Subcontract Manager

Location:

London, London, United Kingdom Job : R0147697

Date Posted:

Company Name:

Hitachi Rail GTS UK Limited Profession (Job Category):

Customer Service & Contact Center Operations

Job Schedule:

Full time

Work Arrangement:

Hybrid About UsA career at Hitachi Rail will help create a legacy. With operations in every corner of the world, our work goes to the cutting-edge of digital transformation and technology. From the multi-cultural strength of our global organisation to the sustainable and innovative ways we work to bring people together, there’s something for everyone to get stuck into. And that’s where you come in.

Job Description:

Your new role

The Subcontract Manager is responsible for developing, managing and strengthening effective, collaborative relationships with key strategic suppliers and selected external clients. The role focuses on building trust-based partnerships, influencing supplier behaviours, negotiating balanced outcomes and driving continuous improvement across performance, capability and delivery.

This role places a strong emphasis on interpersonal skills, stakeholder engagement, and relationship ownership. The role holder acts as the primary interface between the organisation, its suppliers, and, where appropriate, external clients, ensuring expectations are aligned and issues are managed constructively.

The role requires regular external engagement and the flexibility to travel to supplier premises, client locations and operational or project sites on an ad-hoc basis. This is a hybrid working role with 2 days in the office.

Key Responsibilities:

Supplier Relationship Management
· Act as the primary relationship owner for allocated key and strategic suppliers.
· Build and maintain long-term, trust-based relationships that support organisational, supplier and client objectives.
· Develop and maintain Supplier Relationship Plans where appropriate, including engagement cadence, joint objectives, and improvement initiatives.
· Facilitate regular supplier reviews, including senior-level and executive engagement where required, and ensure monthly or quarterly supplier 360 scoring and feedback is completed to support reporting cycles.

External Client Engagement
· Support engagement with external clients to help align suppliers, delivery teams, and client expectations.
· Assist in joint meetings with suppliers and clients as a professional point of contact.
· Contribute to client discussions on supplier capability, performance, risk, and improvement plans.

Negotiation, Influence & Issue Resolution
· Work with Project Procurement Managers to negotiate with suppliers, focusing on collaboration, value creation, and sustainable outcomes rather than purely contractual leverage.
· Influence supplier behaviours through effective communication, credibility and relationship management.
· Proactively manage emerging issues, resolving conflict at the lowest possible level and avoiding formal escalation wherever possible.

Performance & Continuous Improvement
· Monitor supplier performance using agreed metrics, with a strong focus on continuous improvement rather than punitive enforcement.
· Collaborate with suppliers and the quality assurance team to determine the root causes of underperformance, and agree on corrective or improvement actions.
· Encourage innovation, efficiency improvements and best-practice sharing across the supplier base.

Internal Stakeholder Management
· Act as a key interface between suppliers and internal stakeholders (projects, engineering, quality, operations, commercial).
· Manage competing priorities and expectations through clear communication, influence and stakeholder alignment.
· Provide insight to internal teams and leadership on supplier capability, risks, constraints and…