Senior Contracts Manager

SF Partners are working with a business in Birmingham who are looking for a Senior Contracts Manager on an interim basis until March 2027
£650 per day (Umbrella Inside IR35)

The Opportunity

Reporting into the Commercial Leadership Team, you'll take ownership of a portfolio of high-value professional services and corporate contracts, providing expert commercial guidance across multiple business functions.

You'll work closely with project teams, procurement, engineering, finance, legal and senior leadership, ensuring robust contract administration, effective governance and commercially sound decision-making.

This is a highly visible role where you'll have the opportunity to influence strategy, manage commercial risk and support the development of both projects and people.

Key Responsibilities
Lead the commercial administration and management of NEC and other professional services contracts across major projects.
Provide expert advice and commercial assurance to project teams, senior managers and directors.
Drive best practice in contract management, ensuring consistency, governance and compliance across the organisation.
Lead on contract change management, preparing and reviewing change instructions and ensuring all changes progress through the appropriate governance processes.
Assess and negotiate compensation events, quotations and contractual variations to achieve commercially beneficial outcomes.
Monitor supplier performance, contract expenditure and delivery against agreed objectives.
Identify commercial risks early and develop practical mitigation strategies to protect project outcomes.
Support dispute avoidance and resolution, working collaboratively with legal and commercial specialists where required.
Develop contract management plans and performance monitoring processes that maximise value throughout the contract lifecycle.
Build strong working relationships across Procurement, Engineering, Construction, Legal, Finance and Risk functions.
Produce high-quality commercial reports, recommendations and business cases to support senior decision-making.
Mentor, coach and support Contract Managers and junior commercial professionals, helping to develop capability across the wider team.
Champion continuous improvement and drive commercial excellence across all contract activities.
About You

We're looking for a commercially astute professional who combines strong technical knowledge with excellent stakeholder management skills.

You'll ideally bring:

Significant experience managing complex NEC and professional services contracts within infrastructure, construction, engineering, transport or other major capital programmes.
A proven track record of leading contract administration through the full project lifecycle.
Strong experience managing contract changes, compensation events and commercial negotiations.
Excellent knowledge of commercial governance, risk management and contract compliance.
Experience working on publicly funded or highly regulated projects would be advantageous.
Outstanding communication, influencing and relationship-building skills.
The ability to analyse commercial information and make sound, evidence-based decisions