Contracts Manager (Purchasing) in St Helens

Knauf stands for opportunity. We know that opportunity looks different to each person, and we are proud that we see opportunity in everyone. This exciting role within Knauf Insulation in the Purchasing Team could be the perfect next opportunity for you to build a unique career, in a values-led culture with a clear purpose of making tomorrow a home for all of us. We are a global manufacturer of construction materials and within our Group, our 41,500 team members in 90 countries across 300 sites provide a huge opportunity for anyone with ambition and energy. We value everyone's contribution equally and we ask that you bring your whole self to work, to enrich the business further, as together we achieve more in a safe and inclusive environment.

As our Contracts Manager, you will lead high‑value, multi‑site tenders and contracts that underpin all regional manufacturing operations and establish the contracting and procurement foundations for a new plant program. You will guide and support those around you, and embed best practice and compliance, whilst driving supplier performance against contractual obligations to protect value.

What you’ll be doing:

• Autonomously lead regional, multi‑site operational tenders and enterprise contracts that serve all manufacturing sites, including establishing logistics and other operational services to enable the new plant start‑up.
• Develop, implement and maintain contracting processes, templates and governance in line with regional and central Purchasing and Supply Chain policy; embed compliance and supplier performance management across sites.
• Oversee post‑award supplier performance against the contract, ensuring obligations, KPIs and programme milestones are delivered safely on time and to quality; manage change control, claims and commercial outcomes.
• Build capability by mentoring colleagues, sharing best practice and improving data quality, reporting and process efficiency.

What we’d love for you to have:

• Experience of leading complex negotiations across multiple manufacturing sites.
• Highly experienced in the use of SAP.
• Attained or working towards CIPS accreditation.
• Proactive and creative in finding solutions that will positively impact the organisation.
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills.
• Excellent level of MS Office proficiency - Excel (e.g. pivots, lookups), Outlook, Word.
• Highly numerate with demonstrable analytical skills.
• Strong organisation and time management ability.
• Attention to Detail, Tenacity & Problem Solving.

We’ll provide:

• Enhanced Holiday Pay – 33 days including bank holidays plus the opportunity to purchase more.
• 16 weeks Company Sick Pay after 3 months of service.
• Group Income Protection.
• Enhanced Maternity, Paternity and Adoption packages.
• Life Assurance – 4 x annual salary.
• Defined Contribution Pension Scheme.
• Staff Bonus Scheme.
• Employee Assistance Programme through Health Assured.
• Westfield Health Cash Plan.
• Access to Costco Membership.
• Wickes Employee Purchase Scheme.
• Wellbeing Initiatives and Mental Health First Aiders.
• Car Salary Sacrifice Scheme.
• Cycle to work scheme.

Knauf Insulation welcomes applications from everyone and is committed to treating everyone equally, regardless of: age; sex; disability; ethnicity; gender identity; religion/belief; sexual orientation; marriage/civil partnership or pregnancy/maternity. In particular, we encourage applications from people from a minority background or from demographics that are underrepresented in the manufacturing industry. We are a Disability Confident Committed (Level 1) and take care to ensure good EDI (Equality, Diversity & Inclusion) practices in all our operations. If you are invited to an interview, a member of our team will be in touch via email to enquire about any access requirements or reasonable adjustments that we can make for your interview.