Senior Commercial Lead

NHS Blood and Transplant; United Kingdom; Hybrid; GBP 65,000 - 85,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Hybrid working

Flexible working

Generous annual leave

NHS Pension

Wellbeing support

Job summary

NHS Blood and Transplant is seeking a Category-based Commercial Leader to drive strategic sourcing, contract management and supplier relationships across a national portfolio. The role supports the Commercial directorate with planning, governance and performance improvement to achieve cost efficiencies and high quality outcomes.

The post involves cross-functional collaboration, travel across England, and a hybrid working arrangement with a base location to be agreed.

Qualifications

• Masters level or equivalent experience in a professional purchasing area.
• CIPS Professional Diploma Level 6 or equivalent experience.
• Demonstrates commitment to own continued professional development (CPD).

Responsibilities

• Strategic sourcing & commercial planning category strategy development, market analysis, and end-to-end procurement delivery.
• Contract & supplier management expertise managing KPIs, SLAs, governance, and full contract lifecycle (award to exit).
• Commercial acumen & financial management cost optimisation, budget oversight, pricing models, and value realisation.
• Stakeholder & supplier relationship management influencing, negotiating, and building strong internal and external partnerships.
• Risk, compliance & governance ensuring regulatory adherence, managing commercial risks, and maintaining audit-ready processes.
• Performance & continuous improvement driving supplier performance, resolving issues, and leading service and operational improvements.

Skills

Market Shaping

Strategic Sourcing

Procurement Strategy

Contract Management

Negotiation

Supply Chain Management

Supplier Relationship Management

Leadership

Time Management

Microsoft Office

Change Management

Decision Making

Problem Solving

Education

Masters level in purchasing

CIPS Professional Diploma Level 6

Commitment to CPD

Tools

Electronic Sourcing Systems

Job description

You will lead, manage and be accountable for a Category based Commercial Team with responsibility for a portfolio of supplier contracts and ensure that all resources are focused on delivering sustainable, quality, and innovative commercial solutions, in compliance with legislation.

You will providing professional expertise to formulate, develop and implement long term strategic plans for the categories and contracts managed by the team as well as actively engage and collaborate with internal stakeholders, suppliers, and public sector bodies in support of our commercial strategies and their effectiveness.

You will continuously improve the Commercial service delivered to stakeholders, enhance expertise, and build the capability and potential of the function and take a pivotal role in delivering significant cost improvements in a creative, innovative, and sustained manner to assist us to meet our financial objectives.

Note: This is a national role, requiring travel across England based on business needs. The role offers a hybrid working option. You will be assigned a base location, which could be one of the NHSBT main centres or blood centres. The exact location will be confirmed after the final interview and mutually agreed upon with the line manager during the verbal offer stage.

Main duties of the job

In this role you will support in the delivery of the planning & organisation, day to day operations, financial, quality targets and vision of the Commercial directorate within NHSBT. Your responsibilities will include:

• Strategic sourcing & commercial planning category strategy development, market analysis, and end-to-end procurement delivery.
• Contract & supplier management expertise managing KPIs, SLAs, governance, and full contract lifecycle (award to exit).
• Commercial acumen & financial management cost optimisation, budget oversight, pricing models, and value realisation.
• Stakeholder & supplier relationship management influencing, negotiating, and building strong internal and external partnerships.
• Risk, compliance & governance ensuring regulatory adherence, managing commercial risks, and maintaining audit-ready processes.
• Performance & continuous improvement driving supplier performance, resolving issues, and leading service and operational improvements.

About us

It takes all types of people to deliver the kind of service that saves and improves lives. At NHS Blood and Transplant, you'll join a team of more than 6,000 people who are making a genuine difference to communities, families, friends, relatives and more across the UK. We play a unique and special role in the NHS by helping people do something extraordinary- donate blood, blood products, organs, tissues, or stem cells to save someone in need.

Our three core values are what set us apart. They guide and inspire everything we do.By being caring, expertly meeting the needs of our patients and our people, and accepting nothing less than the best quality, we can do extraordinary work and help our people to do something extraordinary in their career, too. Three small words, one big difference - Caring, Expert and Quality. Together we'll save and improve more lives than ever.

You will join us on our journey to create an inclusive workplace and aim to reflect the diverse communities we work with, and we positively encourage applications from all sectors of the community.

Job responsibilities

What we offer:

• Hybrid working arrangements because NHSBT works nationally, were able to offer hybrid working options that give you more flexibility to balance work with life.
• Flexible working options we promote flexible working where the role allows. Were happy to discuss what flexibility might look like for you.
• Generous annual leave - 27 days annual leave (pro rata for part-time) plus Bank Holidays, increasing to 29 days after 5 years service and to 33 days after 10 years.
• Inclusive pension scheme - the NHS Pension Scheme is a defined benefit scheme (not dependent on investment returns). Further details and outline of benefits can be found at: http://www.nhsbsa.nhs.uk/information-about-nhs-pensions
• Supportive learning culture - weve fostered a culture of continuous learning where colleagues are well-led, engaged, and encouraged to grow. We support you in reaching your full potential, both in your current role and future career. Our Thrive program embodies our commitment to learning and development, offering a wide range of activities to support your personal and professional growth. Its open to everyone at NHSBT, ensuring you have the resources to succeed and shine in your role.
• Health and wellbeing support we offer confidential services including occupational health, employee assistance programme, and wellbeing resources. Our support is available to all colleagues and we endeavour to provide tailored workplace adjustments where possible.

As a Disability Confident Employer, we welcome applications from disabled candidates. We will talk with you to explore any adjustments that may help you during the recruitment process. You can find more information about accessibility, our culture, and how we support applicants on the NHSBT Careers website.

To learn more, please see the job description and person specification.

Person Specification

Qualifications

• Educated to Masters level or equivalent experience in a professional purchasing area.
• CIPS Professional Diploma Level 6 or equivalent experience.
• Demonstrates commitment to own continued professional development (CPD).

Experience

• Experience of Market Shaping, Strategic Sourcing, Procurement Strategy, and Contract Management including negotiation of significant value contracts and/or significant risk contracts, and disputes at a senior level.
• Supply chain management and supplier relationship management experience.
• The ability to lead strategic planning and implementation processes.
• Time Management skills and the ability to meet deadlines.
• Experience in using electronic sourcing and purchasing systems.
• Change management experience including awareness of impacts on Quality when implementing new contracts.
• Decision making and problem-solving skills.
• Leadership and management experience
• Experience of working with information technology using Microsoft Office packages (Outlook, Word, Excel, Teams and PowerPoint).