Senior Contract Manager

Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government; Wolverhampton; On-site; GBP 54,000 - 70,000; Full time

Job summary

An established industry player is seeking a Senior Contract Manager to lead contract management activities within a dynamic team. This pivotal role involves overseeing high-value contracts, ensuring compliance with legal requirements, and optimizing performance. The ideal candidate will possess strong commercial acumen and a knack for navigating complex environments. Join a forward-thinking organization that values diversity and offers flexible working options, as well as opportunities for professional development. If you're ready to take on a challenging yet rewarding position, this is the opportunity for you.

Benefits

Flexible working options

Civil Service pension with employer contribution

Learning and development tailored to your role

Culture encouraging inclusion and diversity

Qualifications

• Minimum CMCP accreditation at Practitioner level or willingness to obtain.
• Strong contract literacy and knowledge of public sector procurement.

Responsibilities

• Manage the Elections Directorate contract portfolio and oversee compliance.
• Collaborate with internal stakeholders to align contract management activities.

Skills

Contract Management

Commercial Acumen

Stakeholder Management

Risk Management

Negotiation Skills

Education

Contract Management Capability Programme (CMCP)

Job description

Darlington, Leeds, Manchester, Wolverhampton

Job Summary

Do you have the ability to handle periods of change and lead through periods of ambiguity?

Do you enjoy working in a transformational environment?

Are you able to present complex data in a clear and concise way to different stakeholders?

If so, we have an exciting opportunity for a Senior Contract Manager to join our team at the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) and we'd love to hear from you!

We are looking for an experienced and skilled contract management professional.

You will play a pivotal role, working with our current contract manager, in the management of the Divisions contracts as well as setting the strategy and plan for our future contractual arrangements.

You will be responsible for ensuring our contractual activities are managed in accordance with legal requirements and best practice.

You will seek to optimise our opportunities as well as manage, monitor and report our performance and risks ensuring appropriate activities are undertaken and risks are properly managed.

You will be part of a small friendly team which provides direct assurance and guidance to the senior leadership team and wider Directorate and Department of the smooth operation of our contractual activities.

Our Directorate manages a number of contracts to help deliver an ambitious programme and continue our business as usual. This includes some high value digital contracts as well as supporting contractual arrangements for other areas of work such as policy and research.

You will be expected to work closely with our digital operations teams and support them with their contracts and subscriptions.

This will include ensuring there is join up and consistency across the teams that support and facilitates an effective way of working. Your focus will be the management of the Directorates silver (and above) tiered contracts.

You will work in conjunction with your SEO and across our division with both policy and digital teams. You will also be expected to work closely with central commercial teams and so will require the post holder to have commercial acumen and an understanding of government commercial processes.

Job Description

As the Senior Contract Manager your responsibilities will include:

• Manage the Elections Directorate (ED) contract portfolio with an SEO contract manager who will be your direct report.
• Oversee Elections commercial governance and reporting processes to ensure compliance and effective contract management.
• Work with the SRO and senior stakeholders to develop, implement and regularly review the directorate’s Contract and Commercial strategy.
• Contribute to the commercial case within the wider ED business cases as and when required using the appropriate commercial guidance.
• Prepare for contract commencement, ensuring all necessary arrangements and documentation are in place.
• Justify and control contract changes, ensuring that all changes are properly evaluated, approved, and implemented.
• Support the SEO Contract Manager with identifying and managing risks throughout the contract lifecycle, implementing mitigation strategies to minimize potential impact.
• Define transition plans, including those for early contract termination, to ensure smooth transitions and minimize disruption.
• Ensure your team has all the contract documentation in place and is accurately stored in the event of an audit. Ensure all documentation is readily accessible for regular checks from the Commercial Contract Management Lead.
• Manage disputes effectively, seeking timely and cost-effective resolutions.
• Evaluate suppliers’ performance against specific terms and conditions, ensuring delivery of strategic outcomes and high contract performance.
• Collaborate with internal stakeholders to ensure alignment of contract management activities with business objectives.
  
  

As The Senior Contract Manager Your Responsibilities Will Include:

• Manage the Elections Directorate (ED) contract portfolio with an SEO contract manager who will be your direct report.
• Oversee Elections commercial governance and reporting processes to ensure compliance and effective contract management.
• Work with the SRO and senior stakeholders to develop, implement and regularly review the directorate’s Contract and Commercial strategy.
• Contribute to the commercial case within the wider ED business cases as and when required using the appropriate commercial guidance.
• Prepare for contract commencement, ensuring all necessary arrangements and documentation are in place.
• Justify and control contract changes, ensuring that all changes are properly evaluated, approved, and implemented.
• Support the SEO Contract Manager with identifying and managing risks throughout the contract lifecycle, implementing mitigation strategies to minimize potential impact.
• Define transition plans, including those for early contract termination, to ensure smooth transitions and minimize disruption.
• Ensure your team has all the contract documentation in place and is accurately stored in the event of an audit. Ensure all documentation is readily accessible for regular checks from the Commercial Contract Management Lead.
• Manage disputes effectively, seeking timely and cost-effective resolutions.
• Evaluate suppliers’ performance against specific terms and conditions, ensuring delivery of strategic outcomes and high contract performance.
• Collaborate with internal stakeholders to ensure alignment of contract management activities with business objectives.
  
  

Person specification

• You must have a minimum Contract Management Capability Programme (CMCP) accreditation at Practitioner level, or a willingness to work towards it, starting within one month of taking on the role, with an aim to complete within nine months.
• You must demonstrate that you are confident in working in complex environments, dealing with ambiguity and be willing to collaborate across teams and professions to achieve the best outcome for the directorate.
• You should be able to demonstrate that you have excellent contract literacy and knowledge of relevant public sector procurement policy objectives and best practices.
• You should be able to demonstrate that you are able to identify and address your own learning needs to improve contract management capabilities; recognise team gaps, recommend steps to build contract management capability.
• You should demonstrate your ability to navigate complex environments successfully, encouraging and supporting stakeholders to do the same. This includes the ability to present technical issues and resolutions to senior stakeholders
• You should demonstrate, through your experience, your understanding of the importance of a contract manager’s involvement in early, pre-procurement market engagement activity and in the procurement phase of the contract management lifecycle.
• You should be comfortable being able to analyse and articulate requirements, benefits, progress and risks to stakeholders, responding effectively to challenge. You should be able to demonstrate influencing and negotiation skills to achieve contractual outcomes.
• You should be able to demonstrate that you can ensure internal and external compliance with requirements e.g. data security, anti-fraud measures and supply chain sustainability; including being able to challenge in instances of non-compliance.
• You should have experience in managing and building contract management capabilities with others, working in a supportive and collaborative environment. You will need to be comfortable being the ‘go to’ expert on contracts and comfortable offering options for ways forward.
• You must demonstrate your ability to respond to unforeseen challenges and changes that may arise right from the start, demonstrating your ability to adjust your ways of working to take a pragmatic approach, being able to pivot when new information arises.
  
  

Alongside your salary of £54,531, Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government contributes £15,797 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides.

• Learning and development tailored to your role.
• An environment with flexible working options.
• A culture encouraging inclusion and diversity.
• A Civil Service pension with an employer contribution of 28.97%.
  
  

Selection process details

As part of our pre-employment checking process, we will be using your CV to confirm your job history. Please note that by providing us with your CV you are consenting to us using the information enclosed as part of the checking process.

CV and Cover Letter Declaration

We recruit based on your knowledge and skills, and not background, gender or ethnicity - this is called name blind recruitment.

Please Remove References To Your:

• name/title
• educational institutions
• age
• gender
• email address
• postal address
• phone number
• nationality/immigration status
  
  

You will need to merge your CV and covering letter into one document. When submitting your application Applied will ask you to upload a CV, when doing this you should upload your merged document of your CV and covering letter.

Most of our campaigns utilise multiple assessors and so it is possible that your application would be viewed by different assessors.

At sift, through your CV and covering letter we will be assessing:

Experience

Technical

In Your CV And Covering Letter, Please Include:

Please provide a CV and Statement of Suitability (between 500 - 750 words). These should demonstrate how your skills and experience meet the key responsibilities and technical skills outlined in the person specification.

The interview will be of a blended nature consisting of the following success profiles elements:

Behaviours: Leadership, Managing A Quality Service

Experience: Experience questions will be based around the essential skills and criteria as listed in the job description

Technical: You will be asked to give a 5 minute presentation to the panel on a set topic. This will be followed by panel questions. Further details will be provided prior to interview.

In the full campaign we will test the below Success Profile Elements:

Experience

Technical

Behaviours

Please contact the vacancy manager if you have any questions about the role.

We do not consider direct CV applications – you must apply for this role via the application link on Civil Service Jobs.

Please note that near miss offers may be made at the lower grade to candidates who do not meet the grade criteria for this campaign.

Grade 7 salary

• The salary for this role is £54,531 (National).
• For existing civil servants, the usual policy on level transfer and promotion will apply and is non-negotiable. If you apply for a role that requires a transfer of location, for example if you are transferring from London to a National location, your salary will be adjusted in accordance with our policy on transfer between HQ pay ranges.
  
  

Please note that the average employer pension contribution is based upon the National minimum salary for this role. Should your agreed starting salary for this role be different, the average employer pension contribution will be calculated accordingly. If you are a Secondee, this will not apply as you will remain on your home organisation’s terms and conditions.

Benefits

Transfers across the Civil Service on or after 4 October 2018:

Any move to MHCLG from another employer will mean you can no longer access childcare vouchers. This includes moves between government departments. You may however be eligible for other government schemes, including Tax-Free Childcare. Determine your eligibility at https://www.childcarechoices.gov.uk.

For further information about the benefits available to MHCLG employees, please see the attached Candidate Pack.

Location

• Darlington*
• Leeds
• Manchester
• Wolverhampton
  
  

There may be opportunities for candidates to work flexibly depending on the business needs. This will be discussed with the vacancy manager on a case-by-case basis if you are successful for the role.

• Please note: The Darlington Economic Campus is a pioneering new cross-government hub which will bring together people across departments and public organisations to play an active role in the most important economic issues of the day. The work of the Campus will make a real difference to people both across the UK and internationally. There will be substantial career opportunities and exciting prospects - a career at the Campus means you will be working at the heart of Government, with access to the benefits and fantastic opportunities offered by the civil service.
  
  

For further information on the DEC, please take a look at the attached DEC candidate pack.

At present, a minimum of 60% of your working time will be spent in your contractual office location. Requirements to attend other office locations or off-site meetings will be counted towards this. You will be asked to express a location preference during the application process.

Sift and Interview dates

Sifting is envisaged to take place W/C 19 May 2025 with interview dates to be confirmed. All interviews are currently being held remotely via videocall.

Reserve List

In the event that we identify more appointable candidates than we currently have posts available, we will hold applicant details on a reserve list for a period of 6 months from which further appointments can be made. This may include roles at a lower grade. Candidates placed on a reserve list will be informed of this. Those candidates who do not wish to remain on the reserve list should contact [e-mail] to be removed from the reserve list.

CTC (Counter-terrorism Clearance):

Important note

Successful candidates must meet the security requirements before they can be appointed. The level of security needed is counter-terrorist check and the process can take up to 8 weeks to complete.

Please note that successful candidates will need to pass the CTC security checks – this requires you to have been resident in the UK for the past 3 years. Please refer to the MHCLG Notes on Security Clearance section of our Candidate Pack for further information on Counter Terrorism Clearance (CTC).

Candidates should also note that with effect from 1st August 2018 the department will also check all applicants who are successful at interview, against the Internal Fraud Database (IFD) held by the Cabinet Office. In accordance with the Civil Service Internal Fraud Policy, any applicant who is included on the IFD will be refused employment by MHCLG. Please see the Candidate Pack for further information on the Internal Fraud Database.

Before starting your application it’s very important to make sure that you are eligible to apply and meet the Civil Service nationality requirements. All candidates are expected to read the information provided in the MHCLG candidate pack regarding nationality requirements and rules

Candidate Pack Information

Please see attached Candidate pack for further information.

Internal Fraud Database

The Internal Fraud function of the Fraud, Error, Debt and Grants Function at the Cabinet Office processes details of civil servants who have been dismissed for committing internal fraud, or who would have been dismissed had they not resigned. The Cabinet Office receives the details from participating government organisations of civil servants who have been dismissed, or who would have been dismissed had they not resigned, for internal fraud. In instances such as this, civil servants are then banned for 5 years from further employment in the civil service. The Cabinet Office then processes this data and discloses a limited dataset back to MHCLG as a participating government organisations. MHCLG then carry out the pre employment checks so as to detect instances where known fraudsters are attempting to reapply for roles in the civil service. In this way, the policy is ensured and the repetition of internal fraud is prevented.

For more information please see: Internal Fraud Registe

Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.

Security

Successful candidates must undergo a criminal record check.

Successful candidates must meet the security requirements before they can be appointed. The level of security needed is counter-terrorist check (opens in a new window).See our vetting charter (opens in a new window).

People working with government assets must complete baseline personnel security standard (opens in new window) checks.

Successful candidates must undergo a criminal record check.

Successful candidates must meet the security requirements before they can be appointed. The level of security needed is counter-terrorist check (opens in a new window).See our vetting charter (opens in a new window).

People working with government assets must complete baseline personnel security standard (opens in new window) checks.

Nationality requirements

This Job Is Broadly Open To The Following Groups:

• UK nationals
• nationals of the Republic of Ireland
• nationals of Commonwealth countries who have the right to work in the UK
• nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities with settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS) (opens in a new window)
• nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities who have made a valid application for settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS)
• individuals with limited leave to remain or indefinite leave to remain who were eligible to apply for EUSS on or before 31 December 2020
• Turkish nationals, and certain family members of Turkish nationals, who have accrued the right to work in the Civil Service
  
  

Further information on nationality requirements (opens in a new window)

Working for the Civil Service

The Civil Service Code (opens in a new window) sets out the standards of behaviour expected of civil servants.

We recruit by merit on the basis of fair and open competition, as outlined in the Civil Service Commission's recruitment principles (opens in a new window).

The Civil Service embraces diversity and promotes equal opportunities. As such, we run a Disability Confident Scheme (DCS) for candidates with disabilities who meet the minimum selection criteria.

The Civil Service also offers a Redeployment Interview Scheme to civil servants who are at risk of redundancy, and who meet the minimum requirements for the advertised vacancy.

The Civil Service Code (opens in a new window) sets out the standards of behaviour expected of civil servants.

We recruit by merit on the basis of fair and open competition, as outlined in the Civil Service Commission's recruitment principles (opens in a new window).

The Civil Service embraces diversity and promotes equal opportunities. As such, we run a Disability Confident Scheme (DCS) for candidates with disabilities who meet the minimum selection criteria.

The Civil Service also offers a Redeployment Interview Scheme to civil servants who are at risk of redundancy, and who meet the minimum requirements for the advertised vacancy.

Diversity and Inclusion

The Civil Service is committed to attract, retain and invest in talent wherever it is found. To learn more please see the Civil Service People Plan (opens in a new window) and the Civil Service Diversity and Inclusion Strategy (opens in a new window).

This vacancy is part of the Great Place to Work for Veterans (opens in a new window) initiative.

Once this job has closed, the job advert will no longer be available. You may want to save a copy for your records.

Contact point for applicants

Job Contact :

• Name : John Mahon
• Email : [e-mail]
  
  

Recruitment team

• Email : [e-mail]