of data and prioritising tasks
• Ability to problem solve, think and plan strategically and manage and lead staff
• Must possess exceptional time management abilities, good liaison and negation skills, excellent presentation and communication skills, excellent IT and software skills, positive inter-agency and inter-disciplinary networking skills
• Knowledge of key objectives in relation to the delivery of the projects and procurements, Equal Opportunity policies, procedures and legislation, of commissioning and contracting processes and the financial implications within Local Government
• Demonstrable knowledge and understanding of outcome based commissioning including procurement, contract management and financial managementAbility to prioritise and work to deadlines
• Practical knowledge of the Children’s Social Care Sector

In addition, we also expect you to share our commitment to our valuesandto delivering accessible and inclusive services which meet the needs of all of our residents. You will be asked to demonstrate your understanding of these commitments as part of the selection process.

Reasonable adjustments will be considered for applicants with a disability.We are a Disability Confident Employer.

Interested in Flexible Working?

We are open to discussions about flexible working, which may include part time working, job sharing, term-time working, flexible start and finish times, and hybrid working, depending on the requirements of the role and the service. If you would like to discuss the possible flexible working options that might be applicable to this role, please contact the person named below.

For more information or an informal discussion,please contact:

Sarah Wilson, Service Manager

Phone [phone]

Email: [e-mail]