Full Time / 37 Hours Per Week / Permanent
Join our Strategic Commissioning Team and play a key role in shaping services and support delivering positive outcomes for children, young people and adults who use services, their families and carers, whilst ensuring value for money for the Council and NHS.
As a Business Change Commissioning Manager in the Children’s Strategic Commissioning Team, you will lead and support major commissioning reviews, service transformation programmes and strategic change initiatives. You'll work across education, health and social care systems to ensure services are responsive, sustainable, deliver value for money and meet the needs of Leicester's diverse communities.
You'll be expected to work from our offices at least 2 days a week, with Wednesday being the team day at Halford House. You'll have flexibility to work remotely on other days during the week and will attend regular meetings both online and in person.
Working closely with the Lead Commissioner, service leads and partners, you'll help deliver strategic commissioning priorities across the social care and education department, ensuring that children and young people receive the right support at the right time.
What you’ll be doing
You'll lead complex commissioning reviews and service improvement projects across social care and SEND and education services, supporting the development and implementation of strategic commissioning plans and sufficiency strategies. This will include analysing need and demand, engaging with stakeholders, reviewing service models, and developing recommendations that improve outcomes for children, young people and adults.
You'll work collaboratively with colleagues across social care and education, public health and the NHS, as well as people and families accessing services and providers to co-produce future service models and commissioning intentions.
You will also support and lead procurement and commissioning activity, including the development of service specifications, tender documentation, evaluation processes and contract mobilisation. You'll use evidence, research and market intelligence to help shape a sustainable and high-quality local marketplace.
What you’ll need
We're looking for someone with experience of commissioning, service transformation, and project management within SEND, education, children's social care, health or related public services. You'll understand the importance of person-centred approaches and be passionate about improving outcomes for children, young people and families.
You'll have experience building effective relationships with a wide range of stakeholders and partners, and be able to influence across organisational boundaries. Strong communication and engagement skills are essential, along with the ability to facilitate meaningful co-production with children, young people, families and providers.
You'll be an organised and analytical thinker, capable of interpreting complex information and translating it into clear, evidence-based recommendations. You'll have experience writing reports, presenting findings and managing projects through to successful delivery.
Knowledge of SEND legislation, the SEND reforms, local authority commissioning and procurement responsibilities and the wider children’s social care and SEND landscape would be highly advantageous.
What we can offer you
As well as the satisfaction of helping to improve thousands of lives across Leicester, you can look forward to a work environment that encourages a healthy work/life balance. You’ll enjoy generous annual leave, membership of the Local Government Pension Scheme and the option of flexible working. We’ll also give you the chance to develop your skills and expertise with a variety of training and development opportunities. In addition, you can choose from a number of flexible benefits, including discounts on city buses and trains. For an illustrative value of your benefits package, take a look at our benefits calculator.
Join us
We’re committed to recruiting a diverse and highly talented workforce as we continue to build a council that is fitting and representative of our great city. That’s why we’ve designed our recruitment process to put you at your ease, make you feel welcome and bring the best out of you. We’ll do all we can to make our recruitment process as fair as possible.
For an informal discussion about the permanent post, please contact Liam Brown at [email protected].
Interviews will take place on w/c 21st September 2026.
