Commercial Assurance Business Partner - 14 month FTC (we have office locations in Cambridge, Leeds & London)

Genomics England partners with the NHS to provide whole genome sequencing diagnostics. We also equip researchers to find the causes of disease and develop new treatments – with patients and participants at the heart of it all.

Our mission is to continue refining, scaling, and evolving our ability to enable others to deliver genomic healthcare and conduct genomic research.

We are accelerating our impact and working with patients, doctors, scientists, government and industry to improve genomic testing, and help researchers access the health data and technology they need to make new medical discoveries and create more effective, targeted medicines for everybody.

We are seeking a Commercial Business Assurance Partner to join our wider Commercial Procurement team. The main focus of the role will be drafting project business cases in line with Government guidance to inform investment decisions.

The role also supports the management of commercial assurance and service development across the procurement life cycle, partnering with colleagues, stakeholders, and external assurance bodies.

You will also collaborate with the wider team, improving processes, systems, and frameworks to deliver commercial excellence.

This role will be predominantly focused on business case writing and commercial assurance, with service development opportunities fluctuating depending on business need, and volumes of work. 

Please note this is a fixed term contract for 14 months.

Everyday responsibilities include:

• Lead the production, management, and monitoring of project business cases related to spend activities, ensuring compliance with internal and external standards.
• Collaborate with stakeholders at all levels to define detailed requirements and prepare robust inputs for project business cases and support subsequent commercial activities.
• Produce high-quality written and numerical content for project business cases and requirements documentation, supporting all stages of the commercial life cycle.
• Provide expert advice and guidance on how each project business case aligns with wider service, programme, and organisational objectives.
• Partner with colleagues across Genomics England to maximise the value and impact of high-quality Commercial Assurance, ensuring alignment with organisational priorities.
• Manage effective relationships with external approval bodies and stakeholders, ensuring smooth and timely spend approval processes.
• Embed commercial governance and assurance within planning and decision-making processes, enabling stakeholder to act as informed service users.
• Support the continuous development of the commercial procurement service, improving processes, systems, and standards to enhance accessibility and performance.

Skills and experience for success

• Strong written communication skills, including excellent grammar, persuasive writing, and the ability to convey complex ideas clearly and effectively in plain English.
• Experience of drafting and developing business cases in public sector environments; preparing formal funding requests, justifications for expenditure, and alignment with strategic objectives.
• Good understanding of internal and external assurance and approval processes, ensuring compliance with governance requirements, financial controls, and stakeholder review procedures.
• Proven ability to facilitate and support stakeholders in defining requirements, capturing business needs, and translating them into clear, actionable specifications that guide project delivery.
• Experience of improving business policies, processes and procedures.

Prince 2 or equivalent project management qualification desirable.

Salary from: £63,050

Application process:

Please provide a brief statement of the following:

Your experience with business cases and the approval process.

Why you are interested in this role? 

Closing date for applications: Wednesday 5th November

Being an integral part of such a meaningful mission is extremely rewarding in itself, but in order to support our people, we’re continually improving our benefits package. We pride ourselves on investing in our people and supporting them to achieve their career goals, as well as offering a benefits package including: 

• Generous Leave: 30 days’ holiday plus bank holidays, additional leave for long service, and the option to apply for up to 30 days of remote working abroad annually (approval required).
• Family-Friendly: Blended working arrangements, flexible working, enhanced maternity, paternity and shared parental leave benefits.
• Pension & Financial: Defined contribution pension (Genomics England double-matches up to 10%, however you can contribute more if you wish), Life Assurance (3x salary), and a Give As You Earn scheme.
• Learning & Development: Individual learning budgets, support for training and certifications, and reimbursement for one annual professional subscription (approval required).
• Recognition & Rewards: Employee recognition programme and referral scheme.
• Health & Wellbeing: Subsidised gym membership, a free Headspace account, and access to an Employee Assistance Programme, eye tests, flu jabs.

Equal opportunities and our commitment to a diverse and inclusive workplace 

Genomics England is actively committed to providing and supporting an inclusive environment that promotes equity, diversity and inclusion best practice both within our community and in any other area where we have influence. We are proud of our diverse community where everyone can come to work and feel welcomed and treated with respect regardless of any disability, ethnicity, gender, gender identity, religion, sexual orientation, or social background. 

Genomics England’s policies of non-discrimination and equity and will be applied fairly to all people, regardless of age, disability, gender identity or reassignment, marital or civil partnership status, being pregnant or recently becoming a parent, race, religion or beliefs, sex or sexual orientation, length of service, whether full or part-time or employed under a permanent or a fixed-term contract or any other relevant factor.  

Genomics England does not tolerate any form of discrimination, harassment, victimisation or bullying at work. Such behaviour is contrary to our virtues, undermines our mission and core values and diminishes the dignity, respect and integrity of all parties.  Our People policies outline our commitment to inclusivity. 

We aim to remove barriers in our recruitment processes and to be flexible with our interview processes. Should you require any adjustments that may help you to fully participate in the recruitment process, we encourage you to discuss this with us. 

Blended working model

Genomics England operates a blended working model as we know our people appreciate the flexibility that hybrid working can bring. We expect most people to come into the office a minimum of 2 times each month. However, this will vary according to role and will be agreed with your team leader. There is no expectation that people will return to the office full time unless they want to, however, some of our roles require full time on site attendance e.g., lab teams, reception team. 

Our teams and squads have, and will continue to reflect on what works best for them to work together successfully and have the freedom to design working patterns to suit, beyond the minimum. Our office locations are: Canary Wharf, Cambridge and Leeds.

Onboarding background checks

As part of our recruitment process, all successful candidates are subject to a Standard Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check.  We therefore require applicants to disclose any previous offences at point of application, as some unspent convictions may mean we are unable to proceed with your application due to the nature of our work in healthcare.