Senior Commissioning Officer (Children and Families)

Job summary

We have an exciting opportunity to join the Children's Commissioning Team as a Commissioning Officer. This is a varied and rewarding role supporting the commissioning, contract management and development of services for children, young people and families across Cambridgeshire. Working alongside senior commissioning colleagues and partners across Children's Services, Education, Health and the voluntary and community sector, you will help ensure that commissioned services are high quality, deliver positive outcomes and provide value for money. The role offers an excellent opportunity for someone with commissioning experience, or transferable skills from related fields, who is looking to develop their career in commissioning while contributing to services that make a real difference to children and families across the county. For an informal discussion about the role, please contact Lizzie Robertson, Commissioning Manager, at lizzie.robertson@cambridgeshire.gov.uk. or Rosa Di Maio, Rosa.DeMaio@cambridgeshire.gov.uk Appointment to this post will be subject to the outcome of an Enhanced Disclosure obtained through the Disclosure and Barring Service. The Council is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and vulnerable adults and expects all staff and volunteers to share this commitment. You will support the work of the childrens commissioning team. Your key responsibilities will include: Support the Commissioning Manager and Senior Commissioning Officer in the commissioning and contract management of a varied portfolio of services for children, young people and families, including services such as Translation and Interpretation, Young Carers, Mediation and Dispute Resolution, Childrens Advocacy, Childrens Occupational Therapy and Speech and Language Therapy Services. Work with providers, partners and stakeholders to support monitoring service performance and ensure commissioned services achieve agreed outcomes. Gather, analyse and interpret data, market intelligence, carry out benchmarking and review stakeholder feedback to inform commissioning decisions and identify opportunities for service improvement. Support commissioning projects and procurement activity, including inputting into the development of specifications, contributing to tender processes and implementing service improvements. Build and maintain positive working relationships with providers across the voluntary, community and independent sectors. Contribute to the development of commissioning strategies, business cases and reports. Research legislation, policy, guidance and best practice to ensure commissioning activity remains responsive to local and national priorities. Support the development of innovative and sustainable services that improve outcomes for children, young people and families while delivering value for money.

Main duties of the job

You will have a passion for improving outcomes for children, young people and families and an interest in developing and improving services that make a real difference to people's lives. You will bring experience of working with partners and stakeholders to support service delivery, improvement or commissioning activity, or be able to demonstrate transferable skills gained in a related field. You will be confident in analysing information and data and using evidence to support recommendations and decision-making. Strong written and verbal communication skills are essential, with the ability to present information clearly and concisely and adapt your approach to suit a range of audiences. You will be able to build positive working relationships and collaborate effectively with colleagues, partners and service providers to achieve shared objectives. Strong organisational skills are important, as you will be required to manage competing priorities, work to deadlines and maintain a high standard of work across a varied workload. You will be a proactive problem solver who is able to identify opportunities for service improvement and contribute positively to commissioning activity and project work. You will also be comfortable working independently as well as part of a team, demonstrating flexibility, initiative and a willingness to learn and develop within the role. Please use your supporting statement to outline how your skills and experience match the Essential criteria outlined in the attached Job Description/Person Specification. Interviews for this role will be held 3rd September 2026

About us

Cambridgeshire is a great place to work and live with a diverse population, an urban centre in Cambridge, historic Isle of Ely, Huntingdon and St Ives as well as more rural landscapes. Our four values are central to our culture, driving everything we do.

Details

• Date posted: 20 July 2026
• Pay scheme: Other
• Salary: £41,958 to £44,822 a year
• Contract: Permanent
• Working pattern: Full-time
• Reference number: VP0C719AF2
• Job locations: Huntingdon, PE28 4YE, United Kingdom

Job responsibilities

We have an exciting opportunity to join the Children's Commissioning Team as a Senior Commissioning Officer.

This is a varied and strategic role supporting the commissioning of services for children, young people and their families across Cambridgeshire. You will work closely with Commissioning Managers and partners across Children's Services, Education, Health and the voluntary sector to develop and implement commissioning strategies, ensure high-quality services are available to meet local need, and drive innovation and value for money.

The role offers an excellent opportunity for an experienced commissioner looking to lead commissioning activity, influence service development and improve outcomes for children and young people across the county.

For an informal discussion about the role, please contact Lizzie Robertson, Commissioning Manager, at lizzie.robertson@cambridgeshire.gov.uk. or Rosa Di Maio, Rosa.DeMaio@cambridgeshire.gov.uk

Appointment to this post will be subject to the outcome of an Enhanced Disclosure obtained through the Disclosure and Barring Service. The Council is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and vulnerable adults and expects all staff and volunteers to share this commitment.

Our benefits

We value our colleagues in Cambridgeshire County Council and have developed a number of benefits in addition to the basics like annual leave, sick pay, pension and mileage

• A comprehensive wellbeing package to cover all aspects of wellbeing, both in and out of work, which can also be accessed by your family
• Buy up to 4 weeks additional annual leave (pro-rata) through our salary sacrifice scheme
• Take your bank holidays flexibly to better suit your personal circumstances
• Make Additional Voluntary Contributions (Shared AVCs) to your pension with tax and National Insurance savings
• Access to development opportunities, apprenticeships and qualified coaches to support your personal and professional growth
• Paid volunteering hours each year so you can make a positive impact on our community during your normal working day
• Access to Peer Support Groups through our IDEAL staff equality, diversity and inclusion network
• Opportunities to nominate and receive Employee Recognition Awards
• An Our Cambs Rewards account, giving you access to in-store and online discounts as well as our Car Lease and Cycle to Work schemes

Take a look at our Employment Benefits Brochure attached to this advert to find out more.

What will you be doing?

You will support the work of the childrens commissioning team. Your key responsibilities will include supporting the Commissioning Manager to manage a varied portfolio of commissioned services for children and families, including the recommissioning and contract management of services such as the Council's Translation and Interpretation Contract, Young Carers, Mediation and Dispute Resolution, Childrens Advocacy, Children's Occupational Therapy and Speech and Language Therapy Services.

You will be leading on specific commissioning projects and activities within the children and families portfolio, identifying opportunities for service improvement, innovation and value for money.

You will be responsible for ensuring specific provisions are contract managed robustly, quality assured and challenged where necessary to improve outcomes and performance.

Working closely with operational colleagues, particularly procurement colleagues, you will be involved in developing specifications, undertaking tenders and supporting procurement activity. You will also develop effective relationships with a wide range of stakeholders, providers and partners to achieve successful service delivery and implementation.

Other elements of the role include analysing data, market intelligence and stakeholder feedback to inform decisions, shape commissioning intentions and improve services.

You will be responsible for preparing reports and provide recommendations and briefings to support decision-making and governance processes. And you will be deputising for the Commissioning Manager, ensuring continuity and integrity of commissioning activity.

About you

You will have a passion for improving outcomes for children and young people and bring experience of supporting significant commissioning projects, ideally within children's services.

You will be comfortable interpreting and presenting data and information to a variety of audiences, using evidence to inform recommendations and support decision-making.

You will take ownership of specific commissioning projects and services, working collaboratively with colleagues, providers and partners to deliver positive outcomes. Strong communication skills are essential, with the ability to write clearly and concisely and adapt your style to different audiences, whether contributing to provider engagement forums, producing option appraisals or presenting reports to decision-makers.

You will be confident in building relationships, negotiating effectively and resolving issues in a constructive way. As an organised and proactive individual, you will be able to manage competing priorities, develop practical solutions to complex challenges and deliver work within agreed timescales.

You will also be able to work independently while contributing effectively as part of a wider team, managing your time efficiently and remaining flexible and responsive in a changing environment.

Please use your supporting statement to outline how your skills and experience match the Essential criteria outlined in the attached Job Description/Person Specification.

Interviews for this role will be held 2nd September 2026

About us

Cambridgeshire is a great place to work and live with a diverse population, an urban centre in Cambridge, historic Isle of Ely, Huntingdon and St Ives as well as more rural landscapes.

Our four values are central to our culture, driving everything we do.

We are proud to serve the diverse communities of Cambridgeshire and want our workforce to be reflective of this diversity, which we firmly believe benefits our colleagues, the organisation and our communities. If you dont meet every single requirement in the job role but think this could be you, please dont be put off. We are committed to building a workplace that is compassionate and inclusive as well as diverse, so if you think you could be a good candidate for this role please consider applying and speak to the recruiting manager if you have any questions.

Our Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Strategy, along with our employee network 'IDEAL' and self-organised peer support groups help us to foster an inclusive, supportive and safe working environment where people feel valued, respected, and empowered. We collect relevant diversity data for monitoring as part of the recruitment process to understand the diversity of our applicants and monitor any trends throughout the recruitment processes so that we can take meaningful action.

We are proud to be a Disability Confident Leader. We fully support providing reasonable adjustments throughout our recruitment process, as well as when you join us, and we encourage candidates to contact the Hiring Manager, whose details can be found in the advert, to discuss any adjustment needs. Through a Guaranteed Interview Scheme, we will offer an interview to all applicants who disclose a disability and meet the essential criteria for a job vacancy. On your application form you can indicate you are disabled. Some examples of reasonable adjustments during the recruitment process could include additional time to complete an assessment or printing a document on pastel coloured paper with larger font size and line spacing. We would value talking about what might be possible to enable you to join us and thrive, so if there is something that would help you to do your best during your journey with us, please get in touch.

Visit our jobs and careers section to find out more about our wide range of learning and development opportunities; apprenticeships; our wellbeing package; staff benefits; our commitment to equality, diversity and Inclusion.

https://www.cambridgeshire.gov.uk/council/jobs-and-careers