Commercial Officer

We're looking for a Commercial Officer to join our team based from our Advanced Manufacturing Facility in Ampthill, Bedfordshire.

This role benefits from our 4xFlex working pattern, offering a 4-day working week Monday - Thursday and hybrid working. Onsite working days are Monday and Tuesday, with Wednesday and Thursday worked from home subject to business needs.

This is an exciting opportunity to join a high-performing commercial team as Commercial Officer supporting complex and mission-critical programmes. The role offers the chance to work across the full contract lifecycle, build valuable stakeholder relationships, and contribute to programmes that deliver meaningful impact at both regional and national level.

The individual selected for this role will be responsible for delivering contracts management activities across the full spectrum of commercial actions associated with the provision of supplies and services — from capture and proposal development through contract award and all phases of contract administration.

Close collaboration with programme management, finance, legal, engineering, business development and compliance teams is a key requirement, providing trusted support to Programs and ensuring contracts are managed appropriately to support both customer outcomes and business objectives.

The commercial team act as a primary interface with customer representatives, building strong professional relationships and supporting negotiations. Success depends on the ability of the team to navigate complex contractual challenges, resolve issues effectively and deliver practical, commercially sound solutions, with this role providing support as part of the wider Commercial team.

As an authorised representative of the business, all Commercial positions are required to ensure that all contractual activities comply with applicable laws, regulations and internal governance requirements. The role also supports audits, and provides the opportunity to contribute to continuous improvement of contract practices, and embed best-in-class approaches across the organisation.

The successful candidate must achieve the appropriate level (SC) of security clearance. More details can be found here

Required Skills, Qualifications And Experience

• Demonstrable experience as a Commercial Officer or similar Contracts Management role
• Involvement in complex bids and high-value programmes
• Confident at working with some supervision from line management and able to manage own workload to meet priority tasks on your responsible programme.
• Often sought out as a “go to person” for knowledge and analytical skills you possess in the commercial domain.
• Collaboratively resolves issues within the team as and when they arise and uses own initiative
• Demonstrate a desire to understand issues which are technical and detailed in nature and you will demonstrate an appetite to resolve problems of reasonable complexity.
• Comfortable operating in a fast-paced, deadline-driven contracts and bid environment, with a mindset that embraces challenge
• Considers meeting deadlines with a quality output essential and be able to identify and de-conflict workload issues with Line Management as and when required so that priority work can be managed.
• Proactively fact find and construct positions on contractual issues in support of resolution of issues Confidence to review, interpret and negotiate contractual terms with support and supervision from Commercial Managers.
• Present the commercial position at internal meetings and where appropriate to internal programme management team. Ability to communicate clearly and confidently with the opportunity to develop presentation skills across all levels of internal and external stakeholders
• Values building and maintaining internal and external relationships and ensures there is regular communication so that open conversations can take place.
• Receptive to taking on additional tasks, which may not necessarily form part of your strict commercial remit but support career development and/or stretch targets.
• Displays good time management, ability to produce accurate work and obtain the requisite approvals in accordance with company process.
• Understands programme/ business area objectives and is able to articulate and support these goals within your daily interactions.
• Flexibility to travel within the UK and internationally as required

• Defence / MOD Contracts Management experience
• Working knowledge of DEFCONs/DFARs and their practical application
• Ability to identify, assess and mitigate contractual risks, with a solutions-focused approach to issue resolution
• Experience in bid writing and proposal development
• Familiarity with framework agreements
• Professional accreditation such as World Commerce & Contracting; CIPS qualification or similar