Commercial Manager

Ward Personnel; Cork; On-site; EUR 140,000 - 200,000; Full time

Job summary

Ward Personnel is recruiting a Commercial Director for a specialist modular construction contractor. You will own the commercial strategy across the project portfolio, govern risk, and lead a high-performing team from contract review to final account.

This is not a hands-on QS role; you will operate at executive level, guiding decisions, sustaining margin, and ensuring disciplined governance and reporting.

Qualifications

• Proven experience in a senior commercial leadership role
• Strong track record managing upstream and downstream commercial positions
• Deep experience with CVRs, variations, final accounts, claims, and negotiation
• Comfortable overseeing multiple projects with differing contract forms and risk profiles
• Experience embedding systems, governance, and process discipline in a growing business

Responsibilities

• Full ownership of the commercial lifecycle from contract review to final account
• Set and drive commercial strategy across the project portfolio
• Act as the business’s commercial authority on contracts, risk, and entitlement
• Lead CVRs, forecasting, reporting cadence, and margin control
• Embed disciplined execution of variations, notices, EOTs, and claims
• Maintain clear, real-time visibility of risk, exposure, and opportunity
• Lead senior-level negotiations and client commercial engagement
• Build, lead, and coach a high-performing commercial team
• Drive adoption of systems, processes, and governance
• Ensure commercial decisions actively support delivery and business objectives

Skills

Senior commercial leadership

Upstream & downstream positions

CVRs & final accounts

Contract risk management

Job description

Role: Commercial Director

Reports to: CEO

Team: Commercial Managers, Quantity Surveyors, Commercial Function

Sector: Specialist subcontracting / Modular construction

The Mandate

Our client operating within the area of specialist modular construction (Date Centre, Pharma, Industrial) is appointing a Commercial Director to own, lead, and future‑proof the commercial performance of the business. This is a senior leadership role with full accountability for commercial strategy, governance, risk, and capability across the complete project lifecycle.

The brief is clear: bring control, pace, and consistency, protect margin, strengthen contractual positioning, and build a commercial function that scales with the business.

This is not a hands‑on QS role. The successful candidate will operate at executive level while remaining close enough to projects to guide decisions, manage risk, and intervene where value or exposure is at stake.

Core Accountabilities

• Full ownership of the commercial lifecycle from contract review to final account
• Set and drive commercial strategy across the project portfolio
• Act as the business’s commercial authority on contracts, risk, and entitlement
• Lead CVRs, forecasting, reporting cadence, and margin control
• Embed disciplined execution of variations, notices, EOTs, and claims
• Maintain clear, real‑time visibility of risk, exposure, and opportunity
• Lead senior‑level negotiations and client commercial engagement
• Build, lead, and coach a high‑performing commercial team
• Drive adoption of systems, processes, and governance
• Ensure commercial decisions actively support delivery and business objectives

What Success Looks Like

• Improved margin protection and entitlement recovery
• Strong, consistent commercial reporting and forecasting
• Early identification and management of risk
• A confident, capable commercial team operating with clarity and ownership
• Commercial discipline embedded across delivery teams
• Reduced dependency on individuals and increased organisational resilience

Required Background

• Proven experience in a senior commercial leadership role, ideally within a subcontracting or complex project environment
• Strong track record managing upstream and downstream commercial positions
• Deep experience with CVRs, variations, final accounts, claims, and negotiation
• Comfortable overseeing multiple projects with differing contract forms and risk profiles
• Experience embedding systems, governance, and process discipline in a growing business

Technical Strengths

• Expert knowledge of construction contracts (NEC, JCT, bespoke forms)
• Strong commercial forecasting, cost control, and margin management capability
• Highly confident reviewing contracts, amendments, and international conditions
• Able to translate commercial data into clear executive‑level decisions

Leadership Profile

• Credible, decisive, and commercially rigorous
• Strong coach and developer of people
• Comfortable challenging, influencing, and holding others to account
• Clear communicator with non‑commercial stakeholders
• Strategic thinker who can drop into detail when risk or value demands it
• Calm under pressure; focused on outcomes, not noise