Contracts Manager

Crystal Air Ltd; Helsinki; Hybrid; EUR 70,000 - 110,000; Full time

Job summary

Crystal Air Ltd. seeks a Contracts Manager to lead HVAC installation projects from handover to close-out. You will translate designs into delivery plans and provide leadership to project teams and subcontractors across Europe.

You will drive commercial and safety performance, manage risks, and ensure timely, within-budget project delivery while maintaining strong client relationships.

Qualifications

• Significant experience managing HVAC installation projects through the full lifecycle.
• Strong leadership of project managers, site teams and subcontractors.
• Experience delivering complex construction projects across Europe.

Responsibilities

• Lead and coordinate project managers, site managers and subcontractors across multiple projects and locations.
• Translate contract scope into delivery plans, milestones and budgets.
• Manage procurement, risk, change-control and client communications.
• Ensure health and safety and ISO compliance across projects.

Skills

Contract management

People leadership

Project management

Education

Bachelor's degree in engineering or construction management

Tools

MS Project

ERP systems

Job description

Location

Ireland Finland with travel to project sites in Ireland and Europe ??

Contract type

Permanent full time

Travel

Regular travel and periods working in Europe are required

About Crystal Air

Crystal Air is an innovative, quality-driven business delivering HVAC installation, service and maintenance, heat-pump and specialist engineering solutions. We partner with leading product providers and support prestigious local and international clients across Ireland and Europe. This role offers access to senior decision makers, international project experience and the opportunity to grow with the company's ambitious development plans.

Role Purpose

The Contracts Manager is accountable for the safe, compliant, commercially successful and timely delivery of a portfolio of HVAC installation projects from contract handover through commissioning, final account and close-out. The role translates the agreed design, specification and commercial offer into a controlled delivery plan and provides clear leadership to project managers, site teams and subcontractors.

A central requirement of the role is strong people management. The Contracts Manager sets clear expectations, allocates resources, develops capability, addresses underperformance promptly and builds a collaborative, accountable and safety-led team culture. The role also protects Crystal Air's commercial position while maintaining trusted client, design-team, supplier and subcontractor relationships.

Key Responsibilities

1.People Leadership and Team Management

• Lead, motivate and coordinate project managers, site managers, supervisors, operatives and subcontractors across multiple projects and locations.
• Translate project requirements into clear individual and team objectives, responsibilities, priorities and delivery standards.
• Plan workforce requirements across the project portfolio, balancing competence, availability, productivity, cost and programme needs.
• Delegate effectively while retaining clear accountability for project outcomes and ensuring that decisions are made at the appropriate level.
• Hold regular one-to-one, project and team review meetings to monitor delivery, remove barriers and maintain focus on agreed actions.
• Coach and develop team members, identify skills gaps and support technical, commercial, safety and leadership development.
• Provide timely, constructive feedback; recognise strong performance and address conduct, capability or performance concerns promptly and fairly.
• Manage conflict and competing priorities constructively, promoting collaboration across Contracts, Sales, Engineering, Technical Support, HSEQ, Procurement and Finance.
• Create an inclusive environment in which employees raise risks, mistakes and improvement ideas early and are treated with professionalism and respect.
• Support recruitment, selection, induction, probation and succession planning for project delivery roles.

2.Contract Handover and Project Mobilisation

• Lead a structured handover from Sales and Estimating, confirming the agreed scope, design intent, specifications, exclusions, budget, programme, contractual obligations and key risks.
• Challenge gaps, assumptions or inconsistencies before mobilisation and ensure that owners and deadlines are assigned for outstanding information.
• Establish and maintain the project contract folder, document register, risk register, procurement schedule, change-control process and reporting structure.
• Prepare the project delivery strategy, resource plan, programme, cost plan and communication arrangements.
• Ensure project teams understand the contract, scope boundaries, client requirements and escalation routes before work begins.

3.Programme and Delivery Management

• Develop and maintain realistic project programmes covering design approvals, procurement, site access, installation, testing, commissioning, training, handover and close-out.
• Monitor progress against key milestones and use early-warning indicators to identify potential delay, cost or resource pressures.
• Implement and communicate recovery plans where projects fall behind programme.
• Coordinate timely and accurate information between site teams, technical support, suppliers, subcontractors, clients and design teams.
• Attend project, coordination and weekly commissioning meetings and ensure that actions are recorded, owned and closed.
• Lead the delivery of off-site construction, prefabrication and first-of-kind initiatives where these improve safety, quality, cost or programme performance.

4.Commercial and Financial Management

• Manage each project against its approved budget and maintain accurate forecasts for labour, materials, equipment, subcontractors and final cost.
• Ensure material and equipment costs remain aligned with the pricing pack and approved project budget.
• Apply just-in-time purchasing principles where appropriate while protecting the programme from supply-chain risk.
• Identify, price and document variations promptly, assessing the effect on cost and programme.
• Ensure client approval and an appropriate purchase order or written instruction are obtained before additional work proceeds, except where an authorised escalation has been agreed.
• Prepare and agree monthly valuations, progress claims, sales invoices and variation accounts with the Accounts Department.
• Review and approve project invoices and expenses, ensuring that costs are valid, correctly allocated and supported.
• Maintain a clear commercial audit trail and elevate forecast losses, disputed accounts or unrecovered variations without delay.

5.Procurement and Supply Chain

• Identify equipment, materials and subcontract packages required to meet the design, specification and programme.
• Manage long-lead items from project handover, confirming technical requirements, pricing, approvals, manufacture, delivery and contingency arrangements.
• Obtain and validate special pricing with manufacturers and suppliers and identify any conditions or expiry dates attached to quotations.
• Evaluate alternative products or delivery solutions with the technical and design teams where supply, cost or compliance risks arise.
• Manage supplier and subcontractor performance against agreed safety, quality, cost, service and programme standards.

6.Technical Quality and Compliance

• Read, interpret and challenge technical specifications, construction drawings, schedules and contract documents.
• Ensure only current approved drawings and documents are issued to and used by the project team.
• Manage technical submittals, RFIs, drawing revisions, inspections, test plans, non-conformances and quality records.
• Ensure compliance with client material requirements, approved products, red-listed or restricted items, fire-stopping requirements and project-specific controls.
• Coordinate resolution of design, constructability and installation issues before they create rework or delay.
• Implement Crystal Air's ISO processes and ensure that project records remain complete, accurate and audit ready.

7.Health Safety and Wellbeing

• Provide visible health and safety leadership and make clear that unsafe work will not be accepted in order to protect cost or programme.
• Ensure suitable RAMS, permits, inductions, competence checks and site controls are in place, communicated and followed.
• Work closely with Crystal Air's HSEQ team and client safety advisers to resolve issues and implement corrective actions.
• Monitor working practices and subcontractor compliance through site engagement, inspections and review meetings.
• Stop work where necessary, investigate incidents or unsafe conditions and ensure learning is communicated and embedded.
• Monitor workload and team wellbeing, intervening where fatigue, excessive pressure or resourcing creates a safety or delivery risk.

8.Client and Stakeholder Management

• Act as a senior representative of Crystal Air in meetings with clients, design teams, contractors, consultants and supply-chain partners.
• Build trusted relationships through clear communication, professional judgement and reliable delivery of commitments.
• Manage expectations by communicating scope, programme, cost and technical implications early and accurately.
• Resolve issues constructively while protecting Crystal Air's contractual and commercial position.
• Provide concise project reporting to senior management, highlighting performance, risks, decisions required and corrective actions.

9.Systems Reporting and Continuous Improvement

• Maintain accurate and timely information within Crystal Air's project and database management systems.
• Use project data to monitor programme, labour productivity, cost, cash flow, quality, safety and subcontractor performance.
• Complete project reviews and lessons-learned discussions and translate learning into improved processes, templates and delivery standards.
• Promote consistent ways of working across projects and share knowledge, technical insight and effective practices with colleagues.
• Undertake other reasonable project or business improvement responsibilities consistent with the seniority of the role.

Key Working Relationships

• Internal: Sales, Estimating, Engineering, Technical Support, Project Management, Site Operations, HSEQ, Procurement, Finance and senior leadership.
• External: clients, design teams, consultants, main contractors, client safety advisers, manufacturers, suppliers, subcontractors and regulatory or inspection bodies.

Qualifications and Experience

• Significant experience managing HVAC installation projects through the full project lifecycle.
• Demonstrated experience leading employees, project teams and subcontractors, including setting expectations, coaching, delegation and performance management.
• Experience delivering complex construction projects, ideally within datacentre, mission-critical or similarly controlled environments.
• Strong commercial experience, including budget control, forecasting, procurement, variations, valuations and progress claims.
• Ability to read and interpret technical specifications, construction drawings, schedules and contract documentation.
• Practical knowledge of RAMS, site safety controls, quality processes, material compliance and fire stopping.
• Strong IT capability and experience using project planning, document management, reporting and database systems.
• Excellent written and spoken English, with the confidence to represent the company at senior client and design-team meetings.
• Ability to manage multiple projects and priorities under demanding deadlines.
• Willingness and practical ability to travel and work in Europe as required.
• Relevant qualification in mechanical engineering, building services, construction management, project management or a related discipline.
• Formal project-management, people-management, health and safety or commercial-management training.
• Experience of ISO-certified management systems and formal project audits.
• Experience with off-site manufacture, prefabrication or first-of-kind delivery models.
• Experience delivering projects in more than one European jurisdiction.

Core Competencies - Expected Behaviour

People leadership

Builds capable, accountable teams; adapts leadership style; gives clear feedback; manages performance and develops others.

Commercial judgement

Understands the financial consequences of decisions and protects margin, cash flow and contractual entitlement.

Planning and control

Converts complex requirements into clear programmes, priorities, owners and measurable delivery actions.

Technical credibility

Understands HVAC delivery, drawings, specifications, compliance requirements and constructability risks.

Safety leadership

Sets visible standards, challenges unsafe behaviour and ensures that controls are effective in practice.

Client management

Communicates difficult messages clearly, manages expectations and sustains trusted relationships.

Decision making

Assess risk, consults appropriately and takes timely ownership of decisions and outcomes.

Connects functions and disciplines, resolves competing priorities and promotes shared accountability.

Resilience and adaptability

Maintains judgement under pressure and works effectively across sites, countries and changing project demands.

Learns from project performance and embeds better, more consistent ways of working.

Measures of Success

• Projects delivered safely and in compliance with client, statutory, technical and ISO requirements.
• Achievement of programme milestones and effective recovery of emerging delays.
• Project margin, cost forecasting, variation recovery, valuation accuracy and cash-flow performance.
• Labour productivity, resource utilisation and subcontractor performance.
• Quality of project documentation, commissioning, handover and close-out.
• Client satisfaction, repeat business and effective resolution of project issues.
• Employee engagement, capability development, retention and timely management of underperformance.
• Consistent use of lessons learned and measurable project-delivery improvements.

General

This job description describes the principal responsibilities of the role and is not intended to be exhaustive. Responsibilities may develop in line with business and project requirements. Any material change will be discussed with the role holder.