Costain Group
Senior Commercial Manager
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Costain’s strong pipeline of work across the sectors in which we operate, alongside our strategic growth ambitions of being an engineering led business has given rise to a full time Senior Commercial Manager being required within our in-house Engineering Services team.
You will be accountable for the management and continuous improvement of our contractual engagement and commercial governance systems across our engineering and design service offering, as well as the effective control of all commercial risks, liabilities, exposures, and opportunities to ensure business profitability.
The role will report directly to the Group Director of Engineering Services and offers a hybrid working arrangement predominantly based in London, Manchester or Aberdeen.
At Costain, we believe diverse perspectives drive innovation. If you’re passionate about making a positive impact and think you can bring value to our team, we’d love to hear from you—even if you don’t tick every box. Your unique skills and experiences could be exactly what we need.
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Responsibilities
Commercial Strategy & Leadership
- Lead the commercial function for our Engineering Services team, establishing rigid processes for contract negotiation and set up and ensuring appropriate governance procedures are followed
Contract Management
- Oversee the set up and execution of Internal Trading Agreements and Sub-contract Professional Services Agreements for the delivery of all in-house engineering and design services
Risk & Opportunity
- Identify commercial risks and opportunities early in the project lifecycle, preventing unforeseen challenges and "scope creep" to ensure smooth design delivery which is aligned to the agreed contractual mechanism and payment terms
Financial Reporting
- Manage WIP (Work in Progress), monthly cost-value reconciliations (CVR), profit & margin management and internal cross-charging between the Engineering Services consultancy and Costain Sectors
Procurement
- Oversee the selection, management and engagement with external 3rd party designers or sub-contractors required to facilitate engineering delivery, ensuring their terms are back-to-back with our primary obligations
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Change Control
- Rigorously manage the change process, ensuring that any variations in design scope are captured, costed, and approved
Sector Knowledge
- Deep understanding of engineering design phases and cycles across the primary infrastructure sectors and how they impact large-scale construction projects
Continuous Improvement
- Commitment to the development of new or improved commercial procedures, systems and processes aligned with Costain’s strategic objectives and growth ambitions
Knowledge, Skills and Experience
- Significant experience in commercial management, ideally with a mix of consultancy (fee-based) and contracting (delivery-based) experience in the construction industry
- Demonstrable financial and commercial acumen
- A practical, strategic and innovative approach to problem-solving with strong analytical skills and ability to maintain a measured approach in a challenging and dynamic commercial environment
- Excellent communication, negotiation and customer facing skills who can speak the language of both design engineers and sector side / site-based project managers
- Proficient in technical minute taking at contractual meetings and able to demonstrate the ability to collate information and prepare financial reports, applications for payment etc
- Understanding of commercial priorities and risks within a fee/rate based engineering consultancy service
- Proficient in financial monitoring and reporting procedures including cost value reconciliation and profit & loss reporting
- Proficient in developing & implementing procurement and contract strategies, and in drafting effective contractual correspondence
- Proven team-working and team management skills demonstrating the ability to motivate, inspire, persuade and lead teams to deliver to or above target levels of performance
- Demonstrable legal, contractual and construction knowledge and experience including NEC3/4
- Proficient in implementing and delivering strategic objectives and associated change programmes
Desirable
- The ability to constantly improve and evolve as a commercial leader, taking account of and enabling company strategy and growth ambitions
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Qualifications
Essential
- RICS / CICES accredited degree qualification
- Full Membership of RICS or CICES
Costain helps to improve people’s lives with integrated, leading edge, smart infrastructure solutions across the UK’s energy, water, transportation and defence markets. We help our clients improve their business performance by increasing capacity, improving customer service, safeguarding security, enhancing resilience, decarbonising and delivering increased efficiency. Our vision is to be the UK’s leading smart infrastructure solutions company. We will achieve this by focusing on blue chip clients whose major spending plans are underpinned by strategic national needs, regulatory commitments, legislation or essential performance requirements. We offer our clients leading edge solutions that are digitally optimised through the following five services which cover the whole lifecycle of their assets: future-shaping strategic consultancy; consultancy and advisory; digital technology solutions; asset optimisation and complex programme delivery. Our culture and values underpin everything we do.
Costain appreciate the time and effort taken when applying for one of our positions but, due to the high volume of responses, we are unable to provide individual feedback on candidates at application phase.
We do share individual feedback following an interview.
A Disability Confident employer will generally offer an interview to any applicant that disclose they have a disability and meets the minimum criteria for the job as defined by the employer.
It is important to note that in certain recruitment situations such as high-volume, seasonal and high-peak times, the employer may wish to limit the overall numbers of interviews offered to both disabled people and non-disabled people.
For more details please go to the Disability Confident website: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/disability-confident-campaign
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