Commercial Lead​/Category Manager – Grants, Revenue & Innovative Programmes; GRIP

Overview

Department: Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA)

Role

Title:

Commercial Lead / Category Manager – Grants, Revenue & Innovative Programmes (GRIP)

Location: York, London, Peterborough, Bristol, Reading, Birmingham, Newcastle

At Defra, we are tackling some of the most important challenges of our time. From driving climate resilience to restoring nature, our work shapes the environment, economy and communities across the UK. As part of this mission, our Commercial Directorate plays a central role in designing, securing and shaping the innovative funding and commercial mechanisms that make this possible.

This is an exciting opportunity for an ambitious commercial professional to work on complex, meaningful challenges with real-world impact, while shaping how commercial principles influence environmental delivery across government.

This is a leadership and delivery role within Defra’s Commercial Directorate, offering the opportunity to work on some of the department’s most technically complex and strategically innovative programmes. As a Commercial Lead, you will shape, design and deliver commercial approaches that sit at the frontier of environmental policy, funding and new market creation.

• Risk, Governance & Accountability
• Stakeholder & Partnership Engagement
• Leadership & Team Development
• Financial Scheme of Delegation

• Ensure the compliant delivery of contracts, grants, and frameworks in line with the Procurement Act 2023, the Government Grants Standards, and the Blended Finance Toolkit.
• Responsible for the development and adoption of fit for purpose commercial policies, procedures, practices and tools to support excellent procurement and grants giving across the business.
• Responsible for the application of the principles defined within the commercial DNA. Ensure best practice SRM and market analysis deliver corporate outcomes.
• Each Commercial Lead will work with customers within their portfolio to ensure their pipeline requirements are met and will work in conjunction with other programme leads to manage the customer relationship.

Please submit an application via Civil Service Jobs. A detailed candidate pack is also available. Closing date is before 11:55 pm on Sunday 15th March 2026