Senior Commercial Manager – Marine & Power Projects

Serve Talent; Ipswich; On-site; GBP 55,000 - 75,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Workplace pension

Life assurance / death in service

Discretionary sick pay

Free on-site parking

Employee Assistance Programme

Modern, team-focused environment

Charity and company events

Job summary

Serve Talent is seeking a Commercial Manager in Ipswich to lead the commercial and contractual elements of bespoke marine and industrial power generation projects from tender through delivery. You will protect margins, cash flow and contract positions while coordinating with Sales, Engineering, Projects, Procurement, Operations and Finance.

The role demands strong negotiation and practical, hands-on ownership of issues, with experience across engineering or capital equipment contracts.

Qualifications

• Experience in engineering, manufacturing, marine, energy or capital equipment contracts.
• Experience with project-based contracts, margin control and cash management.
• Strong understanding of contractual risk, scope changes, variations and claims.
• Confident negotiation and communication skills with the ability to influence colleagues.
• Strong commercial judgement and a practical hands-on approach to issue ownership.

Responsibilities

• Own and maintain the sales forecast and align with business priorities.
• Control stock levels balancing availability, working capital and obsolescence risk.
• Validate pricing, margins, payment profiles, assumptions and commercial risks.
• Negotiate terms with customers, suppliers and sub-contractors within authority limits.
• Support a clear commercial handover from sales to project delivery.
• Monitor project margin, cash flow, variations, claims, invoicing and forecast outcomes.
• Complete post-project analysis and capture lessons learned and improvements.
• Ensure contractual notices, records and approvals are complete and issued on time.
• Identify and escalate material risks and help resolve disputes.
• Provide concise commercial reporting to the MD and leadership team.
• Maintain proportionate commercial controls suited to the business size.

Skills

Commercial management

Contracts management

Tender pricing

Negotiation

Commercial reporting

Risk management

Stakeholder communication

Cross-functional collaboration

Industry knowledge

Education

Commercial/Legal/Engineering qualification

Job description

Serve Talent is seeking a Commercial Manager in Ipswich to lead the commercial and contractual elements of bespoke marine and industrial power generation projects from tender through delivery. You will protect margins, cash flow and contract positions while coordinating with Sales, Engineering, Projects, Procurement, Operations and Finance.

The role demands strong negotiation and practical, hands-on ownership of issues, with experience across engineering or capital equipment contracts.