ABOUT NXG
NXG Enterprises Ltd, trading as NXG Thrive, is a youth mental health, SEND and behavioural intervention provider working with NHS commissioners, local authorities, schools, colleges and the secure estate. Founded in 2008, we deliver commissioned mental health, SEMH, alternative provision and crisis support services across the East of England and beyond, and hold places on national and regional frameworks.
THE ROLE
This role owns the commercial and delivery performance of our education and welfare to work portfolio: contracts and packages paid on delivered activity or achieved outcomes rather than block funding. That means referral-led framework and DPS call-offs, EOTAS and alternative provision packages commissioned per learner, SEMH and vocational support, and employability and job-outcome programmes where revenue is triggered by verified progression.
Payment-by-results work is unforgiving. Revenue only exists where delivery has happened, the outcome has been evidenced to the commissioner's definition, and the claim is supported by an audit-ready record. You are accountable for that chain end to end: pricing it correctly at bid stage, mobilising it, managing the project managers who deliver it, evidencing it, invoicing it, and protecting the margin throughout.
You will also carry the commercial input into our tendering - bid/no-bid decisions, cost models and rate cards, and the technical content our tender writer builds submissions around.
The portfolio spans live delivery, frameworks awaiting activation, and a live bid pipeline. Full detail is shared with shortlisted candidates.
KEY ACCOUNTABILITIES
Commercial ownership of the education portfolio
- Own the commercial position for every contract line: contracted value, forecast revenue, delivery cost, margin and cash, reported monthly in exact figures.
- Maintain rate cards, unit costs and pricing assumptions, and hold delivery within them. Escalate any placement or call-off breaching the agreed cost ceiling before it is committed.
- Forecast outcome-triggered revenue realistically, by referral volume, conversion, attrition and achievement rate, and revise as actual conversion data emerges rather than holding to bid assumptions.
- Ensure only commissioned, delivered and evidenced activity is invoiced, supported by a delivery log a commissioner could audit without further work from us.
- Track billing, aged debt and payment terms; chase unpaid invoices at term.
Payment-by-results and outcome contract management
- Interpret and operationalise outcome definitions, evidence requirements and verification routes at the point of contract, before delivery starts.
- Design and run the claim and evidence process for each outcome-based line: what counts as an outcome, who verifies it, what document set supports it, where it is stored.
- Manage claim accuracy and completeness. Under-claiming loses earned income; over-claiming creates clawback and reputational risk. Both are treated as failures.
- Prepare for audit, validation visits and commissioner assurance reviews, and resolve queries and disputes without escalation where possible.
- Model the recovery position where achievement runs below profile, with a written plan and revised trajectory.
Framework, DPS and call-off activation
- Convert approved frameworks into income. Frameworks generate nothing until called off.
- Build and hold referrer relationships: SEND and inclusion teams, virtual schools, AP panels, ICB and trust commissioners, schools and colleges.
- Respond to direct awards and mini-competitions at pace, with compliant pricing and a deliverable mobilisation plan.
- Close mobilisation gates before delivery is accepted: safeguarding sign-off, quality assurance and self-evaluation submissions, rate-card confirmation in writing, staffing capacity confirmed.
Programme delivery oversight and line management
- Line manage the project manager(s) delivering outcome-based contracts: clear objectives, weekly performance rhythm, and intervention where delivery drifts.
- Hold delivery to service standards - referral response within 48 hours, placement start within 10 working days of acceptance, and the reporting standards in each contract.
- Oversee resource deployment against the capacity model: salaried and anchor hours first, sessional bank second, commissioned hours only.
- Assure outcome recording - baseline and exit measures, attendance, EHCP-linked goals, progression evidence - is complete at the point of delivery, not reconstructed at reporting time.
- Act as escalation point for delivery quality issues and complaints, working with the Clinical Lead on anything with a clinical or safeguarding dimension.
Tendering and business development input
- Qualify the pipeline of education, SEND, AP and employability opportunities across our target regions and make evidenced bid/no-bid recommendations.
- Own the cost model, pricing and margin position for every education bid, including deliverability testing of volume assumptions before they are committed to in a submission.
- Provide the technical and delivery content - delivery model, staffing, mobilisation, quality, outcomes, social value - working with the tender writer who builds the submission.
- Maintain a live record of what we have actually delivered, so performance evidence, case studies and references are current at the point of bidding.
- Lead a clean handover from award to mobilisation, with contract documentation, budgets and delivery plans in place before go-live.
Governance, compliance and reporting
- Produce a monthly performance pack per contract line - referrals, conversions, delivery against target, outcomes achieved, spend against envelope, invoiced value, exceptions - due five working days after month end.
- Prepare commissioner reports mapped exactly to the commissioner's stated data requirements, in exact figures. Approximations and ranges are not used in commissioner-facing reporting.
- Ensure safeguarding, safer recruitment, data protection and contract compliance requirements are met on every line.
- Escalate risks and exceptions when they arise rather than at month end, with the numbers and a proposed course of action attached.
ABOUT YOU
Essential
- Demonstrable experience managing outcome-based, payment-by-results or activity-priced contracts, in education, SEND, alternative provision, skills, employability or youth services.
- A working command of the commercial mechanics: unit costing, rate cards, margin per placement or outcome, revenue forecasting and cash timing. You can explain from experience what makes a payment-by-results contract profitable or unprofitable.
- Experience of UK public sector commissioning - local authority, NHS or central government funded - including frameworks, dynamic purchasing systems, call-offs and mini-competitions.
- Experience contributing to competitive tenders: pricing, cost models and quality response content.
- Line management experience, including holding project or delivery managers to measurable performance standards.
- Strong numerical and analytical capability with confident use of Excel; comfortable building and interrogating a delivery and cost model.
- Precision with data. You work in exact figures, you distinguish confirmed from unverified, and you flag gaps rather than smoothing over them.
- Credible with commissioners: specific and accountable about performance, including where it is behind plan, without becoming defensive.
- A sound understanding of safeguarding in services for children and young people.
- Based in or able to work across the East of England, with a full driving licence and access to a vehicle. Right to work in the UK.
Desirable
- Knowledge of EOTAS, alternative provision, SEMH and EHCP-funded packages, and how local authority SEND commissioning works in practice.
- Familiarity with employability and job-outcome contracting - engagement, progression, job start and sustainment payment structures.
- Experience of NHS contracting, NHS Standard Contract mechanics or ICB commissioning.
- Awarding organisation experience - ASDAN, Arts Award, NCFE Functional Skills - including centre approval and quality assurance.
- Established relationships with local authority and ICB commissioners across the East of England.
- Experience working with an offshore or outsourced business services team across time zones.
- Project or commercial qualification (APM, PRINCE2, CIPS) or equivalent demonstrable practice.
- Working knowledge of Asana or a comparable project management system.
WORKING AT NXG
We work at pace and with a high degree of autonomy. You will be trusted with commercial decisions early, and expected to bring the numbers with you when you make them. In return you get a genuinely supported role: a business services team handling reporting production, tender formatting, finance administration and recruitment coordination, and direct access to the Managing Director rather than a layered approval chain. This is a portfolio you can grow, in an organisation small enough that the growth is visibly yours.
HOW TO APPLY
Applications are made on the NXG application form. CVs alone will not be accepted. Shortlisted candidates complete a Pre-Engagement Declaration; equal opportunities monitoring is collected separately and is not seen by the panel.
Selection will include a competency-based interview and a short commercial exercise based on an anonymised contract scenario.
SAFEGUARDING AND EQUALITY
NXG Enterprises Ltd is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, young people and adults at risk, and expects all staff to share that commitment. This post is subject to an Enhanced DBS check with Barred List check, satisfactory references covering the last five years, verification of qualifications and professional registration where applicable, and a full employment history with any gaps explained. An online search may be carried out on shortlisted candidates in line with Keeping Children Safe in Education. A criminal record will not automatically bar an applicant from appointment.
We are an equal opportunities employer and welcome applications from all backgrounds. We particularly welcome applicants with lived experience relevant to the young people we support. Reasonable adjustments are available at every stage of the process - please tell us what you need.
Application question(s):
- How many years of experience do you have managing outcome-based, payment-by-results, or activity-priced contracts?
- Have you contributed to competitive tenders (pricing, cost models, or quality response content)?
- Do you have experience with UK public sector commissioning, including frameworks, dynamic purchasing systems (DPS), or call-offs?
Experience:
- Line management: 2 years (preferred)
Licence/Certification:
- Driving Licence (preferred)
Work authorisation:
- United Kingdom (required)
Work Location: Hybrid remote in East of England Region
