Strategic OT Contract & Supplier Manager

National Highways; West Midlands; Hybrid; GBP 45,000 - 65,000; Full time

Job summary

National Highways seeks a Contract Relationship Manager to own day-to-day OT supplier relationships and contract management, supporting renewals and maintenance for the Strategic Road Network. You will liaise with internal departments to ensure safety, service priorities and governance are met.

The role includes leading governance meetings, monitoring KPIs, and translating demand signals into forecasts while driving continuous improvement across delivery programmes.

Qualifications

• Contract and supplier management experience in a regulated/public sector or complex infrastructure environment.
• Proven delivery of supplier performance management using KPIs, governance, and corrective action plans.
• Experience aligning demand forecasts with supplier capacity, manufacturing lead times, delivery plans and budgets.
• Understanding of Operational Technology scheme delivery considerations i.e. service continuity, safety, change control (desirable).
• Confident drafting variations and formal supplier communications; strong written communication and attention to detail.

Responsibilities

• Lead contract management activities on behalf of OT Asset Improvement Team Leader across the contract lifecycle, ensuring supplier compliance with contractual terms, policies, and government-owned company governance requirements.
• Plan, chair, and minute monthly supplier governance meetings, driving clear actions, decisions, risks/issues management, and forward delivery plans aligned to programme milestones.
• Monitor and manage contractual KPIs and service performance, producing regular performance reporting, trend analysis, and improvement plans; trigger remedies or performance management mechanisms where applicable such as service credits.
• Coordinate with the Demand Management function to understand future demand signals and translate these into supplier forecasts, capacity planning, manufacturing lead-times, and delivery readiness.
• Drive continuous improvement and supplier development, agreeing improvement initiatives, tracking benefits, and ensuring lessons learned feed into service delivery and future procurement strategy.

Skills

Contract management

Supplier management

Governance

KPIs

Forecasting

Change control

Job description

National Highways seeks a Contract Relationship Manager to own day-to-day OT supplier relationships and contract management, supporting renewals and maintenance for the Strategic Road Network. You will liaise with internal departments to ensure safety, service priorities and governance are met.

The role includes leading governance meetings, monitoring KPIs, and translating demand signals into forecasts while driving continuous improvement across delivery programmes.