Commercial Manager

Company Description

By 2050, the planet could be using twice as much electricity compared to today. Are you interested in contributing and helping to shape the future of the world’s energy? If so, read on.

Fusion, the process that powers the Sun and Stars, is one of the most promising options for generating the cleaner, carbon-free energy that our world badly needs.

UKAEA leads the way in realizing fusion energy, partnering with industry and research for ground-breaking advancements. Our goal is to bring fusion electricity to the grid, supported by tomorrow's power stations. In pursuit of our mission, UKAEA embraces core values: Innovative, Committed, Trusted, and Collaborative.

As an employee of UKAEA you will benefit from:

• Outstanding defined benefit pension scheme, details of which can be found at the end of this advert.
• Corporate bonus scheme up to 7% and a Relocation allowance (if eligible).
• Flexible working options including family friendly policies and the right to request flexible working from the start of your employment. 
• Employee Assistance Programme and trained Mental Health First Aiders.
• Generous annual leave allowance starting with 25 days, plus 3 days Christmas closure and 2.5 privilege days, in addition to UK bank holidays.
• Wide range of career development opportunities.
• A vibrant culture committed to equality and being fully inclusive.

Job Description

The salary for this role is £55,311 (inclusive of Specialist Allowance, MCIPS required) + excellent benefits including outstanding pension. Onsite working is expected for 2 days each week, however, we actively support requests for flexible working. 

This role is to be based at the following site; Culham, Oxfordshire.

This role requires employees to complete an online Baseline Personnel Security Standard (BPSS), including The Disclosure & Barring Service (DBS) checks for criminal convictions and possibly a search of open source data.

As part of your application, please submit your CV, supported with a Covering Letter detailing your relative knowledge and experience for the role.

The Role

Are you looking for an exciting opportunity to make a difference? Join our team and contribute to the future of fusion energy. As Commercial Manager, you will play a pivotal role in providing support and expertise to Strategic Commercial Managers and Senior Leaders across the organisation for commercial procurement activity. You will operates across the organisation, providing advice and guidance on the completion of large commercial procurements for the growing Research & Development (R&D) portfolio with the UKAEA. You will also provide mentoring, training, and development for the wider commercial team, helping them deliver a customer-centric and trusted service experience. In addition, you will ensure the UKAEA is compliant with UK directives for procurement in the public sector, and support the organisation in achieving its milestones, contributing to meeting the targets and milestones set by the responsible ministerial government department. This role involves supporting contracts up to the value of up to £5M. 

Key Accountabilities:

• Coordinate commercial procurement support to enable delivery of major projects, delivering required support within the time parameters to meet project milestones and targets, collaborating with others to define the project scope taking into account Public Contracts Regulations.
• Responsible for pre-qualifying contractors and subsequent interviewing tenderers, assessing tenders and negotiation of contracts as required.
• Manage, monitor, and control contractual progress of projects in terms of adherence to contract terms taking into account time, cost and quality.
• Identify opportunities for improvements and propose solutions in order to contribute continuous improvement within UKAEA.  Make final recommendations for the development of new solutions using analytical and constructive thinking.
• Assist the creation, application and implementation of commercial strategies for the site-specific initiatives where appropriate.
• Understand, influence, drive and negotiate with internal and external customers, suppliers and colleagues.
• Provide operational and tactical leadership in large or complex commercial projects.
• Manage a small team by setting clear goals, providing feedback, and supporting team development to ensure effective performance

Qualifications

Essential:

• Applicants must hold a CIPS Level 5 qualification at minimum. MCIPS qualification is highly desirable.
• Experience of Public Sector Procurement and knowledge of Public Contracts Regulations (PCR2015), with an in-depth understanding of the new Procurement Act (Feb'25).
• Good technical appreciation of the range of procurement categories.
• Good procurement strategic knowledge and experience.
• Excellent interpersonal skills.
• Ability to negotiate at the highest levels with suppliers.
• Commercially astute and customer focused.
• Excellent negotiation skills with some understanding of NEC forms of contract.
• Possess excellent verbal and written communication skills with the ability to influence senior-level stakeholders.
• Effective team player with the ability to work well within the Commercial Procurement Team.
• Experience building contract strategies, documents, and business cases.

Additional Information

Please note, there are two vacancies available as part of this advert.

A full list of our benefits can be found here https://careers.ukaea.uk/life-at-ukaea/employee-benefits/.  

UKAEA's mission is clean energy for all, and we welcome talented people from all backgrounds who want to help us achieve our mission.  We are under-represented from some groups and so want to encourage applications in particular from women in STEM, people from Black British Caribbean and African backgrounds and from Pakistani and Bangladeshi British backgrounds. Our Executive team, supported by our 'Head of Equality, Diversity and Inclusion' (EDI) and Wellbeing and our EDI Networks actively promote Inclusion and takes steps to increase diversity within our organization. We reinforce best practices in recruitment and selection and evaluate approaches to remove barriers to success.

Please note that vacancies are generally advertised for 4 weeks but may close earlier if we receive a large number of applications. 

For applicants applying from outside the United Kingdom or those who have spent time outside the UK in the last five years, please visit the following link for information on criminal records checks: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/criminal-records-checks-for-overseas-applicants If your country of residence or previous residence is not listed on the website or if the UK Government does not have information on obtaining a criminal records check from that state, we regret to inform you that we cannot process your application.