Senior Commercial Manager

Position: Senior Commercial Manager – Major Defence Facility Programme

Location: East Midlands

Duration: 12 Months+ Contract

Overview

An exceptional opportunity has arisen for an experienced Senior Commercial Manager to join a nationally significant infrastructure and advanced manufacturing programme. The role will support the development and delivery of a major production facility project within a highly regulated environment, requiring robust commercial leadership from concept and design development through to construction delivery and handover. The successful candidate will play a critical role in shaping commercial strategy during the Early Contractor Involvement (ECI) phase, establishing collaborative delivery models, managing NEC4 contractual frameworks, and ensuring commercial governance across a complex multi-billion-pound programme. This role demands a commercially astute professional with extensive experience of major capital projects, ideally within nuclear, defence, infrastructure, energy, or similarly regulated sectors.

Key Responsibilities

• Commercial Leadership
• Lead all commercial activities across the project lifecycle from pre-construction through delivery.
• Develop and implement commercial strategies aligned to programme objectives, risk allocation principles, and value-for-money requirements.
• Provide commercial leadership to multidisciplinary project teams, consultants, contractors, and supply chain partners.
• Support senior stakeholders in commercial decision-making and governance approvals.
• Early Contractor Involvement (ECI)
• Lead commercial engagement during ECI phases to establish delivery strategies and target cost development.
• Facilitate collaborative working arrangements between client, designers, contractors, and key supply chain partners.
• Develop commercial mechanisms that promote innovation, programme certainty, risk mitigation, and cost transparency.
• Assess and challenge contractor proposals, build-up rates, assumptions, and cost models.
• Support procurement and market engagement activities to secure optimum delivery outcomes.
• NEC4 Contract Management
• Act as the subject matter expert for NEC4 contractual arrangements.
• Draft, negotiate, administer, and manage NEC4 contracts, including ECC Option C, D and associated secondary options where applicable.
• Ensure compliance with NEC4 processes relating to compensation events, early warnings, programme management, and change control.
• Provide strategic guidance on contractual risk management and dispute avoidance.
• Support the development and implementation of NEC4 governance procedures across the programme.
• Cost Management & Controls
• Oversee project cost planning, forecasting, reporting, and change management activities.
• Review contractor applications, assessments, target cost submissions, and final account negotiations.
• Ensure accurate cost visibility and commercial reporting for senior leadership and governance boards.
• Monitor programme performance against approved budgets and commercial targets.
• Drive continuous improvement and value engineering initiatives.
• Risk & Opportunity Management
• Lead commercial risk identification, quantification, allocation, and mitigation strategies.
• Support integrated risk workshops with project teams and contractors.
• Ensure commercial risks and opportunities are appropriately reflected within target costs and programme forecasts.
• Develop contingency management strategies aligned with programme requirements.
• Stakeholder Management
• Build effective relationships with senior client representatives, contractors, consultants, regulators, and supply chain partners.
• Present commercial recommendations and reports to executive leadership teams and governance forums.
• Support audits, assurance reviews, and regulatory engagements where required.

Essential Experience

• Significant commercial management experience on large-scale capital projects valued in excess of £100m.
• Demonstrable experience leading commercial activities during Early Contractor Involvement (ECI) phases.
• Extensive NEC4 contract management experience, including administration of NEC4 ECC contracts.
• Proven track record managing complex commercial relationships within highly regulated environments.
• Experience of target cost development, cost assurance, change control, and commercial governance.
• Strong understanding of procurement strategies and contractor engagement models.
• Experience leading commercial teams and managing multiple stakeholder interfaces.

Desirable Experience

• Experience within defence, aerospace, nuclear, major infrastructure, energy, rail, or similarly regulated sectors.
• Experience of collaborative contracting models and alliance-style delivery arrangements.
• Familiarity with government-funded or publicly regulated programmes.
• Experience supporting manufacturing facility, industrial plant, or complex engineering projects.

Qualifications

• Degree qualified in Quantity Surveying, Commercial Management, Construction Management, Law, Engineering, or related discipline.
• Chartered status preferred (MRICS, FRICS, MCIOB, MICES or equivalent).
• NEC4 Accreditation or Advanced NEC qualifications highly desirable.
• Relevant professional memberships preferred.
• Ideally holds a current BPSS Clearance.
• SC Status is highly desired but not essential.