Organisation: Leicestershire County Council
Work Location: County Hall, Glenfield, Leicester LE3 8RA
Salary: £43,860 - £47,829 per annum (pro rata for part time) (pay award pending)
Working Hours: 37 hrs per week
Contract Type: Permanent
Closing Date: 2nd August 2026
Interview Date(s): 13th August 2026
Are you passionate about ensuring that children, young people and their families/carers receive high-quality support at the right time helping them to achieve their full potential?
Would you like to help make a difference to the lives of children and young people through effective commissioning – with a focus on the brokerage of individual placements but may at times also focus on the procurement, quality assurance processes and monitoring of contractual arrangements?
Do you have a good understanding and experience of the Commissioning Cycle and commissioning practices, including procurement processes?
If so, this could be the ideal role for you.
About the Role
We are looking to recruit a full-time Senior Commissioning Officer to join our ambitious and dedicated Commissioning Service.
While all Senior Commissioning Officers work across a range of commissioning functions, this post will initially lead our Brokerage and Negotiation Team. This is a pivotal role, you will coordinate and oversee placement searches, engage with operational staff and providers, negotiate costs and contractual arrangements, and ensure that referrals are effectively matched to suitable provision. The role requires the ability to balance quality, sufficiency, timeliness and value for money, often within a challenging and fast-moving market environment.
As the lead for a busy placement’s duty desk, you will work in a fast-paced and changing team at the heart of Children's and Family Services, ensuring that children and young people can access the right support, in the right place, at the right time.
No two days are the same. You will need to be able, therefore, to regularly manage competing priorities, respond to urgent and complex placement requests, negotiate placement fees and work collaboratively with social workers, providers, commissioning colleagues and senior leaders to achieve the best possible outcomes for children and young people. Key skills will include the ability to manage business critical relationships with providers whilst ensuring the strategic and operational requirements of the Council are met at all times.
The post will primarily focus on leading the Brokerage and Negotiation Team. However, you may also be required to provide cover for other Senior Commissioning Officers working across the areas listed above, as needed to support departmental priorities.
There is also the expectation that the successful candidate may be required to attend meetings away from the normal office base which would require appropriate car insurance cover.
This team has specific responsibility for the planning and delivering of a range of procurement activities and much of the internal governance for our commissioning activity.
About You
To apply for this post, you must be able to evidence in your application how you meet the following criteria:
- Degree in relevant subject Or Demonstrable experience identified below.
- Experience of commissioning, contracting or providing social care services to children and young people in a statutory, private or voluntary organisation. and working in a senior position and managing/coaching staff.
- Experience of developing positive relationships and managing conflict.
- Experience of using monitoring and evaluation to inform planning, including data systems to track performance.
- Experience of business process design, process testing, and the documentation of work instructions.
- Knowledge of relevant national legislation and regulation requirements including safeguarding policies, housing law and procedures and contract procedure rules.
- Ability to analyse information and write clear well-presented reports with recommendations and support the drafting of service specifications or system development.
In addition, we also expect you to share our commitment to our values and to 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
Telephone: 01163056527
Email: [email protected]
How to Apply
At Leicestershire County Council we’re looking for top talent from all walks of life. Whoever you are, wherever you’re from, and whatever your background - we care about what you bring to our organisation, not just what’s on your CV. That’s why we’ve designed a recruitment process that’s fair, accessible, and focused on potential. And with benefits that support people at every age and stage of life, we make sure you can thrive - both personally and professionally.
If you share our passion to make a difference for the people of Leicestershire, we’d love to hear from you. Click the apply button to submit your application, ensuring that you upload a supporting statement that explains how you meet the criteria listed in the ‘About You’ section above. Without this information, we won’t be able to assess your suitability for the role, and your application will be rejected. For tips on how to write your statement, see the How to Apply section on our career site.
We reserve the right to close this vacancy early if we receive sufficient applications for the role. Therefore, if you are interested, please submit your application as early as possible.
If you have any technical issues when trying to apply for this post or you want to request an application pack in an alternative format, please contact our Employee Service Centre by telephoning 0300 3030222 (select option 2) or raising a ticket via our online portal: https://emss.org.uk/support .
By applying for this post, you agree to our Terms and Conditions .
