Contract Manager

ManpowerGroup Talent Solutions; Leopoldsburg; On-site; EUR 90,000 - 120,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Social security contributions

Annual leave entitlement

Public holiday entitlement x 10 days

Commuting cost reimbursement

End-of-year bonus (13th month)

Company car or mobility budget

Company phone and laptop

Home-working allowances

Job summary

Babcock International, through Manpower's support, seeks a Contract Manager for the Belgian Land Forces Simulation Centre (SIMCEN) near Leopoldsburg, Belgium. You will lead the contract delivery across mobilisation to delivery, overseeing governance, risk, and performance while engaging senior customers.

Fluency in Dutch and CEFR B2 English/French, eligibility for Belgian SECRET clearance, and experience in defence or simulation sectors are required.

Qualifications

• Extensive contract management experience on long-term contracts (≥24 months) and significant turnover.
• Strong governance, budgeting, and reporting capabilities.
• Proven stakeholder engagement at senior levels.

Responsibilities

• Lead contract delivery across transition, operation and exit phases.
• Manage executive-level customer relationships as primary contact.
• Drive governance, strategic decisions, and performance management.
• Oversee contract risks, opportunities, budgets and compliance.
• Lead and develop multidisciplinary teams to achieve operational excellence.

Skills

Contract management

Stakeholder management

Leadership

Governance

Budget management

Customer engagement

Team leadership

Strategic decision-making

Job description

Manpower is proud to be supporting Babcock with the identification and attraction of talent for a potential new programme in Belgium.

Lead critical defence capability delivery in Belgium and help create a safe and secure world

At Babcock, we're working to create a safe and secure world, together. If you join us, you can play your part as a Contract Manager at the Belgian Land Forces Simulation Centre (SIMCEN), near Leopoldsburg, Belgium.

This is a rare opportunity to take on a highly influential leadership role supporting a major defence training and simulation programme. You'll be responsible for driving contract performance, leading customer engagement, and ensuring successful delivery across the full contract lifecycle. Working at the forefront of defence, engineering and technology, you'll help enable critical military capability while developing your own leadership and strategic management expertise within a globally recognised organisation.

The Role

As a Contract Manager, you will provide executive leadership and governance across a strategically important defence contract, ensuring outstanding service delivery and strong customer relationships. Acting as the senior interface between Babcock and the customer, you'll oversee operational performance, commercial governance, risk management, and continuous improvement initiatives.

This is an exciting opportunity to shape programme success from mobilisation through delivery and beyond, working alongside highly skilled teams supporting defence capability.

Full-time position.

Location: Belgian Land Forces Simulation Centre (SIMCEN), Leopoldsburg, Belgium.

Travel to other Babcock and customer sites will be expected.

Day-to-day you'll be required to:

• Leading contract delivery across transition, operational and exit phases.
• Managing executive-level customer relationships as the primary point of contact.
• Driving strategic decision-making, governance, and performance management activities.
• Overseeing contract risks, opportunities, budgets and commercial compliance.
• Leading and developing multidisciplinary teams to achieve operational excellence.

Essential experience of the Contract Manager:

• Demonstrable contract management experience on contracts exceeding 24 months in duration and €1 million turnover.
• Experience leading complex programmes, projects or capability delivery activities.
• Strong budget management, commercial governance and reporting experience.
• Proven stakeholder management and customer engagement skills at a senior level.
• Experience leading and managing teams.

Qualifications

• Fluency in Dutch.
• French and English language proficiency at CEFR B2 level or above.
• Eligibility to obtain and maintain Belgian SECRET security clearance.
• Additional qualifications in contract management, programme management, project management or business leadership.
• Experience within defence, military training, simulation, engineering or government sectors.

What We Offer

• Social security contributions
• Statutory annual leave entitlement
• Public holiday entitlement x 10 days per year
• Reimbursement of commuting costs (extent depends on transport mode and applicable collective agreements)
• End-of-year bonus / 13th month payment
• Company car or mobility budget
• Company mobile phone and laptop
• Home-working allowances

In addition, employees based in Belgium may benefit from a competitive package that can include meal vouchers, hospitalisation insurance, group pension insurance, commuting support, company mobile phone and laptop, and company car or mobility budget.

Babcock International

We’re Babcock — a global FTSE 100 organisation with over 29,000 people working together to make a difference. Here, you’ll be part of something bigger. From initial design to final decommissioning, your work will contribute to products and services that are essential to security and public infrastructure. Together, we’re building a future that lasts — not just through the impact we make, but through meaningful careers that respect your work-life balance.

We call that lifetime engineering. Join us and see how far we can go, together.