Senior Commercial Manager/Associate Commercial Manager in Cheshire, Warrington

Arcadis is excited to be expanding its Nuclear team, specifically focusing on Civil and Defence Nuclear across the country. We are seeking a collaborative and detail‑oriented Senior Commercial Manager who will play a pivotal role in the successful delivery of multiple projects, working closely with the Commercial Director and the wider project team.

This role involves leading the contract management of one or more of the most high‑profile, complex, and strategic contracts. Additionally, you will oversee the commercial management of other supply chain contracts and manage allocated procurement activities for the project.

You will be expected to operate with a high degree of autonomy, ensuring effective stakeholder engagement while adhering to the commercial and broader business governance frameworks, processes, and procedures.

The role encompasses key responsibilities such as driving performance management, risk mitigation, issue resolution, financial oversight, change control and ensuring overall contract and statutory compliance. A strong emphasis will also be placed on striving for continuous improvement across all areas of responsibility.

You could be part of establishing a major programme, offering you the opportunity to contribute to the successful delivery of a national infrastructure project. While this is a fast‑paced and exciting challenge, you should be comfortable with uncertainty, ambiguity and change.

Role Accountabilities

• Lead the management of one or more of the organization's most high‑profile, complex and strategic contracts, ensuring successful delivery and compliance.
• Oversee contract‑related activities, including contract mobilisation, performance management, innovation and improvement initiatives, contract amendments, risk management and contract transition and exit strategies.
• Ensure effective stakeholder engagement, governance and performance management frameworks, while handling escalation, risk management, issue resolution, financial oversight, change control and compliance.
• Manage contract variations, offering practical advice and strategic direction to ensure alignment with organisational goals.
• Evaluate contract performance to ensure a successful return on investment, considering value‑for‑money principles.
• Oversee the realisation of benefits achieved through performance management regimes or change control, addressing non‑delivery issues and escalating when necessary.
• Manage risk and reward mechanisms within contracts, including the development and monitoring of key performance indicators (KPIs).
• Build and nurture collaborative strategic relationships to deliver mutual benefits, ensuring collaborative success for all parties involved.
• Hold suppliers accountable for meeting their contractual commitments, effectively and efficiently resolving any disputes that arise.
• Maintain the quality and currency of systems, reporting and management information to support informed decision‑making.
• Align with project strategies and broader government commercial policies, considering internal and external influences and best practices, such as those from the Infrastructure and Projects Authority, Government Commercial Function, National Audit Office and professional associations.

Qualifications & Experience

• Degree in a related field preferred or demonstrable professional experience.
• Chartered Member (or working towards) or Fellow of a relevant professional body (e.g. RICS, ICE, IACM, CIARB).
• Ideally you bring experience working within the Nuclear sector; however a background within any regulated environment (e.g. Rail, Water, Energy etc.) will also be considered.
• Proven experience managing contracts of medium to high complexity, value or risk, with a strong understanding of contract management principles and end‑to‑end commercial lifecycle management.
• Experience in procuring complex consultancy, construction and engineering contracts for major projects, with an understanding of public sector procurement legislation (e.g. Procurement Act 2023) and national strategies.
• Strong commercial knowledge with the ability to apply commercial principles within the boundaries of contract law. Demonstrates the capability to secure "value for money" by achieving a good return on investment in commercial projects.
• Skilled in analysing risks, understanding margins of error and developing well‑reasoned recommendations to support effective decision‑making.
• Ability to communicate and enforce ethical standards to prevent corruption, fraud and unethical practices in supply chains, and take appropriate actions when breaches occur.
• Demonstrates the ability to lead and inspire a confident, high‑performing team, fostering a positive and inclusive environment, and implementing change by collaborating with affected stakeholders to overcome challenges.
• Strong stakeholder engagement skills, with the ability to present technical advice persuasively to influence internal and external decision‑making. Clearly articulates commercial motivations and expected behaviours of stakeholders, suppliers and networks.
• Skilled in managing trade‑offs and contradictions within complex contracts, understanding their broader impact and consequences. Challenges conventional approaches within established frameworks to achieve better outcomes.
• You should be eligible to complete Baseline Personnel Security Standard (BPSS) working at OFFICIAL level. Ideally would hold UKSV Security Clearance (or have the eligibility to gain).

Equal Opportunity

We want you to be able to bring your best self to work every day which is why we take equality and inclusion seriously and hold ourselves to account for our actions. Our ambition is to be an employer of choice and provide a great place to work for all our people. We believe that by working together diverse people with different experiences develop the most innovative ideas. Equality, diversity and inclusion is at the heart of how we improve quality of life and we work closely with our people across six ED&I Workstreams: Age, Disability, Faith, Gender, LGBT+ and Race. A diverse and skilled workforce is essential to our success.