Senior Contracts / Commercial Manager

Location: Belfast, United KingdomThales people architect solutions that are relied upon to deliver operational advantage at every decisive moment throughout the mission. Defence and armed forces customers rely on us to deliver the full range of defensive systems for land, sea, and air. From early warning, to threat neutralisation, our platforms cover all levels from very short-range systems, to extended protection across the entire battle-space including Airspace Mobility Solutions, Vehicles and Tactical Systems and Missile Defence, Optronics, and Radar.Together we offer fantastic opportunities for committed employees to learn and develop their career with us. At Thales UK, we research, develop, and supply technology and services that impact the lives of millions of people each day to make life better, and keep us safer. We innovate across five major industries; Aerospace, Defence, Ground Transportation, Security and Space. Your health and well-being matters to us and that’s why we offer you the flexibility to do what’s important to you; whether that’s part time hours, job sharing, home working, or the ability to flex your start and finish times. Where possible, we support a working pattern that suits your lifestyle and helps you reach your ambitions.

Job title:Senior Contracts / Commercial Manager

Location:Belfast, Northern Ireland (hybrid working arrangement – 3 days a week in the office)

Security clearance requirements:UK Eyes Only (sole British nationals)

Are you an experienced Contracts / Commercial Manager with experience working within the Defence sector? Are you looking for your next challenge where you’ll have the opportunity to work within a highly regarded team where you will be responsible for proactively managing and directly influencing our bids and projects? Then look no further…

We have a great Senior Contracts / Commercial Manager opportunity to join our Defence Commercial, Legal & Contracts team.

Core Benefits:

On offer is a competitive salary and benefits package, which includes;

Performance-related bonus

Half day every Friday, usually finishing around 13:00pm

28 days annual leave (plus bank holidays) plus opportunity to buy up to 40 hours/year (pro rata)

24 hours volunteering paid for

Private healthcare (grade dependent)

Pension scheme

Life cover

24/7 Employee Assistance Program and access to mental wellbeing app

Employee discount shopping schemes on major brands and retailers

Gym membership discount

Key responsibilities:

On a day-to-day basis you’ll be involved in:

Providing advice and recommendations to the business relationship agreements, bids and projects under their remit on commercial issues, risks, liabilities and opportunities

Commercial proposition development for major win-business campaigns.

Supporting senior management and where required participate in commercial negotiations with customer, consortium partners and in conjunction with Procurement, sub-contractors and other 3rd parties.

Providing bid and project teams advice, recommendations and costings pertaining to UK and International contracts in relation to Direct Selling Costs, including but not limited to Credit Insurance, Bank Guarantees and Letter of Credits.

Responding to and negotiating customers proposed contractual agreements and Contract ‘Changes’ and support senior management in the management of such changes, including the preparation, approval and negotiation.

Identifying and managing issues and disputes arising with customers in conjunction with the Legal function.

About you:

Ideally, you’ll:

Have a commercial background in the defence sector, with experience of managing contracts/risks and/or a legal background combined with commercial experience.

Have demonstrable experience working within in a complex, multi-disciplinary, multi-site organisation.

Possess multi-disciplinary qualifications e.g. LLB, Engineering, Finance, Programme Delivery – advantageous.

Be adept at building and managing relationships across all levels and throughout the identify, bidding, negotiation and delivery phases of bids/projects

Have proven analytical and written skills and the ability to understand pricing, risks and mitigation of contracts.

#LI-DNI

In line with Thales' Baseline Security requirements, candidates will be asked to provide evidence of identity, eligibility to work in the UK and employment and/or education history for up to three years. Some vacancies may require full Security Clearance which can require further evidence to be provided. For further details of the evidence required to apply for Baseline and Security Clearance please refer to the Defence Business Services National Security Vetting (DBS NSV) Agency.

At Thales we provide CAREERS and not only jobs. With Thales employing 80,000 employees in 68 countries our mobility policy enables thousands of employees each year to develop their careers at home and abroad, in their existing areas of expertise or by branching out into new fields. Together we believe that embracing flexibility is a smarter way of working.

Thales UK is committed to providing an inclusive and barrier-free recruitment process. We will provide reasonable adjustments and support to ensure neuro-diverse applicants or those with a disability or long-term condition can be their best during the recruitment process. To request an adjustment,if you need this job advert in an alternative format or if you have any questions about the recruitment process, please contact Resourcing Ops for mid to senior roles, or the Early Careers Team for graduate and apprentice roles.

Great journeys start here, apply now!