Contracts Manager

About the Role

This role offers an exciting opportunity to join a growing business and be part of a highly professional Commercial team within the Underwater Systems (UWS) business based in Crawley.

The UWS business is growing at a rapid pace, with plenty of opportunities for challenge and professional growth working in a part of the business where what we do matters and protects the Royal Navy and our allies at sea. Our customer base is the UK Ministry of Defence and well-known prime contractors working on projects in the UK and Internationally. The Contracts Manager will be a key member of the project and bid organisations, representing the function in an integrated manner within their respective teams.

This role supports complex technology contracts and bids, in a high-profile sector of the business. Contract values are significant (£m’s), and this opportunity supports career development, skills enhancement and exposure within the organisation. The Commercial team provides an excellent structured framework for the right candidate to thrive, benefit from the experts within the team whilst empowering individuals to succeed. If you are driven, a self-starter, pragmatic, relish taking ownership and working as part of integrated project teams(s) – this is the role for you.

The role is predominantly contract management focused on managing a significant contract with a challenging customer and other Thales entities, but there will also be opportunities to be the commercial representative in bid activities.

Responsibilities

In-Contract Management:

• Act as a core team member and take ownership of all commercial matters pertaining to allocated contracts.
• Responsible for formal communication with the Customer and will be the commercial point of contact for area of responsibility.
• Responsible for ensuring project adherence to Contracts and providing effective Contract Management, holding the project, business and customer to account protecting the best interests of Thales.
• Responsible for active Contract Management, operating within an integrated Project Team, ensuring the commercial voice is heard.
• Manage all contractual aspects within area of responsibility, ensuring a robust contractual baseline is established and maintained including the active management of contractual change and contract amendments.
• Proactively identify potential liabilities and disputes and support the development of appropriate mitigation plans.
• Ensure maintenance of appropriate contractual records and files as well as provide regular reports/briefs as required.
• Liaise with and provide sound commercial advice and briefings to all stakeholders.
• Attend and participate in internal and external meetings in person or through video conferencing.

Pre-Contract Management:

• Responsible for defining the level of acceptable commercial risk for opportunities, providing robust justification.
• Be the point of contact customers for all communication following ITT, RFP, ITN.
• Provide proactive business support in the winning of bids and thus prepare winning commercial proposals/quotations, including but not limited to: draft contract commentary, input to bid risk assessments and commercial and pricing strategy.
• Provide guidance on compliance with terms and conditions identifying flow down terms and risk by supporting the negotiation of major subcontracts.

General:

• Responsible for ensuring commercial considerations are within the Thales DNA across Capture, Bid and Delivery for area of responsibility.
• Reviewer of key artefacts as part of bid, capture and delivery teams.
• Provides customer perspective and commercial environment understanding to internal stakeholders.
• Support to contract negotiation and Manage Contracts within an assigned sector and any other ad-hoc tasks arising from time to time from the prospect and bid preparation phases, legal memo’s, negotiations, contract management through to contract closure including identifying and managing all commercial risks and opportunities.
• Support to the Commercial team on tasks as required, including the sharing of knowledge.

Qualifications

• Experience managing challenging customers, working as a team player within integrated bid and project teams, with accountability for performance.
• A resilient, pragmatic, self-starter with a focus on taking ownership, delivery and providing value to the project, business and function. Able to influence others and take an interest in all aspects of a project in order to achieve commercial objectives.
• Experience working as a Contracts Manager with commercial skillset, behaviours that will ensure commercial robustness throughout all contract life cycle phases, and the ability to identify, plan and deliver tactical commercial elements.
• Experience managing Contracts and Bids over the contract life cycle from prospects, bidding to negotiation, contract award and contract closure.

Security Clearance statement:

Due to the nature of the work that we do at Thales, many of our roles are subject to security restrictions. This role requires Security Clearance (SC) . It would be advantageous if currently held, however, if not currently held, it is a requirement that the successful applicant undergo, achieve, and maintain SC Clearance prior to commencing employment. Please visit the UKSV website for further guidance.

To be eligible for full SC, you generally need to have resided in the UK for the last 5 years. In some circumstances, a minimum of 3 years’ residence in the UK over the last 5 years may be accepted, with additional overseas checks.

At Thales we provide CAREERS and not only jobs. With Thales employing 80,000 employees in 68 countries our mobility policy enables thousands of employees each year to develop their careers at home and abroad, in their existing areas of expertise or by branching out into new fields. Together we believe that embracing flexibility is a smarter way of working.

Thales UK is committed to providing an inclusive and barrier-free recruitment process. We will provide reasonable adjustments and support to ensure neuro-diverse applicants or those with a disability or long-term condition can be their best during the recruitment process. To request an adjustment, if you need this job advert in an alternative format or if you have any questions about the recruitment process, please contact Resourcing Ops for mid to senior roles, or the Early Careers Team for graduate and apprentice roles.

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