Commercial & Contracts Manager

The Commercial and Contracts Manager will be responsible for managing and safeguarding the commercial and contractual aspects of all projects, partnerships, and frameworks within the Innovation and New Technologies business unit. This role plays a critical part in ensuring that innovation-led projects move beyond pilots and become scalable, profitable, and contractually sound solutions.

Combining elements of financial modelling, contract negotiation, legal compliance, and risk management, this position bridges the finance, legal and business development functions. It ensures that every offering brought to market is financially viable, legally compliant, and commercially protected. The role supports the commercial structuring of new projects and enables sustainable growth by protecting project margins and aligning contractual frameworks with strategic objectives.

Business unit
:
Innovation and New Technologies

Location:Midrand Office (Hybrid work model)

Reports to:Business Unit Head:
Innovation and New Technologies

Type:Full-time, Permanent

Remuneration: Market-related

• Develop detailed pricing models, cost structures, business cases, and financial analyses, including net present value, internal rate of return, payback periods, and margin assessments.
• Support project teams in designing financially viable and competitive offerings across infrastructure, energy, water and technology sectors.
• Structure billing mechanisms, including milestone-based payments, mobilisation advances, and receivables schedules to ensure healthy cash flow.
• Monitor and safeguard project and portfolio profitability, with a minimum target project margin of 18% and an overall business unit margin of at least 30%.
• Contribute to annual revenue growth targets (minimum 15% year-on-year) by enabling commercially robust and bankable solutions.

• Draft, review, and negotiate contracts, service level agreements, memorandums of understanding, and long-term framework agreements.
• Ensure all contracts and commercial activities comply with relevant South African legislation, including the Public Finance Management Act, the Protection of Personal Information Act, and applicable international standards such as ISO 9001.
• Proactively manage contract risk by addressing common challenges such as scope creep, vendor delays, health and safety responsibilities, and liability exposure.
• Maintain and update a library of standardised contract templates and playbooks to ensure consistency and reduce negotiation timelines.
• Liaise with internal and external legal counsel where necessary to resolve contract disputes or assess risk.

• Work closely with the growth and delivery leads to structure commercially sound proposals, bids, and diagnostic reports.
• Stress-test bids and commercial offers for financial viability and legal compliance before submission.
• Participate in early-stage client engagements and discovery workshops to ensure that commercial considerations are integrated from the outset.
• Provide strategic input into client negotiations to protect Zimile’s commercial interests while enabling long-term partnerships.
• Support the achievement of at least five new contracted opportunities per year by contributing to the conversion of proposals into signed agreements.

• Maintain the business unit’s commercial risk register, identifying and mitigating risks related to pricing, payment terms, compliance and financial exposure.
• Align with the organisation’s project management office processes and approval stage-gates, ensuring that all required commercial documentation is in place at each stage.
• Track and report on contract performance and commercial key performance indicators to the head of the business unit and relevant governance forums.
• Participate in post-project reviews to assess financial outcomes and capture lessons learned.

• Strong communication and interpersonal skills.
• High attention to detail and strong administrative capability.
• Ability to manage multiple priorities and meet deadlines.
• Discreet,…