Job Title:
Subcontract
Manager
Location:
Rochester
Salary:
Circa £65,000 dependent on experience
What you’ll be doing:
Develop requirements and
manage
subcontractor selection within a cross-functional team
Manage
all subcontract documentation, data, and reports accurately and on time
Negotiate terms, price agreements, and contracts with subcontractors, resolving conflicts and ensuring compliance
Ensure adherence to contractual obligations, including payments, claims, warranties, and contract amendments
Proactively
manage
subcontractor performance to meet schedule, cost, and quality requirements, and embed
KPIs
Effectively
manage
variations to subcontracts, minimising impacts and ensuring clear communication
Identify and
manage
emerging risks, including those within the subcontractor’s supply chain
Build and maintain effective relationships with suppliers and internal teams (engineering, project
management ) ensuring a coordinated approach to the interface with subcontractors is maintained
Travel occasionally to suppliers’ sites in the UK/ or overseas
Your skills and experiences:
Essential:
Experience in subcontract, project, and/or commercial
management
Proven
ability to develop and negotiate
complex
contracts with customers or suppliers
Track record
of successfully delivering major subcontract obligations
Experience in
complex
engineering or manufacturing industries
Desirable:
Experience in defence, aerospace industry
Relevant qualifications, such as a degree in engineering, manufacturing, or a commercial discipline, or a professional procurement/project
management
certification
Knowledge of mechanical, electro-mechanical, or optical commodities
Benefits:
As well as a
competitive
pension scheme, BAE Systems also offers employee share plans, an extensive range of flexible discounted health, wellbeing and lifestyle benefits, including a green car scheme, private health plans and shopping discounts – you may also be eligible for an annual incentive.
The Procurement team
As a Subcontract
Lead, you will be responsible for
managing
the full subcontracting lifecycle for one or more key subcontractors. You will ensure they meet project requirements while coordinating across teams to drive success. Building and maintaining effective relationships with subcontractors, project teams, and business functions will be essential to meeting obligations and
managing
future partnerships.
At BAE Systems Rochester, we design and deliver
cutting-edge
commercial and defence electronics, including high-integrity
controls, inceptor systems, head-up and head-mounted displays, power and propulsion solutions, and avionics support. With a global supply chain spanning the UK, Europe, the USA, Canada, South Africa, Australia, Japan, and Sri Lanka, we operate across the entire product lifecycle, from advanced research to in-service support.
Now is an exciting time to join us! With significant growth and increasing demand fr our mission-critical projects, we are investing in the future—transforming our site with a new 20,000m² factory and extensive refurbishments already underway
Why BAE Systems?
This is a place where you’ll be able to make a real difference. You’ll be part of an inclusive culture that values diversity of thought, rewards integrity, and merit, and where you’ll be empowered to fulfil your potential. We welcome people from all backgrounds and want to make sure that our recruitment processes are as inclusive as possible. If you have a disability or health condition (for example dyslexia, autism, an anxiety disorder
etc .) that may affect your performance in certain assessment types, please
speak
to your recruiter about potential reasonable adjustments.
Please be aware that many roles at BAE Systems are subject to both security and export
control
restrictions. These restrictions mean that factors such as your nationality, any nationalities you may have previously held, and your place of birth can restrict
the roles
you are eligible to perform within the organisation. All
applicants
must
as a minimum achieve Baseline Personnel Security Standard. Many roles also require higher levels of National Security Vetting where
applicants
must
typically have 5 to 10 years of continuous residency in the UK depending on the vetting level required for
the role, to allow for meaningful security vetting checks.
Closing Date:
11th March 2026
We reserve the right to close this vacancy early if we receive sufficient applications for
the role. Therefore, if you are interested, please submit your application as early as possible.
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