Contracts Manager; Estates Management

Sector Lead HE Estates - North of England and Scotland at The Management Recruitment Group

The University of Liverpool is seeking to appoint an industry-leading commercial professional to take up the key role of Contracts Manager (Estates Management).

The University of Liverpool has a diverse and complex property portfolio, incorporated within the main Liverpool City Centre Campus and associated satellite sites. The Estates and Infrastructure Team (part of Property and Campus Services) has a key role in maintaining the buildings and engineering infrastructure of the University to support academic and professional services departments, based in 300 buildings (460,000 m2), across the 255-ha site.

The diverse Estate includes many listed buildings from the Georgian and Victorian periods as well as contemporary buildings and conservation areas coupled with complex research laboratories, providing many challenges in maintaining and servicing the estate. Aside from the planned maintenance activities, more than 15,000 reactive maintenance works orders are processed each year, via the FM Service Hub.

This critical role will be managing various outsourced service and supply contracts within the Estates and Infrastructure department, ensuring that contracts are handled professionally and align with industry standards. The post holder will leverage their market insight and expertise to ensure value for money, while also supporting colleagues in developing contract management skills. This position is key to maintaining efficient and effective operations, providing guidance and commercial oversight.

It will provide occasional expertise and support for contracts across the wider PCS portfolio, such as contributing to cross‑functional collaboration and ensuring consistency in contract management standards, and inclusion of performance in reporting.

The ideal candidate will be a commercial professional with significant experience in the management of NEC and JCT standard forms of contract, including Term Serviced Contracts and supply and specialist services contracts, with a strong understanding of procurement, governance, risk and commercial management. They will have strong contract negotiation skills with extensive experience of managing the contract lifecycle. The focus on the role is the consistent drive to make a difference whilst forging and maintaining strong collaborative relationships.

We would welcome candidates from outside the HE sector.

This role offers a fantastic opportunity for a commercial professional to take up a critical role across a diverse, complex, and large‑scale estate portfolio in a vibrant city. The candidate brochure can be viewed at:
University of Liverpool – Contracts Manager

To learn more please contact our retained search advisors David Craven ( / ) lications should consist of a CV and cover letter and can be sent to

Mid‑Senior level

Full‑time

Project Management and Consulting

Higher Education, Hospitals and Health Care, and Housing and Community Development

The University is committed to providing an environment which recognises and values people's differences, capitalises on the strengths that those differences bring to the institution and supports all staff and students in maximising their potential to succeed. We are committed to equality of opportunity, to being fair and inclusive, and to being a place where all belong.

We therefore particularly encourage applications from candidates who are likely to be underrepresented in our workforce. These include people from Black, Asian and minority ethnic backgrounds, disabled people, LGBTQI+ people, and women.