Senior Contracts Manager (BANK / LOCUM)

Croydon Health Services NHS Foundation Trust; London; On-site; GBP 40,000 - 70,000; Full time

Job summary

An NHS foundation trust seeks a Senior Contracts Manager to oversee digital contracts and licenses, ensure compliance, and lead procurement strategies. This role is critical in managing the full lifecycle of contracts while driving cost-saving initiatives and ensuring alignment with the Trust's digital strategies. The ideal candidate will have extensive experience in healthcare contract management and possess excellent analytical and stakeholder engagement skills.

Qualifications

• Extensive experience in contract and license management within digital or healthcare environments.
• Strong understanding of procurement frameworks, licensing models, and compliance standards.
• Experience with asset management systems and governance reporting.

Responsibilities

• Manage the full lifecycle of contracts and licenses from procurement to retirement.
• Lead procurement, supplier management, financial forecasting, and governance activities.
• Provide expert advice to senior leadership on contract and license matters.

Skills

Contract Management

Procurement Frameworks

Stakeholder Engagement

Financial Management

Analytical Skills

Education

Masters degree or equivalent experience

Job description

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Croydon is a busy, exciting and diverse place to work. The borough has one of the youngest populations in London and continues to grow.

Croydon Health Services cares for local people at Croydon University Hospital, Purley Memorial Hospital and in clinics and people's homes all across the borough.

We are a very close-knit and friendly organisation where everyone of our 3600 members of staff is valued. We strongly believe that our employees are our greatest asset and so through Listening into Action - our way of engaging staff - we empower everyone at any level to initiate and bring about real improvements in our care.
Join us and be a part of the team that is making Croydon proud. #choosecroydon

Job overview

An exciting opportunity to join Digital Services at Croydon University Hospital as a Senior Contracts Manager for 12 month maternity cover. The postholder will act as the lead within the Digital Services department for:

business development, ensuring that a digital Procurement Plan is developed, managed and maintained

working with the digital portfolio, digital services, cyber security and CXIO teams to identify a pipeline of procurement activity for the Trust

working with external partners, including the emerging South West London Integrated Care digital team, One Croydon Alliance, Acute Provider Collaborative and other partnership projects

third party contracts

licensing requirements for all digital systems

developing, managing and maintaining Service Level Agreement that set out the provision of IT services to third parties (such as those organisations who provide health and care services from Trust estate)

reviewing and setting the digital tariff for services provided to third parties, including hardware, software and professional service

providing critical input into software and applications auditing (including CAF/DSPT)

providing critical input for budget setting and ongoing budget management

providing critical input to budget planning and forecasting for Digital Services

managing cost pressures for the budgets in Digital Services

FOI responses

maintenance of asset/contracts register

Purchase order and invoice management

Main duties of the job

The postholder will lead the maintenance and management of the Digital Service contract/ information systems register, ensuring that for each contract the Trust has a full suite of information to meet contractual, financial, NHSE and other mandated requirements (such as the requirement for suppliers to demonstrate compliance with Cyber Essentials +).

The postholder will be the subject matter expert in software licensing, including for Microsoft products and a range of other small, medium and large contracts currently in place, to be retired, or to be introduced.

The post holder will lead on ensuring compliance and accurate reporting with agreed contractual specifications, driving process, contract and financial efficiencies across contracts and licenses in conjunction with the trust procurement, finance and other departments.

The postholder will also lead for the IT department on the developmental, maintenance and monitoring of an IT Service catalogue, in partnership with the Deputy Director of Digital Services. In leading on this, the postholder will ensure that a tariff for all areas of support is in place, maintained and updated on a regular basis,

The postholder will be responsible for ensuring that Digital Services comply with the Trust's Standing Orders and Standing Financial Instructions in all matters.

The postholder will work with senior managers within the IT department to advise, guide and support them in managing solutions needed to deliver their service areas.

Working for our organisation

Croydon Health Services provides integrated NHS services to care for people at home, in schools, and health clinics across the borough as well as at Croydon University Hospital and Purley War Memorial Hospital.

CUH provides more than 100 specialist services and is home to the borough's only Emergency Department and 24/7 maternity services, including a labour ward, midwifery-led birth centre and the Crocus home birthing team.

Purley War Memorial Hospital (PWMH) in the south of the borough offers outpatient care, including diagnostic services, physiotherapy and ophthalmology services run by Moorfields Eye Hospital, alongside an onsite GP surgery.

Our experienced district nursing teams, Allied Health Professionals and community matrons look after for people of all ages across Croydon and our Children's Hospital at Home cares for children with long-term conditions without them having to come to hospital.

We are a very close-knit and friendly organisation where everyone of our 3600 members of staff is valued. We strongly believe that our employees are our greatest asset.

Join us and be a part of the team that is making Croydon proud.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities
Role Overview:

The Digital Services Contract & License Manager is responsible for the strategic and operational management of all digital contracts, licenses, and associated assets across the Trust. This role ensures value for money, compliance with legal and regulatory frameworks, and alignment with the Trust's digital and commercial strategies. The postholder will lead procurement, supplier management, financial forecasting, and governance activities, acting as the subject matter expert for all contract and license-related matters.
Key Responsibilities:
Contract & License Management

• Manage the full lifecycle of contracts and licenses from procurement to retirement.
• Maintain a centralized database of all digital contracts, licenses, SLAs, and hardware assets.
• Ensure effective contract frameworks are in place and regularly reviewed.
• Lead contract review meetings and enforce SLAs, applying penalties or credits as needed.
• Develop and maintain documentation and procedures for operational teams.

Procurement & Commercial Strategy

• Lead procurement planning, including options appraisals and business case development.
• Develop and maintain the Digital Services Commercial Strategy and Annual Strategic Plan.
• Conduct benchmarking and market analysis to ensure best value.
• Forecast digital revenue expenditure and monitor actual spend against forecasts with Finance and System Owners.
• Develop an annual procurement forward plan and contract renewal process map.

Governance, Compliance & Audit

• Ensure compliance with national frameworks (e.g., DSPT, Cyber Essentials).
• Act as lead for internal/external audits and respond to audit findings.
• Maintain risk, issue, and change registers for contracts and licenses.
• Provide regular reports to governance groups including the IT Steering Committee and Audit Committee.
• Ensure contract and license data supports IT Disaster Recovery and FOI requests.

Supplier & Stakeholder Engagement

• Act as the Trust's ambassador for best practice in contract and license management.
• Develop partnerships with strategic suppliers and internal stakeholders.
• Introduce proactive supplier risk management, scorecards, and KPI tracking.
• Liaise with clinical and digital teams to ensure contracts meet operational needs.
• Promote awareness and deliver training on contract and license management.

Financial Oversight & Value Realisation

• Audit savings reports and ensure predicted benefits are realised.
• Monitor and report on spend, ensuring alignment with contractual terms.
• Identify and implement cost-saving opportunities, including renegotiation and supplier consolidation.
• Minimise tail spend and ensure preferred supplier lists are maintained.

Strategic Advisory & Reporting

• Provide expert advice to senior leadership, including the Board and Executive Directors.
• Brief senior management on contract/license changes and their policy implications.
• Develop and deliver board papers and business cases for digital investments.
• Present monthly reports to governance groups, highlighting risks, issues, and opportunities.

Operational Excellence

• Ensure contract base-lining is embedded and reported to internal committees.
• Support system owners with contract management tools and resources.
• Maintain the Digital Services Service Catalogue and monitor service costs.
• Stay current with industry trends through research, training, and vendor engagement.
• Undertake audits, investigations, and other duties as required.

Skills & Experience Required:

• Extensive experience in contract and license management within digital or healthcare environments.
• Strong understanding of procurement frameworks, licensing models, and compliance standards.
• Excellent analytical, negotiation, and stakeholder engagement skills.
• Proven ability to manage budgets, forecast spend, and deliver cost savings.
• Experience with asset management systems and governance reporting

Person specification

Educated to Masters degree level or equivalent experience in contracts, licensing and SLAs

Essential criteria

• Demonstrable experience and/Proven qualifications in contracts management, specifically Digital Services/Applications

Desirable criteria

• MCIPS Degree or similar

Previous Experience

Essential criteria

• Significant customer service experience • Proven financial background and budget management; Strong attention to detail and ability manipulate complex financial data; Experience of contractual procurement frameworks within public sector • Experience in Microsoft licensing methodologies • Experience in developing IT tariffs for services • Experience of developing service schedules and specifications • Experience of developing contract summaries, and performance reports • Experience of leading supplier contract meetings, including analysing performance reports • Experience of enacting contract penalty clauses • Significant experience of working with information asset owners, ensuring that they understand, comply with and provide evidence of contract management best practice • Detailed understanding of contractual mandatory requirements, such as those set out within NHS Digital's Data Security and Protection Toolkit or other similar frameworks/mandates • Experience of managing license usage, and re-harvesting where required • Significant experience of using web portals or similar capabilities to manage utilisation • Experience of commissioning and using license management solutions • Experience of using a range of procurement frameworks, including the LPP, G Cloud etc • Experience in leading complex contractual negotiations

Desirable criteria

• Working in the similar roles for more than 2 years

Practical Understanding of IT/Digital Services

Essential criteria

• Must have worked in IT/Digital/Technology previously. Excellent IT skills, including knowledge of information asset registers, systems, software, hardware. Practical understanding of IT jargon and concepts of ITIL and service management, oprations.

Desirable criteria

• ITIL v4 foundation

Due to the high volumes of applications we receive, we reserve the right to close any adverts before the published closing date once we have received a sufficient number of applications.

If you decide to apply for this post, but do not hear back from us within four weeks of the closing date, please assume that you have not been shortlisted on this occasion.

Disability Advice Line: SWL Recruitment Hub is committed to promoting equity and equal opportunities for individuals with disabilities. We believe that greater diversity and inclusion will lead to an even more positive impact on the people we serve. For support with job opportunities and reasonable adjustments contact our Confidential Disability Advice Line at:

Telephone: [phone]

Text: 07501066267

Email: [e-mail].

Our confidential answering service is available after 5pm.

Employer certification / accreditation badges

Applicant requirements

The postholder will have access to vulnerable people in the course of their normal duties and as such this post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975 (Amendment) (England and Wales) Order 2020 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service to check for any previous criminal convictions.

Documents to download

• B8a Senior Contracts Manager (PDF, 408.4KB)
• CHS DBS Policy Statement (PDF, 53.0KB)
• Map of Croydon University Hospital (PDF, 95.6KB)
• CHS Accomodation (PDF, 1.4MB)
• Croydon Trust Values (PDF, 324.9KB)