Senior Commercial Manager

Cowi; York and North Yorkshire; Hybrid; GBP 75,000 - 110,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Hybrid working

Private health care

Group personal pension

Life assurance

Maternity Leave benefits

Paternity Leave

Cycle-to-work

Electric vehicle lease

Job summary

COWI is seeking a Senior Commercial Manager to provide senior commercial leadership across projects, bids and portfolios. You’ll lead pre-contract strategy, contract review and negotiation, risk management and post-contract administration to support delivery from opportunity through close-out.

You’ll translate terms into practical implications, challenge commercial positions, and collaborate with Legal, Finance and technical teams to strengthen governance and capability.

Qualifications

• Extensive pre-contract experience including procurement strategy and bid development.
• Strong ability to identify, allocate and mitigate commercial risks.
• Experience with NEC3 and NEC4 contract terms and standard forms.
• Ability to translate contract terms into practical implications for programme and delivery.
• Proven track record in bid support, tender evaluation and contract negotiation.

Responsibilities

• Manage pre-contract and bid inputs incl. ITTs, pricing, and procurement strategies.
• Critically review contracts to identify commercial and delivery risks at project and portfolio level.
• Advise on risk allocation, departures, and commercial strategy for bids and projects.
• Develop procurement and contracting strategies aligned with client objectives and risk appetite.
• Draft, review and negotiate consultancy and sub-consultancy agreements and change documents.
• Lead or support contract negotiations with clients and supply chain partners.
• Assist with tender documentation and contract data, and support evaluation through to award.
• Provide post-contract commercial management: changes, notices, payments, and disputes.
• Establish contract mobilisation and controls with clear risk ownership and deliverables.
• Act as trusted adviser to clients, PMs, finance and legal, supporting governance and capability development.

Skills

NEC3/NEC4 expertise

Contract strategy

Risk management

Negotiation

Pre-contract and bid leadership

Contract review and administration

Education

Professional body membership (RICS, CICES, CIArb, APM or CIOB)

Tools

NEC3/NEC4 accreditation

FIDIC familiarity

Job description

Senior Commercial Manager

Glasgow, London, York, Derby or Bristol

Permanent

Office/Home Hybrid Working

Do you want to make a difference as a key member of our commercial team? Can you provide expertise on contract strategy, risk and negotiation? Are you experienced with NEC 3 and NEC 4 contracts? Then, read on. This could be the perfect opportunity for you

Create Solutions that will enable a better tomorrow

To provide senior commercial and contractual leadership across our projects, bids and portfolios, we are looking for a Senior Commercial Manager to join us. Working on pre-contract strategy, contract review and negotiation, contractual risk management and post-contract administration, you’ll support project and business leadership in identifying, understanding and managing contractual and commercial risk from opportunity identification and bid stage through contract award, delivery and close-out.

The selected candidate will be expected to constructively question contractual positions, translating contract terms into practical programme, commercial and delivery implications and ensuring that significant risks are understood, appropriately allocated and effectively managed.

Your key responsibilities will be:

• Manage commercial and contractual inputs during pre-contract and bid stages, including review of ITTs, proposed contract terms, scopes, pricing, commercial mechanism, and procurement strategies.
• Review and critically assess contracts to identify commercial, contractual, programme liabilities and delivery risks including their potential impact at project and portfolio level.
• Advise bid and project teams on appropriate risk allocation, qualifications, departures, assumptions and commercial strategy.
• Develop and advise on procurement and contracting strategies, including route to market, packaging, risk allocation and commercial models appropriate to the client’s objectives and risk appetite.
• Draft, review and negotiate consultancy and sub consultancy agreements, amendments, and other contractual documentation across standard forms of contracts, frameworks and bespoke agreements.
• Lead or support contract negotiations with clients, partners and supply chain organisations, escalating material risks where appropriate.
• Assist with preparation of tender and contract documentations, including scope, pricing documents, contract data, schedules, commercial requirements, and support tender evaluation, clarification and negotiation through to contract award.
• Provide post-contract commercial and contractual management, including change control, variations, notices, early warnings, payment, programme, interfaces, claims, disputes and contractual correspondences.
• Establish effective contract mobilisation and controls, ensuring contractual obligations, deliverables, notices, key dates, commercial controls and risk ownership are understood and managed throughout delivery.
• Act as a trusted commercial and contractual adviser to clients, project managers, business leadership, working closely with Legal, Finance and technical teams, and contributing to commercial governance, best practice and capability development.

Your skills. Our team. Together we design the future.

The first step to success in this role is that you are eager to collaborate with the people around you, whether they are colleagues, partners, or customers. Developing ties with others is something you do by acting respectfully and delivering on your promises. And you never get set in your ways but keep exploring new insights and ways to improve.

On top of that, you’ll have:

• Significant experience in a Senior Contracts Manager, Senior Commercial Manager or comparable role within an engineering consultancy, infrastructure, construction or a related environment.
• Extensive pre-contract experience, including procurement, contract review, risk identification, drafting and development of contractual and commercial strategies.
• Demonstrated practical experience with NEC3 and NEC4, along with familiarity with FIDIC or other standard forms, as well as the ability to interpret contract terms and assess their commercial and operational implications.
• Ability to interrogate scope, programme, interfaces, deliverables, and commercial mechanisms, and understand how these interact with contractual obligations, risk allocation and project delivery.
• Demonstrable experience supporting bids, tenders and major pursuits, including commercial and contractual risk reviews, procurement strategy and tender / contract documentation.
• Substantial post-contract management experience, including change, contractual notices, commercial risk management and dispute avoidance / resolution.
• Ability to assess and question commercial and contractual risk, distinguishing between risk and matters requiring mitigation, qualification, negotiation, or escalation, including consideration of wider programme or portfolio exposure.
• Effective stakeholder and advisory capability, with confidence to constructively query Project Managers, technical teams, bid teams, clients and senior stakeholders and communicate complex contractual matters clearly.
• Relevant professional qualifications or equivalent experience, with membership of an appropriate professional body (e.g. RICS, CICES, CIArb, APM or CIOB) desirable. NEC3, NEC4 and FIDIC accreditation or formal training.

A place to work and so much more

At COWI, we work together with our customers to shape a sustainable and liveable world. We do it by applying our knowledge and curiosity – and sometimes even our courage – to create the solutions the world needs today to enable a better tomorrow. We support our customers’s transition towards increased sustainability. We strive to lead by example by embedding environmental management, social responsibility and good governance into our business practices and the options we provide to our customers.

We value differences and development and cultivate an environment of belonging and having fun. Because that is what brings out the best in you, at work and at home.

With offices primarily located in the Nordic region, the UK, North America and India, we are currently more than 7,500 people who bring their expertise in engineering, architecture, energy and environment into play.

What we also offer:

To us, a fair reward is more than a competitive salary. We want to take care of our people professionally and personally as well.

Some of our benefits include:

• 28days' holidayplus all UKbank and public holidays
• Formalised development plans and yearly promotion opportunities
• Private health care, for you and a contribution from you for your immediate dependents
• Flexible and hybrid working conditions
• Annual subscription fees paid for your membership of two Professional Institutions
• Group personal pension scheme – salary exchange
• Life assurance
• Maternity Leave: 1-20weeks full pay, 21-26 weeks half pay, 27-39Statutory (SMP) 40-52 weeks unpaid (eligibility criteria will apply)
• Paternity Leave: 12 weeks full pay (eligibility criteria will apply)

Optional benefits include:

• Cycle-to-work scheme
• Electric vehicle lease
• Corporate gym membership
• Annual Rail card (available for under 30s)

Got more questions?

If you have any unanswered questions about the role or what we have to offer, please reach out to Ciaran Gilfedder at [e-mail]. Get to know us even better at our website, www.cowi.com, where you can learn more about our projects, our strategy, what we want to achieve and what life is like at COWI.

Equal opportunity employer

COWI provides equal employment opportunities (EEO) to all employees and applicants for employment without regard to ethnicity, colour, religion, gender, national origin, age or disability. This policy applies to all terms and conditions of employment, including recruiting, hiring, placement, promotion, termination, layoff, recall, transfer, leaves of absence, compensation, and training.