Senior Commercial & Contracts Manager

Senior Commercial & Contracts Manager

Department: Commercial
Reporting to: COO / Sales & Marketing Director
Location: Hybrid – UK (with regular office and project engagement)
Contract: Permanent
Hours: Full time

Job Function

Role Overview

We are looking for a Senior Commercial & Contracts Manager to take ownership of commercial and contractual risk across complex energy and construction projects. This is a senior role requiring strong judgement, confidence, and experience operating in live commercial environments — not just contract review.

You will act as a commercial authority within the business, supporting sales, delivery and leadership teams to structure robust deals, negotiate balanced contracts, and ensure projects are commercially viable from bid stage through to completion.

This role is critical in protecting margin, managing risk, and improving commercial discipline as the business continues to grow across public sector and industrial & commercial markets.

Key Responsibilities

Commercial & Contractual Leadership

• Lead the commercial and contractual review of complex projects across energy, construction and infrastructure environments.
• Act as the internal authority on contract risk, commercial terms, and deal structure.
• Challenge assumptions, pricing, and risk positions where required — providing clear, practical recommendations rather than legal theory.

Contract Review, Negotiation & Deal Structuring

• Lead the review, negotiation and amendment of contracts including JCT (Design & Build), NEC, bespoke energy contracts, PPAs and framework agreements, ensuring commercially robust delivery of design and build lighting and solar projects across public sector tenders and frameworks (including the NHS) and private sector design and build environments.
• Lead the commercial negotiations with customers, consultants and counterparties alongside sales and senior management.
• Ensure contracts reflect agreed commercial positions, pricing models, risk allocation and delivery assumptions.

Pre-Contract & Bid Governance

• Support bid and sales teams during qualification, pricing and contract stages to ensure bids are commercially sound and contractually deliverable.
• Own the commercial governance process, ensuring appropriate approvals, risk reviews and sign-offs are completed before contract execution.
• Identify and clearly articulate key risks, mitigation strategies and fallback positions for senior decision-makers.

Risk Management & Margin Protection

• Identify contractual, commercial and delivery risks early and work with internal teams to mitigate or price them appropriately.
• Ensure margin protection mechanisms are embedded within contracts, including change control, compensation events and relief provisions.
• Support the business in moving away from overly onerous or one-sided contractual positions where they undermine delivery or profitability.

Delivery Handover & Ongoing Support

• Ensure smooth commercial handover from sales to delivery teams, with clear articulation of obligations, assumptions and risk areas.
• Provide ongoing commercial support during project delivery where required, including variations, claims and dispute avoidance.

Stakeholder Management

• Work closely with Sales, Finance, Operations, Project Delivery teams to ensure alignment between commercial intent and operational reality.
• Be able to manage and engage any external legal resource that is needed on complex contractual discussions.
• Build credibility and trust across the business as a pragmatic, commercially minded operator.

Skills & Experience
Essential

• Significant experience in a senior commercial or contracts role within energy, construction, infrastructure or complex engineering environments.
• Strong working knowledge of JCT contracts (particularly Design & Build), with the confidence to negotiate amendments rather than simply review.
• Proven experience operating in complex, high-value projects with multiple stakeholders and delivery risk.
• Strong commercial acumen — able to understand margin, cashflow, risk and delivery impacts of contractual decisions.
• Comfortable challenging senior stakeholders constructively and standing firm on key commercial principles.

Desirable

• Experience within energy, renewables, utilities or energy services (e.g. solar, lighting, CHP, infrastructure).
• Knowledge of NEC contracts and alternative contracting models.
• Experience with energy solution based contracts, service-based contracts or long-term performance-linked agreements.
• Commercial, quantity surveying or legal background (formal qualification beneficial but not essential).

Personal Attributes

• Commercially minded, not risk-averse for the sake of it.
• Clear communicator who can explain complex contractual issues in plain English.
• Confident, credible and calm under pressure.
• Pragmatic problem-solver with a delivery-focused mindset.
• Comfortable operating at senior level without needing excessive structure or hand-holding.

What We Offer

• A senior, influential role with real impact on how the business trades and delivers projects.
• Exposure to complex, high-value energy and construction projects.
• The opportunity to shape commercial discipline and contract strategy as the business grows.
• Competitive salary and benefits package, aligned to experience.

What We Offer

• Flexible working arrangements (on-site / remote hybrid).
• Opportunity to work on high-profile sustainability projects.
• A collaborative, supportive team environment.