Senior Manager - Contracts and Commercial

Job Details

Description

Purpose of Role

Effectively lead the commercial management of all Council third party expenditure within the scope of the Supplier Management service.
Play a key leadership role in managing the Council’s outsourced contracts and act as a commercial management interface between the Council and our third-party suppliers.
Make a key contribution to Supplier Management becoming a ‘best in class’ service to reflect the market-leading approach to the commissioning/needs assessment, procurement and contract management cycle.
Using commercial management techniques, strategies and processes, ensure that outsourced contracts and procurement activities achieve their objectives, including customer focus, value for money, quality and social value.

Key Accountabilities

Provide professional advice on commercial issues, priorities and risks to stakeholders including the Service Manager – Contracts and Commercial, the Head of Supplier Management, colleagues, Senior Managers, Members and governance boards taking into account the organisational, contractual and legislative contexts.
Manage conflicting commercial priorities between the Council and suppliers, negotiating resolutions that are acceptable to all parties.
Support the Supplier Management service and officers to ensure legal accountabilities and contractual obligations for contracts are met and delivered in accordance with the contract terms and specifications to achieve the outcomes required by the Council.
To work with Service Manager – Contracts and Commercial and Head of Supplier Management to lead dispute resolution procedures, taking and recommending appropriate action if service providers fail to perform e.g. non-compliance with contract terms and non-delivery of expected outputs and outcomes.
To manage risks to and compliance activities including ensuring appropriate insurance coverage is in place and appropriate and proportionate risk management mechanisms are developed, implemented and maintained.
Provide a comprehensive commercial management service with regard to the contracts, which includes:-
1. Ensuring that commercial and compliance issues with service providers’ performance are logged, assessed and corrective action taken in accordance with the contract terms;
2. Providing assistance to other Council teams and ensuring that issues are escalated as necessary in accordance with the governance frameworks;
3. Providing timely information to senior managers and Members to help to enable proactive management of any under-performance by the service providers and effective management of future demand;
Organise and participate in contracts governance and extraordinary meetings as required to resolve commercial issues.
Pro-actively support the Service Manager - Contracts and Commercial in any negotiations which substantially or materially affect the contracts.
Manage change control procedures, ensuring that:-
1. Advice is provided to relevant stakeholders
2. All processes are fit for purpose and appropriately documented;
3. Effective audit trails are in place to support the decision making process;
4. An effective version control process is in place;
5. Key documents are proactively managed and accessible through the Council’s systems and
6. An up-to-date controlled version of the contract is maintained which reflects the outcome of change control procedures.
Support service audits, benchmarking and other similar processes, ensuring that these are within the agreed terms of reference and appropriate reports are completed.
Lead, direct and motivate Contract Commercial staff to ensure the provision of excellent professional commercial services and advice
Pro-actively implement coherent commercial management strategies for contracts, as agreed with the Service Manager – Contracts and Commercial and Head of Supplier Management.
Deliver service improvements through commercial management by working jointly with service providers, ensuring that the changing organisational needs (including political context) of the Council are met.
Maintain relevant professional knowledge and networks to ensure that the Council benefits from best practice.

Functional Responsibilities

Line Management of the Contracts Commercial Team

Deputise for Service Manager – Contracts and Commercial

Core Responsibilities and Deliverables

Financial Management

To manage the Contracts Commercial team and the Council’s third party spend within budget.
To comply with Council financial policies and requirements.
To identify and propose opportunities for innovation, commercialisation, cost savings, cost recovery or income generation.

Customer Relationship

To manage the Contracts Commercial team in accordance with service standards.
To monitor and act upon customer feedback to improve customer experiences through major contracts and third party suppliers to meet or exceed customer satisfaction.
To develop effective working relationships with service providers

Operational Effectiveness and Compliance

To manage the Contracts Commercial Team in accordance with HR and contract management policies and practice
To undertake continuous improvement activities through the Council’s contract and supplier activity to improve the effectiveness of services.
To comply with all Council policies in relation to Health and Safety and Information Governance.
To escalate risks and issues which may impact any aspect of contract and supplier performance and/or the Council’s reputation.

Organisational Capability and Growth

To improve employee and supplier engagement and satisfaction.
To manage the performance and development of direct report and project teams in accordance with the Council’s agreed performance management approach.
To identify and develop talent.
To take personal responsibility for personal development including any Continuous Professional Development.
To develop change readiness capability within the Contracts Commercial team.

Other Contractual Post Requirements
Standby Payment	Yes ? No?
Fire Marshall	Yes ? No?
First Aider	Yes ? No?
Politically Restricted	Yes ? No?
Tool Allowance	Yes ? No?
Emergency Planning Rota	Yes ? No?
Contractual Car User (see intranet for more information)	Yes ? No?
DBS (see intranet for more information)	Standard ? Enhanced ? N/A ?
Basic Disclosure (see intranet for more information)	Yes ? No?

The duties and responsibilities highlighted in this job description may vary over time. Post holders are expected to undertake other duties and responsibilities relevant to the nature, scope and grading of the post.
The post holder must have the ability to understand the needs of the city’s diverse and changing population and to implement the Council's Equal Opportunities Policy at a level appropriate to the job and must at all times carry out his/her responsibilities with due regard to the Council's Equal Opportunities Policy.
The post holder is required to be familiar with the Council's:
1. Health and Safety Policy and be aware of and observe any part of the policy related specifically to the duties and responsibilities of the post, and
2. Information Governance policies and be able to apply the principles of Data Protection to their role and duties to ensure that Council and client data is collected, held and managed appropriately.
The post holder will be required to carry out their duties and responsibilities in accordance with all relevant Council and professional codes of practice, including demonstrating the relevant behaviours as defined in the Council’s Organisational and Leadership Behaviours Framework.

Person Specification

Essential Qualifications

Educated to degree level, preferably in law or other relevant subject and evidence of continuing professional development.

Essential Experience and Skills

Significant experience of commercial management and legal drafting.

Experience of negotiation and managing contract change control processes.
Track record of delivering service delivery changes through partnership working in order to review and develop contracts to meet changing business needs.
Experience of managing a team including goal setting and performance review.
Experience in managing relationships with commercial partners to achieve value-for-money and high quality performance.
Experience of successfully managing of contractual disputes with major commercial partners.
Experience of working with suppliers to improve capability and performance.
Demonstrable ability to manage complex contractual negotiations with public and private sector partners.
To have experience of operating in accordance with financial policy and requirements.

Excellent level of IT literacy to be able to interrogate and analyse databases and datasets.
Demonstrable understanding of equality issues and how they affect the workplace and individual behaviours se self-service, digital user platforms and applications and MS Office.

Essential Behaviours

Takes personal accountability and holds others (including suppliers) to account.
Takes responsibility for own development.
Listens to and respects the opinions of others.
Asks for, reflects upon and acts on feedback.
Works collaboratively with others to deliver the best outcomes.
Actively seeks opportunities for improvement in organisational processes and activity.
Builds understanding and commitment to transformational change.
Sets standards for customer service.
Builds relationships of trust and alliances with partners, suppliers, customer groups, members and stakeholders.

Job ID

269

Job Title

Senior Manager - Contracts and Commercial

Start Date

02/20/2023

Application Deadline

February 15, 2023

Salary Range

$52560.00 - $58012.00

Salary Currency

Great Britton Pound

Job Location

Website

Contact Information

Name: Renouard, Katie
Email: katie.renouard@southampton.gov.uk
Best Method of Contact: EMAIL