Commercial Contract Management Lead

Government Commercial Function; Greater London; On-site; GBP 45,000 - 60,000; Full time

Job summary

A UK government department is seeking experienced commercial contract managers to oversee high-value contracts and services in IT and Professional Services. The role involves leading contract management, negotiating terms, and ensuring stakeholder relationships are maintained. Candidates should have experience in commercial contracting, risk assessment, and team leadership. This position offers a unique opportunity for professional growth and impactful work within the government sector.

Benefits

Flexible working

Career Coaches

Access to complex commercial projects

Qualifications

• Experience in commercial contract management.
• Ability to negotiate contract terms.
• Demonstrable ability to identify and mitigate risks.

Responsibilities

• Oversee contract management for high-value contracts.
• Lead negotiations and manage risk effectively.
• Support the development of team members.

Skills

Contract management

Negotiation

Risk analysis

Stakeholder management

Team leadership

Job description

HM Revenue & Customs is the UK’s tax, payments and customs authority, and we have a vital purpose: we collect the money that pays for the UK’s public services, and help families and individuals with targeted financial support. To help us to this, we work with a large and diverse group of external suppliers, with whom we spend over £2bn annually. HMRC’s Commercial Directorate is essential to ensuring that this money is spent effectively.

We are looking to recruit two experienced commercial contract managers who will lead and deliver post-signature contract management for a portfolio of high-value contracts and services in our IT and Professional Services categories.

The contract management function at HMRC is mature and respected within Government. You would be joining this team at a time of change, as HMRC look to modernise and deliver against a refreshed set of strategic priorities through major transformational programmes of work. Our supply chain will continue to play a key role in this, and as a contract manager you and your team will be responsible for ensuring that we receive the best possible value from these relationships.

These roles offer interesting and challenging work alongside outstanding development opportunities within both HMRC and the wider Government Commercial Function.

We look forward to receiving your application.

Job description

Reporting to the Assistant Commercial Director, ensure suppliers and contracts are managed proactively to reduce risk and maximise value by:

• Being accountable for effective commercial contract management (both by managing contracts directly and by managing a small team of contract management professionals) of a number of assigned contracts, typically tier 1 and 2 (gold and silver) to deliver in-contract benefits/savings, manage risk and ensure quality of service
  
• Leading on in-life negotiations (including contract variations/extensions) to deliver business objectives and improve value/risk transfer
  
• Building and maintaining key stakeholder relationships
  
• Working closely with the IT Strategic Supplier Relationship Management (SSRM) team to drive value over and above the minimum levels set out in your contracts
  
• Employing best practice contract management strategies to protect HMRC from supplier failure and reputational damage

Contribute to the effective running of the Commercial Contract Management (CCM) team by:

• Being part of a small team of contract management professionals to manage a portfolio of contracts in accordance with HMRC and Cabinet Office best practice
• Working with and supporting peers across CCM to share and improve best practice approaches to contract management, and leading cross-team initiatives
• Maintaining effective relationships with colleagues across HMRC’s Commercial Directorate, particularly in the Pre-award team, to ensure full and effective management across the contract lifecycle. This will include involvement in developing good-quality contracts at the outset, and providing insight into lessons learned at contract end

Leading and developing our people by:

• Supporting personal and career development for team members
• Recognising achievement, and addressing unsatisfactory performance, attendance and behaviours
• Ensuring equality and diversity standards and employee wellbeing are championed within the team

Person specification

The successful candidate will:

• Maintain, operate and assure standard contract management policies, processes and systems which align to HMRC and GCO best practice
• Develop the team contract management plans to implement CCM strategies to maximise VFM and manage risk
• Ensure all contract management activities are carried out to the required frequency and depth, depending on contract segmentation (e.g. tracking contract compliance, contract change control, open book reviews, due diligence checks etc.)
• Work with key stakeholders to support them with developing their business strategies and in planning for timely exit/transition of existing contracts
• Ensure contracts deliver intended and additional benefits, leading continuous improvement, savings and value for money initiatives as appropriate
• Support business stakeholders in developing high-quality statements of work, with appropriate and innovative commercial models
• Undertake reporting and use of dashboards and key metrics in place for your area, including regular reporting to Cabinet Office and senior leaders, and speaking at programme governance boards
• Act as a key point of escalation to resolve critical contract or supplier issues, providing commercial guidance and support where requested
• Ensure a best practice approach to risk management, providing assurance that risks are identified, addressed and escalated as appropriate. For example, maintaining comprehensive contingency plans with appropriate supply chain mapping
• Ensure and assure supply chain assurance is embedded into working practices
• Work closely with the Strategic Supplier Relationship Management team to support and inform strategic supplier relationships, sharing insight and intelligence on the contract-level relationship to inform current or future commercial strategies and utilise senior commercial relationships to support contract strategies and negotiations
• Work with Pre-award (Category and Sourcing) team members to develop new contracts and maintain a pipeline of opportunities and anticipate downstream contract expiry dates and ensure early involvement of CCM in specification and contract development

Technical skills

We’ll assess you against these technical skills during the selection process:

• Demonstrable ability to identify and analyse commercial risks and develop recommendations for mitigation and controls which take account of political, technical, legal and other challenges
• Experience of negotiating commercial terms and/or taking a robust commercial position with suppliers, in order to drive value for money and protect the buyer’s interests
• The ability to challenge senior stakeholder decisions, work under pressure, and deliver multiple projects within agreed timescales
• Proven experience of managing commercial teams, building capability through coaching, leadership in challenging circumstances, supporting staff to promote wellbeing and resilience and maintaining delivery
• Experience of implementing contract management strategies and processes for complex, strategic contracts in order to deliver intended benefits, mitigate risk and ensure provision of a quality service

Benefits

As a valued employee of the Government Commercial Organisation (GCO), you will have access to all the benefits the centre has to offer; including flexible working, generous benefits, Career Coaches, Mentors, L&D, a Commercial College, active talent management and, most importantly, access to commercial projects that will far exceed the scale and complexity on offer elsewhere in the UK.

For existing Civil Servants: For full details of the impact on any move across the civil service on your existing terms and conditions, please read the candidate pack. Please note that any move across the Civil Service may have implications on your ability to continue to claim childcare vouchers.

Kindly refer to the following link for the GCF Rewards and benefits page.

https://www.civil-service-careers.gov.uk/gcf-benefits/

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