Commercial Contracts Manager

Job Introduction

Are contract negotiations your forte? Are you experienced in reading large contracts and extracting relevant information? Are you accustomed to working with clients and can handle difficult conversations?

We are recruiting for an experienced Commercial Contracts Manager who has worked within Facilities Management and Hard Service Projects. If you have experience working with specialised building contracts or have QS experience that would be a bonus but is not essential.

You will represent Sodexo Corporate Services on commercial matters (legal, financial and risk management internally and externally) and will take the commercial management lead on bids and commercial management activity in the UK.

The overarching aim of the Commercial Team is to support the business in making sound commercial decisions to balance the challenges of maximising financial return whilst minimising risk.

Although the role is home based The job holder will be expected to attend monthly team meetings in Salford (Manchester) and will be expected to travel widely within the UK and occasionally Ireland.

Role Responsibility

• Negotiate contracts effectively in conjunction with Sodexo legal, Operations and Sales teams - to achieve beneficial contract terms, mitigate risks and maximise financial returns.
• Deliver support to sales activities including solution development, commercial overview, risk management, submission wording for bids, NDA & confidentiality agreement reviews and contract negotiation.
• Responsible for the commercial lifecycle of assigned contracts including agreement of the best terms for Sodexo and management of contract changes to facilitate organic growth
• Support account teams to maximise organic growth opportunities and deliver effective dispute resolution with clients.
• ‘Trouble shoot’ where directed, proactively analyse, find a solution for and resolve these issues, reducing losses, avoiding risks and by these actions increasing profitability.
• Ensure that all assigned contracts are managed in line with Sodexo delegations of authority
• Deliver commercial education of operational teams aimed at improving the commercial effectiveness of the business

The Ideal Candidate

• Relevant experience of commercial management, procurement, quantity surveying, operations, with a familiarity with legal contracts ideally in a facilities management environment.
• Familiar with legal terms and conditions, comfortable around financial information and financial models and the ability to translate sales proposals into firm contracts
• Experience of negotiation and strategies to deliver acceptable contracts to Sodexo Corporate Services.
• Qualification to degree level (less important than relative business experience)
• Excellent negotiation skills.
• Excellent interpersonal skills, the ability to build rapport with clients to assist resolution of issues and work effectively within the Corporate Services team.
• Ability to coach operational and sales teams to increase their commercial awareness.

About the Company

In the UK and Ireland, Sodexo employs some 35,000 employees to deliver integrated facilities management services to clients at over 2,000 locations in the corporate, healthcare, education, leisure, defence and justice sectors. With an annual turnover of over £1bn, we provide everything from catering, cleaning and reception to security, laboratory and grounds maintenance services, enabling our clients to focus on their core business.

We are building on our support to the Armed Forces community through the development of specific pathways within our recruitment process to  support ex-forces personnel and reservists, those applying for jobs with us who meet the ideal candidate criteria for the role advertised are guaranteed to progress to the selection process