Head of Commercial

Job Title: Head of Commercial

Location: Warrington, Cheshire; Newbury, Berkshire; Bristol; or Leicester, Leicestershire + Hybrid Working Arrangement

Compensation: Attractive Salary + Benefits

Role Type: Full time / Permanent

Role ID: SF66253

Lead the Future of Defence and Nuclear Innovation

At Cavendish Nuclear we’re working to create a safe and secure world, together, and if you join us, you can play your part as a Head of Commercial at Warrington, Newbury, Bristol, or Leicester.

The role

As a Head of Commercial, you’ll be at the forefront of shaping the commercial strategy for Cavendish Nuclear’s Defence business unit. This is a high-impact leadership role where your expertise will drive contract success, strengthen client relationships, and support long-term growth across critical national infrastructure projects. You’ll lead a team of commercial and quantity surveying professionals, influencing outcomes that protect communities and defence capabilities.

Day-to-day you’ll be:

• Leading commercial projects and providing strategic guidance across the UK Defence Business Unit.
• Managing negotiations with government and commercial stakeholders on complex contracts.
• Driving changes and growth opportunities across defence contracts and frameworks.
• Developing new contractual documents including supplier agreements and consultancy contracts.
• Representing Cavendish Nuclear at key customer meetings and industry forums.

This is a permanent, full-time position working 37 hours per week. The role is hybrid, with 2–3 days per week onsite at Warrington, Newbury, Bristol, or Leicester, with semi-regular travel to client sites.

Essential experience of the Head of Commercial:

• Proven success in leading negotiations and closing multi-million-pound public sector contracts, ideally within Defence.
• Senior-level experience managing complex, high-value contracts across the full lifecycle.
• Strategic commercial leadership in multi-disciplinary environments.
• Ability to assess contractual terms and their impact on financial performance and delivery risk.
• Experience in commercialising new products, services, or technologies.

Qualifications of the Head of Commercial:

• We value difference and don’t have a fixed idea when it comes to background or education, provided you can show the required level of experience and/or willingness to learn then we would like to hear from you.

Security Clearance

The successful candidate must be able to achieve and maintain Security Check (SC) security clearance for this role. Further details are available at United Kingdom Security Vetting: clearance levels - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

What we offer

• Generous holiday allowance
• Matched contribution pension scheme, with life assurance
• Access to a Digital GP, annual health check, and nutritional consultations through Aviva DigiCare+
• Employee share scheme
• Employee shopping savings portal
• Payment of Professional Fees
• Reservists in the armed forces receive 10-days special paid leave
• Holiday Trading is a benefit that allows UK Cavendish employees to buy additional leave or to sell up to one working week of annual leave from their annual entitlement. This Window opens February through to March annually.
• ‘Be Kind Day’ enables employees to take one working day's paid leave a year (or equivalent hours) to undertake volunteering work with their chosen organisation or registered charity
• Excellent development opportunities and benefits package including an employee assistance programme supporting physical, mental and financial wellbeing.

Cavendish Nuclear

As a leader within the UK nuclear industry, Cavendish Nuclear, part of Babcock International Group, provides a comprehensive range of critical nuclear solutions in clean energy, defence and civil new build and decommissioning projects. Together, we’re innovating to make nuclear safer, faster and cost-effective across the nuclear energy life cycle. Your career with us could take you anywhere within Babcock International Group – from Canada, the USA to Japan. Work with us to create a safe and secure world, together.

We are a disability confident committed employer. If you have a disability or need any reasonable adjustments during the application and selection stages, please email [email protected] with the subject header ‘Reasonable adjustments requirement’. We’re committed to building an inclusive culture where everyone’s free to thrive. We are happy to talk about flexible working – please ask about alternative patterns of work at interview.

Closing date: 12/08/2025

#CAVDESTNUC