View Vacancy – MNL – Head of Technology Sourcing Team (Manila/Commercial Directorate), G7

Main purpose of job:

Based at the British Embassy in Manila the job holder will have a key leadership role in the creation and management of a newly established team that will lead on the procurement of technology for the United Kingdom’s (UK) Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO).

The Technology Sourcing Team will be a part of the FCDO’s wider Commercial Directorate and report into the Digital, Data and Technology (DDaT) Commercial Team located in the UK. The role of the Technology Sourcing Team will be to lead on execution of procurements that are primarily focused on acquiring commodity ICT services such as hardware, software, labour and cloud services.

This will include the full procurement lifecycle:

• working with customers in the FCDO organisation to quality assure specifications.
• determining the appropriate procurement procedure to use.
• preparation of tender documentation including allocating commercial risk appropriately via terms and conditions and selecting appropriate pricing mechanisms.
• liaison and coordination with suppliers to clarify requirements.
• coordinating the formal evaluation of bids and maintaining a strong audit trail of how decisions were made.
• agreement of contracts with successful suppliers and debriefing unsuccessful suppliers.
• documenting award reports setting out a formal record of how the successful supplier was identified.
• conduct contract handover procedures to contract managers.

The Head of the Technology Sourcing Team will lead and manage a team of procurement specialists based in Manila who will work closely with the rest of the DDaT Commercial team in the UK to take requirements and execute procurements that comply with the FCDO’s processes and procedures.  The role will be line managed from the UK by the Global Head of Technology Sourcing within DDaT Commercial.

The jobholder will be accountable for the overall delivery of procurement services and ensuring the team’s compliance to procurement processes and procedures. You will have responsibility leading and managing the team’s overall workload, setting priorities and providing a point of coordination for interacting with the Commercial team in the UK. The jobholder will be visible to the team and will play a key role in instilling organizational vision, values and culture.

Due to the remote management aspect of the role the job holder will require strong communication, interpersonal, and supervisory skills to lead their team and interact with colleagues, customers and suppliers in the UK.

Roles and responsibilities:

Management/Leadership – Procurement Delivery (40%)

The primary responsibility will be to lead and provide overall direction for the team to manage the procurement process for technology-based goods and services for requirement owners within the FCDO. You will be responsible for management and oversight of the end-to-end process to ensure that business needs are met, value for money is achieved and that procurements align with Global Category Plans that are developed and managed by the team in the UK.

The procurements undertaken are regulated under UK law and while knowledge of this would be beneficial it is not essential as 1) full training will be provided; 2) the execution of the procurements will be in line with the FCDO’s documented processes. You are expected to supervise and assure the work of the team who will execute these processes and make interventions as and when necessary to keep the delivery on track.

While the processes to follow are pre-set, there will be a degree of decision making and problem solving required with your team determining the route to market, approach to risk allocation under the contract, the pricing model, the procurement plan/timeline and the contract term. You will also be required to expertly review and critique statements of requirements and commercial models as part of the procurement process to quality assure the work of the team.

These decisions will be made in conjunction with the requirement owner and therefore experience of contractual agreements, ICT supply market and management of end-to-end procurements will be valuable to deal with any escalations coming from your team and approving the overall procurement strategy.

The FCDO operates a tiered approach to determining approvals and assurance with a second pair of eyes on tender documentation being essential before they are issued to the market. It is expected that for lower risk procurements, you will be responsible for checking and assuring the necessary collateral developed by your team before it is issued to the market. For higher value and complex procurements, you will provide expert guidance to your team, where needed, when preparing the documentation with a final sign off from the Category Lead within the UK.

As this is a new team being set up it is envisaged that during the first year of the team’s establishment, the level of contact, supervision and coaching from the UK Commercial team will be higher than when the team is embedded and operating effectively from year 2 onwards.

In executing the procurement process it is expected that your team will have regular contacts with the requirement owner in question, where you will likely only deal with escalations if these are required. In terms of contact with the UK Commercial team this will be with:

• the Global Head of Technology Sourcing who will act as line manager;
• the category team leads on more complex procurements using a high degree of creativity and judgement to negotiate the approach to procurement, anticipating risks and advising on mitigation, ensuring that this aligns with any wider category strategy. You may also be involved in shaping future category strategies;
• the head of contract management to influence any handovers of contracts let into formal contract management

In managing the procurement process you will be responsible for ensuring the teams procurements meet quality, legal, audit, HM Treasury and Cabinet Office requirements and how the processes followed by the Team could be improved to meet changing business needs. All procurements will need to align to FCDO’s global processes and are conducted using the FCDO’s the e-Sourcing Toolset. 

In addition to your standard duties a degree of flexibility will be expected from you and your team to support other spend categories as and when there is spare capacity within the team or if there are urgent requirements that take priority the over their day-to-day duties.

Staff Management (30%)

You will be visible as the Head of the Technology Sourcing Team in Manila, with the responsibility of managing and leading a team of at least three staff members. While you will oversee staff management, there will be no requirement for control of budgets or other resources. You will need to plan ahead, think strategically and ensure that the service delivered by the team are developed to meet changing business needs.

In addition to the staff management responsibilities set out within the ‘Management/Leadership – Procurement Delivery’ section you will also provide overall direction and leadership for the Technology Sourcing Team, in line with Commercial Directorate and FCDO priorities. You will:

• take charge of delivering team objectives, providing direction on goals and team priorities, ensuring that these align with the wider Commercial Directorate and FCDO objectives
• determine how the team should interpret and apply the statutory regime under which procurement is carried out within FCDO
• act as an escalation point for issues such as workload or progress on procurements, providing an overall steer to ensure that these are immediately addressed and that high quality work is produced by the team
• advise the team through your expertise, helping develop their knowledge and experiences in procurement and category strategy development; as well as work with the UK capability team to identify development and training needs to professionally develop the team
• foster a culture of continuous improvement by encouraging the team to challenge how we do things
• best practice is shared through lessons learnt exercises and collaborative working across Commercial Directorate

Stakeholder Management (30%)

As part of your day-to-day role, you will be expected to interact with numerous stakeholders (both internal and external) most often because of an escalation from a project being managed by their team. This will involve managing expectations, communicating clearly and using expertise in procurement to give credible advice to stakeholders.

You will need strong interpersonal skills with the ability to manage difficult conversations and handle conflict diplomatically showing patience, resilience and tact. The ability to influence, negotiate with stakeholders while maintaining a positive working relationship will be vital. The role will require a confident communicator who can navigate a complex stakeholder environment and maintain professionalism in challenging situations and apply their procurement expertise to ensure the best outcome for the FCDO.

You will need to:

• act as the conduit between the Technology Sourcing Team and the DDaT Commercial Team in the UK to help coordinate the overall portfolio of procurement activity across the DDaT Commercial function by acting as the primary contact for project and procurement status updates, addressing concerns and ensuring stakeholder needs are met
• handle difficult conversations that have been escalated, especially when stakeholders’ requests cannot be met, while maintaining a positive relationship with the ultimate requirement owner. This may require holding a firm line in the face of resistance and to use high levels of negotiating, consulting and interpersonal skills to achieve cooperation, ensuring that conversation remains solution-focused and respectful
• educate stakeholders, principally IDD staff from SCS to technical staff, on procurement processes, organisational policies and the need for ethical behaviour within the public sector, explaining the rationale behind their decisions in a way that stakeholders understand the broader business implications of working within a regulated sector
• develop relationships with senior stakeholders FCDO stakeholders such as; Information, Digital and Data (IDD) Directorate (the IT Department of the FCDO) to lead in promoting commercial best practice, and Legal to review and engage on commercial matters.
• influence global category development with local expertise and knowledge of spend, markets, and environments.
• providing advice on contract management process and act as an escalation point for the most complex issues arising during the handover of contracts to a contract manager; and
• work collaboratively with stakeholders, identifying innovative solutions to conflicts or misunderstanding that are mutually beneficial when resolving concerns or conflicts related to procurement limitations.

Resources managed (staff and expenditure):

Line management of 1 X SEO (Senior Procurement Manager) 2 X HEO (Procurement Managers)

Candidates should note that the FCDO operates within a regulated sector for procurement and that training will be provided on the UK’s legal framework for conducting public sector procurement. However, skills and experience in the basic principles of conducting a procurement and creating a contract will be an essential foundation.

Essential on arrival:

• Commercial Technical Skills: previous experience in leading on complex commercial situations and leading teams to deliver great procurement outcomes. In particular candidates should have experience in running procurements, developing specifications, designing pricing mechanisms and allocating risk under a contract.
• Leadership and Management Skills: demonstrable line management experience of managing a procurement team. Experienced in leading and managing internal stakeholders during a procurement process.
• Able to demonstrate the value of procurements to internal stakeholders, and to identify cost savings following a procurement.
• Working Internationally: previous experience in working in a procurement capacity which is regional/international and beyond domestic market
• Managing Change and Improvements: evidence of the ability to identify potential improvements and successfully manage changes that deliver beneficial commercial outcomes
• Developing Self and Others: experience in coaching and mentoring to build capability at all levels of a commercial function, including a team and direct reports
• Communicating and Influencing: proven experience in influencing internal and external stakeholders with strong customer service skills and experience in guiding and supporting non procurement staff
• Extensive English language and Filipino