Contract Officer

Are you highly organised and have an eye for detail? Would you like a job that ensures services for children and young people are effective? We're looking for a permanent and full time Contract Officer.

What’s in it for you

You’ll find a variety of exciting challenges, in a workplace that inspires you to grow professionally and personally. You’ll work with talented individuals who openly support and develop each other. Our teams go out of their way to offer knowledge, time, and practical support.

The Children’s Commissioning Service manage a diverse range of contracts that make a difference to the children and young people in Dorset that need our services the most. It’s a dynamic and fast paced service, that’s responsive to needs.  So you’ll have a lot of variety in your work.

You’ll receive a thorough induction and contract management training. It’s someone who is highly organised and has good people skills that’s most important to us when you start.

What you can expect to be doing:

The purpose of this role is to manage our contract arrangements with providers commissioned to deliver services for children, young people and their families. You’ll be setting up the contracts and ensuring our providers comply with our requirements.

Here’s just a few areas of work our team manage contracts for:

• short breaks for disabled children
• supporting progress and inclusion (in education)
• support for vulnerable children in police custody
• supporting children in care
• speech and language therapy

  We also manage contracts that support the children’s workforce:

• learning and development
• digital and IT solutions

You will be:

• evaluating tenders
• due diligence checking
• setting up new contracts
• undertaking contract monitoring arrangements to measure performance
• meeting with providers, including at sites they deliver services to children from
• ensuring providers meet the requirements set out in their contracts
• request, collate and analyse reports
• deal with or escalate contract performance issues

Read what the people you’ll be working with say about their work:

“I am proud to be an employee of Dorset Council! The work I do as a Contracts Officer in Childrens Services is diverse and interesting. The variety of work is challenging but having a team of colleagues who are always there to help makes it easy. We have a very friendly, supportive, hardworking  team who get things done. There is diversity, inclusiveness and wonderful camaraderie among us. From the start of my role the level of trust and responsibility placed on me enabled me to grow confident about my role. The flexibility offered to do our work gives me the much needed work/life balance. The learning opportunities are endless and the encouragement for continuous development is a great plus working here! Knowing that I too am able to contribute to giving children in Dorset the best start in life, gives me great pleasure”.

(Maheshi, Contract Officer)

“Our team deals with many services that support children from social care, education and health care. There are a lot of opportunities to learn and progress.  Improvement ideas are always welcomed to make sure that we’re working with the right providers for the children in Dorset. We sometimes hear the impact of these services for the children. This shows the important role we are doing and this is very rewarding. To me, it is important to be part of a busy team who gives a warm welcome, likes new ideas and offers support when one reaches out, and this is the team which you can be part of”.

(Shinta, Contract Officer)

“I like the diversity of tasks when working across various contracts. Also looking at ways we can improve things and having the freedom to put them in place. There are always opportunities to learn new things, including the use of technology and understanding more about the vast number of services in Dorset for children. The best thing is working within a supportive team, all dedicated to improving outcomes for children”.

(Kristine, Contract Monitoring Officer)

Essential to the role are:

• strong organisational skills
• people skills

The ideal candidate will:

• have a relentless focus on ensuring that our contracts achieve the best possible outcomes for children and families in Dorset
• have high expectations of our providers and work with them to improve
• have the diplomatic and professional skills to raise issues when needed
• be able to communicate clearly
• have a meticulous eye for detail
• excellent organisational skills
• be tenacious
• lots of enthusiasm
• a positive can-do attitude
• objectivity and precision
• the ability to multi-task
• a friendly and approachable manner

You’ll be working in a supportive and enthusiastic team where everyone can input or play a part.

If you are interested in this role and have the qualities to be part of our team, please apply by sharing your experience, knowledge and transferable skills against the criteria in the job description and person specification.

Additional info

Depending on business needs, Hybrid working is an option; which means you can work from County Hall in Dorchester and from home.

You'll need to travel to other areas of Dorset e.g. for contract monitoring site visits and events.

At Dorset Council, we are working together to create a fairer, more prosperous, and more sustainable Dorset for everyone, now and in the future.

We: 

• provide essential services that support over 380,000 residents 
• work in partnership to make a real difference 
• value every role and the impact it has on our communities 
• support our employees to grow, develop, and thrive 

You will: 

• be part of a team that works together for a better Dorset 
• have access to a range of benefits and support 
• have access to range of training opportunities which will help with your personal development and career progression 

We are committed to building a diverse and inclusive organisation where different skills, perspectives, and backgrounds strengthen both our council and the communities we serve. 

We welcome applications from everyone and are proud to be a Disability Confident Employer. If you declare a disability and meet the essential criteria for the role, we will offer you an interview. We also want our recruitment process to be accessible. If you need any reasonable adjustments, just let us know on your application. 

This role is UK-based, and we will need to confirm your Right to Work as part of the appointment process. We use generic job descriptions and person specifications, so the job title in any attachments may differ from the advert. If needed, we will provide additional details in a context statement. 

If you’re passionate about making a difference, we’d love you to join us. 

Find out more about how to apply.