Commissioning Manager - Joint Commissioning Team

Are you a highly effective manager driven by a passion to improve outcomes for children and young people?

This is an exciting opportunity to shape and improve services, ensuring that children and young people remain at the heart of everything we do, and that their outcomes are consistently improved through strong leadership and effective partnership working.

We are looking for someone who can turn ambition into impact — leading high-quality services, making best use of resources, and working collaboratively across teams and organisations to secure real, measurable change.

The key function of this role is to commission services for children and young people, including needs analysis, re-commissioning and managing performance, working in partnership to achieve continuous service improvements and outcomes for service users. The postholder will be responsible for ensuring that commissioned services in education, health and social care are of high quality and deliver our priorities for children and young people’s education. They will work with a broad range of internal and external partners to deliver these aims.

We are looking for candidates who:

• have experience of commissioning processes and service redesign
• are self-motivated and passionate about inclusion and outcomes for children and young people.
• displays confidence and resilience in dealing with ambiguity, conflict, complexity, and change. foster a culture of empathy and curiosity that supports the development of emotional intelligence of others.
• use customer insight to determine and drive customer service outcomes and quality throughout service area.
• have knowledge of the SEND Code of Practice and its application to commissioning and service improvement
• hold resource/budget management or proven financial management skills.

Please download the job description and person specification for mere information.

To apply for this role, please follow the ‘Apply Now’ button above and upload your CV and a Supporting Statement. When writing your supporting statement be sure to address how you meet all the criteria in the person specification drawing on any relevant work/life experience, education or personal interests.

For guidance on how to write an application see our how to apply page and our statement on the use of AI.

Interviews will take place in person at County Hall Lewes . Interviews will be taking place on July 27th 2026 . If you are unavailable on these dates let us know and we may be able to schedule an alternative date to interview you.

Candidates who meet certain criteria are given priority when we shortlist. See our priority status page for details.

Join a supportive, forward-thinking team where flexible working and professional development are genuinely prioritised. This role offers a unique opportunity to work across education, health and social care, giving you varied, meaningful work and the chance to shape better outcomes for children and young people.

We offer a diverse range of benefits to help and support you during your employment. More information can be found on our benefits page.

Vocational Training through Apprenticeships is now available to our staff, ranging from entry level to degree level qualifications. You can talk to the hiring manager and the apprenticeship team about what qualifications would be relevant to you and this job role, and if it is possible to support you in apprenticeship training.

For an informal discussion about this opportunity contact Jane Flock, Strategic Lead - Joint Commissioning Team at [email protected] to request a MS teams call or phone call.

The best thing about working here is that everyone’s really supportive and you always get the opportunity to develop your qualifications. Lesley, Personal Assistant

Additional Information

This post is subject to an Enhanced DBS check or Enhanced check for Regulated Activity with the Disclosure & Barring Services (previously the Criminal Records Bureau). For further information about what is required in this process please go to https://www.gov.uk/dbs-check-applicant-criminal-record. Please note that we require evidence of an overseas police check if you have lived or worked abroad.

Your starting salary will be pro rata if the above position is part-time or term-time only.

If you require sponsorship to work in the UK please let the hiring manager know this in your application so we can check eligibility for sponsorship for the role. For further information please go to https://www.gov.uk/browse/visas-immigration/work-visas

If you require any reasonable adjustments, due to disability, to enable you to participate fully in the process please contact the hiring manager on the contact details above.