MERITUS are recruiting for a Commercial Manager to join our client in the defence industry on an initial 6 month contract from their site in Portsmouth.

COMMERCIAL MANAGER - MUST HAVE LIVE SC CLEARANCE - INSIDE IR35 - £48 PER HOUR - 6 MONTHS - MOD EXPERIENCE - PORTSMOUTH (60:40 SPLIT ONSITE TIME) - SECTOR: DEFENCE

Reporting directly to the UK Head of Department within the Commercial and Contracts function, you will be responsible for managing a range of Contractual and Commercial topics including:

• Providing Commercial support to complex bids which require innovation and creativity
• Ongoing management of contracts ranging in values and up to hundreds of millions
• Providing Commercial support to manage change on existing contracts
• Reviewing and Leading the negotiation of a variety of contractual agreements
• Working closely with and managing key stakeholders to deliver profitable solutions ensuring that Commercial risks are highlighted, mitigated and governance is followed
• Working with the procurement organisation to advise on key contractual obligations and risks, ensuring flow down of key terms
• Managing in accordance with company procedures and contractual requirements, to ensure efficient and accurate performance
• Developing relationship with customers to ensure smooth running of existing contracts
• Working flexibly to provide support to the wider business in order to provide commercial guidance and management
• Employing commercial best practice, efficiency and responsiveness within an ethical environment

Skill Set

Essential skills & experience:

• Demonstrated experience within the commercial field
• Experience in a customer facing role
• Experience in a competitive bid situation
• Proven negotiation and contract management skills
• Excellent stakeholder management skills with the ability to interact and influence across a range of stakeholders
• Knowledge of the defence industry
• Attention to detail
• Problem solving ability
• Understands the principles of project management, risk management and finance
• Security cleared or ability to pass clearance at SC level

Desirable skills & experience

• Cross-functional interaction with projects, finance, engineering and sales
• Experience working with the UK MOD on a range of proposals and contracts
• Knowledge of Single Source Regulations and contracting in accordance with the Defence Reform Act
• Experience in preparing and executing winning proposals
• A self-starter, capable of delivering a high quality complex workload with minimum supervision
• Experience in the subject of continuous improvement