Senior Export Contract Manager

MBDA UK; Stevenage; Hybrid; GBP 60,000 - 70,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Company Bonus up to 30% of base salary

Car Allowance £300/month

Private Medical Insurance

Pension up to 14% total contribution

Enhanced parental leave

Site facilities and development

Job summary

MBDA UK is seeking an experienced Export Contract Manager to lead the commercial interface for international government and military contracts. The role requires delivering complex contracts, managing multi-national teams, and ensuring timely contract delivery while protecting MBDA’s interests.

The position offers hybrid working (2–3 days on-site), a salary of £60,000–£70,000, and eligibility for enhanced security checks and career development. BPSS checks are required post-offer.

Qualifications

• Experience leading contract delivery in bid and execution phases.
• Proven ability to manage international government/military contracts.

Responsibilities

• Lead the commercial interface into international government and military customers for MBDA contracts.
• Handle multiple cross-domain, geographically diverse contracts.
• Deliver contract schedules and ensure high customer satisfaction.
• Proactively manage risk and opportunities to protect MBDA interests.
• Lead contract amendment negotiations and support new international business.
• Collaborate with NATCOs in France, Spain and Italy for inter-company trading exports.

Skills

Contract management

Leadership

International contracts

Commercial acumen

Risk management

Job description

A fantastic opportunity has arisen within the Programmes Export Operations Directorate for an accomplished and experienced Export Contract Manager. Reporting to the Export Contract Management UK Executive, the successful candidate will demonstrate a broad and deep set of commercial, financial and project management skills to lead and deliver complex and strategically important export contracts. Salary: Circa £60,000 - £70,000 depending on experience Dynamic (hybrid) working: 2-3 days per week on-site due to workload classification Security Clearance: British Citizen or a Dual UK national with British citizenship Restrictions and/or limitations relating to nationality and/or rights to work may apply. As a minimum and after offer stage, all successful candidates will need to undergo HMG Basic Personnel Security Standard checks (BPSS), which are managed by the MBDA Personnel Security Team.

What we can offer you:

• Company Bonus: Bonus of up to 30% of base salary
• Car Allowance: £300/month
• Private Medical Insurance
• Pension: maximum total (employer and employee) contribution of up to 14%
• Enhanced parental leave: offers up to 26 weeks for maternity, adoption and shared parental leave. Enhancements are available for paternity leave, neonatal leave and fertility testing and treatments.
• Facilities: Fantastic site facilities including subsidised meals, free car parking and much more
• Training and Development: Excellent career progression, training and career development opportunities

The opportunity:

• Lead the commercial interface into international government and military customers for contract delivery on behalf of MBDA up to 1* level
• Handle multiple cross domain and geographically diverse contracts simultaneously
• Deliver the contract schedule to ensure the highest levels of customer satisfaction whilst fostering strong and long standing customer relationships
• Anticipate and proactively resolve contract delivery issues and concerns through risk and opportunity management that protects MBDA’s business interests and international reputation
• Lead customer acceptance events, transport delivery solutions and capture contractual payments.
• Handle coherent and consistent communications into the customer, into government and industrial partners as well as internally within MBDA.
• Lead contract amendment negotiations as well as supporting Sales & Business Development to acquire new international business from current and new customers.
• Collaborate with MBDA national companies (NATCO) in France, Spain and Italy to deliver Inter Company Trading export contracts

What we're looking for from you:

• Leadership, influencing and relationship management skills required to establish and maintain strong internal and external relationships.
• Ability to define, communicate and implement strategic intent with experience of operating in complex political environments
• You are an experienced manager who has led contract delivery in both the bid and execution phases, ideally within an international environment
• You will need to have a high degree of self-motivation and drive with the ability work independently and as part of a team.
• You will have effective interpersonal and communications skills and an open, confident and clear leadership style.
• Experience of people management in a leadership role as well as experience leading internal and external stakeholder relationships.
• Be prepared for international travel with an open mind to embrace different cultures.
• Experience of preparing and authorising Bid submissions, ideally with exposure in the role of Business Bid Authority; Experience of working in large complex organisations (preferably multi-national) with experience of collaborating with Corporate Functions; new business; finance; legal; customer support; export control; project management; quality; shipping; engineering; corporate compliance.

Our company:

Peace is not a given, Freedom is not a given, Sovereignty is not a given MBDA is a leading defence organisation. We are proud of the role we play in supporting the Armed Forces who protect our nations. We partner with governments to work together towards a common goal, defending our freedom. We are proud of our employee-led networks, examples include: Gender Equality, Pride, Menopause Matters, Parents and Carers, Armed Forces, Ethnic Diversity, Neurodiversity, Disability and more. We recognise that everyone is unique, and we encourage you to speak to us should you require any advice, support or adjustments throughout our recruitment process. Follow us on LinkedIn (MBDA), X (@MBDA_UK), Instagram (MBDA_UK) and Glassdoor or visit our MBDA Careers website for more information. What we do matters. Because defence matters. As a leading company in the defence industry we support our nations by delivering essential military capabilities, both for today and the future. We are proud to be an award-winning employer and are proud of the growing diversity of our workforce. Our people are the ones who drive our constant innovation and deliver against challenging targets.

Whatever your background, we welcome your application to MBDA UK and look forward to speaking with you soon.