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Senior Governance and Compliance Advisor

Location: Flexible (travel to other locations across Wales will be necessary)| Salary: G6, £35,994-£39,369 | Closing date: 17 July 2022

Contract type: Permanent

Work pattern: Full Time, 37 hours a week

Post number: 202978

As an organisation we support flexible working. This role allows hybrid working (a mix of home and office working) and a working pattern suitable for you can be discussed on appointment if you are successful.

You will be contracted to the nearest NRW office to your home, of which you will be required to attend for regular meetings, training and for one-to-one meetings with your manager. These will be planned in advance.

Job Description

NRW’s purpose is to pursue the sustainable management of natural resources in Wales, this means that the work required of the new Contract Management Support Service (CMSS) will be extremely varied in interesting. NRW’s CMSS will support contract managers across a range of contract types, inclusive of, but not limited to, procurement contracts, grants, partnerships, leases and management agreements. NRW undertakes work relating to flood risk management, conservation, recreation, commercial work and land management activities.

The CMSS and its team members will play a vital role in the delivery of the NRW Commercial Strategy and Contract Management Plan; implementing best practice in contract management across NRW, promoting the benefits of a compliant, flexible process that achieves value for money for our stakeholders.

The department will rely on qualified and experienced contract management professionals to bring a depth of understanding of the subject matter, technical contract expertise and best practice contract management. The CM framework that the team will work within and support is aligned with the National Audit Office (NAO) Good Contract Management Practice and the Cabinet Office Contract Management Professional Standards.

Responsibilities

Your responsibilities include:

Produce, develop and/or maintain guidance, tools, templates and training documentation and material generated for contract management within NRW, ensuring alignment with good practice approaches that allow for continuous improvement and lessons learned.
Provide expert, specialised advice, guidance, training and support to non - commercial staff within the organisation, in line with relevant legislation and best practice, in order to effectively underpin risk-based decision making and support sustainable outcomes.
Develop, review and improve NRW contract management governance arrangements (including technical documentation). You will lead the CMSS team through the development and implementation of these to enable consistent understanding and application in the business, resulting in effective and compliant service provision.
Be expected to interpret complex legislative documents, undertaking an assessment of business need to include risk, and engage with stakeholders at all levels within the organisation, develop, initiate and continue to improve a contract management framework that will reduce the risk to NRW of poorly performing supply chains and delivery partners.
Hold accountability under Managing our Money, ensuring robust, compliant and value for money outcomes, with the ability to work autonomously and to make decisions without line manager input when needed.
Lead or be part of a project team that reviews and continually improves guidance, policies and procedures, along with supporting tools, templates and training associated with contract management.

Qualifications, experience and knowledge

Knowledge and experience of the following:

Chartered Institute of Purchasing & Supply (CIPS) - Level 5/6, Diploma / Professional Diploma in Procurement and Supply (Working toward full membership or nearing completion) - (Essential)
The successful applicant will be expected to undertake and obtain the CMPC expert qualification in a timescale agreed with the Team Leader if not already qualified to that level.
Strong and demonstrable experience as a commercial expert on commercial legislation and public sector policy.
Expert understanding of procurement/commercial concepts, governance and techniques. (Essential)
Transferrable experience of delivering business objectives, preferably those involving sustainable development, procurement or that have been commercial in nature.
Strong understanding of the NAO contract management standards or similar contract management standards applied to public sector commercial contracts. (Desirable)

Welsh language requirements:

Essential Level 1 – Able to pronounce Welsh and use basic phrases

Please note if you do not meet the level 1 requirement i.e., ability to understand basic phrases and ability to pronounce Welsh names correctly, then NRW offers a variety of learning options and staff support to help you meet these minimal requirements during the course of your employment with us.

Competencies

Please note - Applications to this role will be assessed based on the following competencies, both at shortlisting and interview. Please give examples of how you demonstrate these competencies when completing your application form.

Essential Knowledge and Skills	Requirement to undertake a higher level of practical or technical task/work requiring specialist knowledge/expertise. Experts in a range of subjects relating to their profession. Delivery of technical/specialist services will require gravitas in their subject area. Objective advice to others on their knowledge and experience, keeping up to date with changes within technical/specialist fields. Experience gained from different organisations/roles/functions. Relevant substantial experience working in the relevant field. Ability to manage smaller, less complex programmes and/or manage projects on a larger scale.
Evaluation of Information	Interprets and understands the NRW operational delivery and strategy plans and it's wider context. Ability to analyse and interpret a wide range of complex information, extracting key points to communicate to individuals at all levels and contributing to the development of policy.
Decision Making and Autonomy Requirements	Work guided by expected results but able to decide how best to achieve these. Guidance may be provided by peers but there will likely be a need for some degree of judgment or creativity to be applied. There may be a requirement to alter priorities due to conflicting demands. Objectives and targets will be reviewed on an intermediate basis. May involve management of medium sized projects. Responsible for making independent decisions with input from line management and peers and an understanding of NRW policy and the range of options available and their potential implications for the business. Involved in the development of organisation policy and will have a level of autonomy in the implementation of organisational policy. Decisions made could lead to changes in established procedure/practice for dealing with issues within the post-holder’s area of work. The consequence of taking wrong decisions could have an adverse effect on the organisation in relation to its external stakeholders such as partner organisations, lenders, service users etc. Decisions may concern a broad range of matters and the outcomes of some decisions may not always be immediately clear or apparent. Problems encountered may also relate to the work of other parts of the organisation and could be variable and diverse. The impact of decisions is likely to be wider than the immediate function or department and is likely to be medium term.
Impact	Moderate level of impact and influence, which is generally medium term in impact. Decisions and actions will influence others. The consequences of their decisions making/action will have a medium impact internally or externally. Identify or manage risks in their area of work.
Communication and Relationships with Others	Ability to link with other roles across the business, engaging the organisation in delivering polices and work plans in the most efficient way. Interaction with others may also be with people and organisations external to NRW. This will involve written and verbal communication, leading smaller, less complex projects, requiring persuasive skills. This may include facilitating and/or presenting at internal or external meetings, giving advice and input as required. There will be a requirement to foster and maintain good relationships and networks. Post holders will typically produce less complex documents, reports, accounts, contracts etc. Content will contain a lower level of advice, guidance or opinion which the recipient will act upon or use and which is likely to have detrimental consequences if incorrect or poorly drafted. Able to source information from multiple locations through research and apply professional judgment as to how the material should be interpreted; the impact of which is likely to be medium term in nature.
Responsibility for People	No direct line management responsibility but may have operational responsibility for leading specialist/technical staff, through non-complex technical/specialist programmes through a ‘matrix management’ structure. Will also mentor less experienced colleagues.
Responsibility for Resources	May have a delegated budget. At this level the role may have responsibility for the checking the validity of forms and documents as part of a process and/ or the procurement of goods and services with approval. Post holders will be responsible for the safe and legal use of equipment and data that they use to fulfil the requirements of the role.

Benefits of working for us

This role will offer a range of benefits, including:

agile and flexible working (role dependent)
Civil Service Pension Scheme offering employer contributions of 26.6% to 30.3%
28 days annual leave, rising to 33 days
generous leave entitlements for all your life needs
health and wellbeing benefits and support
weekly well-being hour to use at your choice

See full details for all the employee benefits you will receive.

How to apply

Application form

Guidance on completing a job application form

Send completed applications forms to Applications@naturalresourceswales.gov.uk

Application closing date 17 July 2022

Interviews will take place through Microsoft Teams.

If you have any queries about the role, please contact Peter Lees on peter.lees@cyfoethnaturiolcymru.gov.uk

Natural Resources Wales embraces diversity and promotes equal opportunity. We recruit by merit on the basis of fair and open competition.

We welcome and encourage applications from groups currently underrepresented, including women, black and ethnic minority groups and people with a disability. We have a guaranteed interview scheme for candidates with disabilities who meet the minimum selection criteria.

We put the principles of human rights, equality, fairness, dignity and respect at the heart of our values.

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