Head of Commercial & Contracts

Job title: Head of Commercial & Contracts
Job Type: Permanent
Start date: ASAP
Rate: Market Led
Location: West Cumbria
Hours of work: 40 Hours Per Week

The Role:
The purpose of the Head of Commercial & Contracts is to ensure the effective and disciplined administration of two separate contracts, while establishing a consistent commercial approach and common ways of working wherever this delivers value and supports both frameworks.

Each contract has its own terms, obligations, commercial mechanisms and desired outcomes. The Head of Commercial & Contracts is responsible for building, developing and leading a capable Commercial organisation that understands these differences and ensures each contract is managed in accordance with its specific conditions, requirements and commercial obligations, while promoting consistency, collaboration and best practice across the wider organisation.

Roles and Responsibilities:
1. Contract Administration: Own and oversee the effective administration of each contract in accordance with its specific terms and conditions, including early warnings, risk reduction meetings, compensation events, quotations, assessments, payment applications, certificates and contractual notifications.

2. Contractual Compliance and Governance: Maintain a clear understanding of contractual differences, obligations, notification periods, risk allocation, payment terms, liabilities and insurance requirements. Ensure all contractual deadlines, approvals and financial delegations are managed effectively.

3. Commercial Strategy and Commonality: Develop and maintain a consistent commercial approach across the organisation, identifying opportunities to share systems, processes, templates, reporting and best practice while retaining contract-specific arrangements where required.

4. Commercial Authority and Financial Control: Establish and manage financial delegations, approval limits and commercial governance arrangements, ensuring expenditure, commitments and contractual decisions are appropriately authorised and recorded.

5. Open Book and Cost Assurance: Own the open-book commercial relationship with the client, ensuring cost transparency, accurate reporting, audit readiness and robust assurance of internal and subcontractor costs, allocations and overhead recovery.

6. Change and Compensation Events: Lead the commercial management of change, ensuring contractual notifications, compensation events, quotations and assessments are submitted, reviewed and agreed within the required timescales and supported by appropriate evidence.

7. Commercial Risk and Dispute Management: Own the commercial risk register and work with Project Controls to align financial exposure with programme risks. Lead claims management, dispute avoidance and resolution, ensuring issues are addressed promptly and escalated through the appropriate contractual mechanisms.

8. Procurement and Supply Chain Strategy: Establish and lead a consistent procurement strategy covering sourcing, tendering, approvals, value for money and supplier selection, ensuring procurement arrangements meet contractual requirements and deliver best value.

9. Subcontract Management and Compliance: Ensure appropriate contractual obligations are incorporated into subcontract agreements, including commercial, nuclear, SHEQ, security and other relevant requirements. Monitor subcontractor commercial performance and address underperformance.

10. SME and Supply Chain Development: Own the delivery of SME and local supply-chain commitments, including supplier opportunities, procurement pipelines, meet-the-buyer events, SME spend targets, simplified procurement routes and payment performance. Work with the Head of Social Value to support local and regional supplier development.

11. Client Commercial Relationship: Act as the primary commercial interface with the client's commercial, procurement and audit teams, maintaining transparent communication, consistent commercial positions and early visibility of risks, changes and financial matters.

12. Mobilisation and Commercial Transition: Lead the commercial mobilisation workstream, ensuring contract administration, financial systems, payment arrangements, delegations, procurement processes and supply-chain onboarding are established before commitments are made. Manage the commercial and financial aspects of transition arrangements.

13. Commercial Capability and Development: Develop commercial capability across the delivery organisation, ensuring project and operational teams understand their contractual and commercial responsibilities and receive appropriate training and support.

14. Commercial Organisation and Leadership: Design, establish and lead the Commercial function, including organisational structure, recruitment, grading, resource deployment and succession planning. Ensure appropriate contract-specific commercial management and effective use of shared commercial resources.

15. Commercial Performance and Reporting: Own commercial performance reporting and provide the Framework Director with a monthly assessment of financial performance, margin, cost exposure, cash flow, change, risk, procurement, supply-chain performance and SME commitments. Highlight emerging issues, commercial opportunities and decisions requiring leadership attention.

Candidates Essential Experience/Qualifications Requirements:
* Candidates MUST hold a Degree or equivalent; professional qualification in commercial management, quantity surveying or law (MRICS, MCIOB, or equivalent).
* You will have substantial senior commercial leadership (15+ years) on major construction, infrastructure or regulated programmes, with direct NEC4 administration experience on target-cost or cost-reimbursable arrangements.
* Demonstrable experience of administering two or more contracts with differing terms simultaneously, and of keeping their entitlements and positions genuinely separate while holding a common standard.
* Direct experience of open-book contracting with a public or regulated client, including audit access and cost assurance.
* Demonstrable experience of procurement strategy and supply-chain management at scale, including flow-down of differing framework terms to subcontractors, SME access and payment performance.
*Experience of framework agreements and partnering contracts, and of collaborative working models in a partnering environment.
*Experience of mobilising commercial arrangements on a new contract award, including transition from an incumbent.

Please note for this role Security Vetting will be required, all candidates MUST be eligible to obtain or ideally already hold.

Interested in this position? please click "apply now"

We try to respond to all applicants, but sometimes this is not possible due to high volumes of applications; if you have not heard from us within 14 days, regrettably it means you have been unsuccessful on this occasion.

Company information:
This is a Permanent vacancy and is being advertised by Rullion Ltd
Since 1978, Rullion has been securing exceptional candidates for a range of clients; from large well-known brands, to SMEs and start-ups. As a family-owned business, Rullion's approach is credible and honest, focused on building long-lasting relationships with both clients and candidates.

Rullion is a forward-thinking recruitment company that specialises in providing a wide range of talent consultancy services to a diverse client base; from small start-ups to large household names.
We celebrate and support diversity and are committed to ensuring equal opportunities for both employees and applicants.