Birkenhead, North West England, CH41 6DU : Croydon, London (region), CR0 2AQ : Coventry, West Midlands (England), CV1 2WT : Durham, North East England, DH1 5TR : Weymouth, South West England, DT4 9TT : Gloucester, South West England, GL1 1DQ : Kingston upon Hull, Yorkshire and the Humber, HU2 8JN : Leicester, East Midlands (England), LE3 5DR : Nottingham, East Midlands (England), NG2 1AW : Peterborough, East of England, PE2 8YY : Plymouth, South West England, PL6 5WS : Warton, North West England, PR4 1TE : Swansea, Wales, SA7 9FQ : Telford, West Midlands (England), TF3 4LR
Job summary
As Head of Operational Contracts, you will be responsible for all matters relating to contract governance, including the full contract life cycle. You will manage high profile, business critical contracts which currently include the provision of storage of a significant quantity of paper records, hybrid mail services, scanning/data extraction, map data and surveying services. You will oversee the effective delivery of services within agreed service level agreements, as well as being the main contact and escalation point for matters which compromise effective delivery of the service.
In this role you will oversee all budget and forecasting activities for assigned contracts, regularly reviewing service performance with suppliers and partners, and implementing remedial actions when standards are not met. Responsibilities also include identifying opportunities for innovation and service improvement, supporting organisational objectives through supplier engagement and new technologies, and representing the directorate in major projects. The role involves collaborating with senior managers to proactively manage strategic risks, maintaining alignment with organisational plans, leading and developing a contract management team, and fostering strong relationships with peers, senior stakeholders, and trade unions across the organisation.
Person specification
To be successful in this role you will have a contract Management accreditation through the Government Commercial Function (or equivalent recognised body) OR the willingness to work towards gaining accreditation in the first 12 months of the role.
You will have experience of:
* Proven ability and experience of both supplier and senior stakeholder management, with strong consultation, influencing and negotiation skills.
* Comprehensive experience in mobilising and managing contracts.
* Strong financial and commercial acumen, with the ability to forecast, prepare and manage budgets.
* Ability to lead and develop teams across multiple locations to build capability and deliver results.
* Ability to analyse and solve problems with significant business and people impacts.
* Influencing peers and senior managers to achieve desired results.
* Leadership, communication, and inter-personal skills.
* Willingness to test, innovate and challenge existing procedures and practices.
For more information about the role, please see the attached job description.
Where an individual taking up the responsibility will be based in Swansea Office, the ability to speak Welsh is desirable. This will not be tested in the application or interview process.
Qualifications
Contract Management accreditation through the Government Commercial Function (or equivalent recognised body) OR the willingness to work towards gaining accreditation in the first 12 months of the role.
Behaviours
We\'ll assess you against these behaviours during the selection process:
* Seeing the Big Picture
* Changing and Improving
* Communicating and Influencing
* Managing a Quality Service
This vacancy is using Success Profiles (opens in a new window), and will assess your Behaviours, Strengths and Experience.
How to Apply
Please complete the qualification question:
* Do you have a Contract Management accreditation through the Government Commercial Function (or equivalent recognised body) OR the willingness to work towards gaining accreditation in the first 12 months of the role.
If you answer no, your application will stop here.
Please complete your CV to include your work history and qualifications. We will be scoring your CV against the technical criteria and the essential experience:
* Comprehensive experience in mobilising and managing contracts.
* Strong financial and commercial acumen, with the ability to forecast, prepare and manage budgets.
Then complete the Personal Statement section (in no more than 1000 words), please demonstrate how you meet the following essential Experience criteria:
* Proven ability and experience of both supplier and senior stakeholder management, with strong consultation, influencing and negotiation skills.
* Comprehensive experience in mobilising and managing contracts.
* Strong financial and commercial acumen, with the ability to forecast, prepare and manage budgets.
* Ability to lead and develop teams across multiple locations to build capability and deliver results.
Please review your application form before clicking ‘submit’ –once you have submitted, you will not be able to amend your application. Ensure your application form is received by the closing date for receipt of applications –this is 11:55pm on the advertised date.
Sift
The sift will take place shortly after the closing date.
In case of a high volume of applications, we may complete a pre-sift on your CV.
Interview
If successful at shortlisting stage, you will be invited to attend a virtual, blended interview and deliver a pre-prepared presentation. Details will be provided on invitation to interview. The blended interview will test the experience and Behaviours listed in the ‘Person Specification’ as well as the strengths associated with the role, details will be provided on invitation to interview.
We want to hear your first, unrehearsed, natural response to strength questions, and so we don’t advertise which strengths are being tested. The best way to prepare for strengths questions is to reflect on what you identify as your own personal strengths, and your preferred ways of working.
We expect interviews to take place during the week commencing the 11th May 2026.
Candidates may refer to notes within their video interview, but they should be used as a prompt only.
HMLR is accredited to the Disability Confident Scheme, which denotes organisations which have a positive attitude towards disabled people.
If you require the panel to consider a reasonable adjustment or there is anything else you would like the panel to take into consideration, you are asked to notify us of this at application stage where possible or during the process as soon as it becomes a requirement.
Please note that we will only offer sponsorship for a skilled worker visa where a role is in a certain business critical category. This role does not meet that category, and we will not sponsor a skilled worker visa.
You must ensure you have the appropriate right to work in the UK before applying.
You can find more information on how we use your personal data on our website
Contact point for applicants
Job contact :
* Name :Jason North
Recruitment team
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