Contracts Manager (Procurement)

Vacancy details

The Contracts Manager position is a newly created opportunity that is full time and permanent. In this exciting new role, you will implement and manage our firm’s procurement and supplier management policies and processes. This role offers varied and interesting responsibilities, from policy management through to procurement data maintenance and reporting. As the Contracts Manager you will play an important role in supporting budget holders across our growing firm to source and manage suppliers in line with our firms’ policies and procedures.

This hybrid role can be performed from any one of our seven UK offices. We offer a rewarding benefits package that includes:

• Private Healthcare
• Income Protection
• Life Assurance
• Annual leave of 26 days plus Bank Hols
• Additional Christmas Leave
• Pension Scheme.
• And more

Role: Contracts Manager
Location: Firm Wide
Hours: Full Time
Term: Permanent
Vacancy Reference: 1256-BBL

Who we are

You’ll be joining a national law firm that enjoys a strong reputation, made possible by our exceptional people – each chosen for their industry knowledge and passion for their field. We want to help you to reach your full potential, love the work you do and deliver the best results for your clients. It’s our goal to make you feel great about working with us, and we work hard to cultivate a culture that makes it easy for you to stay with us for many years.

We work flexibly and you’ll be empowered to work where you do your best work, balancing your individual needs with the need for us to engage as teams and deliver excellent client service.

Most of our people choose to work in a hybrid fashion, working from home and attending our offices on occasion. Our offices are in Bristol, Birmingham, Cardiff, London, Manchester, Southampton, and Taunton.

Day to day, you’ll be successful in this role by:

Support the promotion, maintenance and roll-out of the Firm’s procurement policy and processes, anticipating change to the procurement landscape and proactively making recommendations for change.
Manage the procurement inbox, coordinating with budget holders and internal stakeholders (such as Risk and ISDP) to ensure the Firm’s procurement policy and processes are adhered to.
Provide training and support for any budget holders / support staff on procurement policy and processes.
Propose updates or changes to the procurement policy and process where relevant, and where opportunities for improvement are identified.
Support the development of any standard policies where they are linked to the Firm’s procurement policy or process (e.g. in relation ESG or Standard Terms and Conditions)
Maintain centralised contract repository for all suppliers, to be systematised over time, with key details such as contract termination / renewal dates.
Centrally coordinate and assess supplier adherence to our internal policies, raising any non-adherence with the business owner for the relevant supplier.
Take the lead on and establish mechanisms for reporting key supplier information to key stakeholders (including for bids & tenders, Lexcel and ESG for example).
Take a lead role in the design and implementation of a contracts database across the Firm’ support functions with internal Project Management support.
Support budget holders with the monitoring of supplier performance against contracted SLA / KPIs and provide support to budget holders when remedial action is required to resolve supplier performance issues.
Support budget holders when contracting with new suppliers, including co-ordinating input and review from Risk, Finance, Commercial and Employment teams.
Provide support to budget holders during the drafting of wording for all parts of the contract cycle (renewal, variations, extensions, and terminations); bank of standard Firm approved clauses and the supplier code of conduct to be maintained and updated periodically with the Risk and ISDP teams.
Work closely with budget holders to maintain a firm-wide sourcing plan, identifying when major contracts are due for renewal or when rolling contracts need to be reviewed.
Work with budget holders to plan timely commencement of contract renewals, sourcing processes, contract extensions and contract terminations.
Owner of the newly designed procurement process, ensuring that the process is completed swiftly, bringing in stakeholders /authorisers at the right time; be the ‘glue’ to ensure the process is followed efficiently and fully, bringing in people at the right time.
Support Risk and ISDP team when they are undertaking periodic risk reviews of suppliers (e.g. assessing insurance cover levels, minimum supplier accreditations held)

Support ad hoc supplier compliance or profiling reviews as required (e.g. for ISO27001 audits, ESG and / or tender requirements).

This role is right for you if:

You are CIPS qualified or similar and have previous experience of procurement processes and policies with significant experience of what constitutes best practice.
You have previous experience in a Contract Management (including commercial terms) or a Contract Administration role.
You will have experience of supplier management and stakeholder management, and Industry experience in the legal sector or in a regulated professional services environment.
You will understand current legal regulatory compliance and ESG issues and agendas.
You will be a commercial individual who, through confident communication skills is able to build positive working relationships with senior stakeholders.

If you have 75% of the skills and experience listed above, we welcome your application.

What we can offer you:

A career at Clarke Willmott will feel different to other law firms. We thrive on our individual differences and diversity because as a team, we are united by our shared values and mutual respect. Working with us you will feel empowered, valued and free to be yourself in a safe and supportive environment.

Our mission is to help you realise your full potential whilst maintaining a positive work-life balance. We provide a comprehensive learning and development programme and a range of wellbeing initiatives to support your career journey.

There’s no doubt we expect the best from our people and even the occasional extra mile. In return, your dedication and commitment to the continued success of the firm will be rewarded with a comprehensive range of flexible benefits.

Listen to what a few members of our team have to say about what life here at Clarke Willmott is really like, to see if it’s the right fit for you.

Apply

If you would like to apply for this vacancy, please send us your CV and covering letter using the form below.

(If you have any difficulties with the form, you can email your application to us at careers@clarkewillmott.com)

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