We have an exciting opportunity for an experienced Commercial Director to join our Roads senior leadership team (SLT) at Costain where you will be accountable for the commercial team and function across this £200m account, with plans to grow to £400m.  

You will be a dynamic leader who will be integral part of this team who will shape and deliver against a robust five year business plan to strengthen Costain’s position with National Highways, Local Authorities and Transport for London.  

This Commercial Director role is a strategic leadership position within the roads portfolio. The successful candidate will report to the Commercial Director for Transportation Division and will report operationally and work closely with the Roads Sector Director. Developing strong client relationships with client operational and commercial directors will be a key element of the role.

This Commercial Director will establish, shape and drive the commercial strategy to enable sustainable profitable growth. This will require the creation and implementation of commercial bid strategies to increase tender win rates, whilst maintaining/increasing profitable return. The role will require close working with finance colleagues to ensure that robust cost/value monitoring and reporting is achieved to drive high commercial performance within the portfolio.

They will be responsible for the management and delivery of targets to achieve business plan requirements including project and functional needs. They will also be accountable for implementation, management and ongoing assurance activities in connection with the company’s commercial governance programme and shall ensure that any contract specific requirements are adhered to.  

This Commercial Director provides leadership, structured guidance and support to the commercial teams, optimizing performance of the team. They will be able to demonstrate an understanding of the legal framework within which the industry operates, and in-depth knowledge of the standard forms of contract applicable to the company’s business. They must be able to formulate commercial strategies in connection with conflict avoidance, conflict management and dispute resolution and be able to communicate and influence effectively with internal and external stakeholders.  

The successful candidate will provide support to the Commercial Director for Transportation Division in the management of resources and succession planning and must have a wide depth and breadth of experience and proven proficiency in resource management.  

 

Business Unit Specific Requirements

This Commercial Director will be a member of the senior leadership team and will, in addition to their responsibilities as Commercial Director, contribute to the wider management, leadership and direction of the business unit.  This will include contributions to matters relating to strategic planning and budgeting, work-winning and resource planning.

The successful candidate will not be required to demonstrate knowledge of highways work specifically although such knowledge would be an advantage. The successful candidate will be able to demonstrate experience and provision of new ideas and best practice from a wide range of sectors and/or industries, and experience of working with a wide range of contract and delivery methods including alliancing and joint ventures. This Commercial Director will be responsible for leading Costain’s commercial function across all Roads contracts. They will also likely to be expected to represent Costain as a joint venture board member where appropriate.

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Costain helps to improve people’s lives with integrated, leading edge, smart infrastructure solutions across the UK’s energy, water, transportation and defence markets. We help our clients improve their business performance by increasing capacity, improving customer service, safeguarding security, enhancing resilience, decarbonising and delivering increased efficiency. Our vision is to be the UK’s leading smart infrastructure solutions company. We will achieve this by focusing on blue chip clients whose major spending plans are underpinned by strategic national needs, regulatory commitments, legislation or essential performance requirements. We offer our clients leading edge solutions that are digitally optimised through the following five services which cover the whole lifecycle of their assets: future-shaping strategic consultancy; consultancy and advisory; digital technology solutions; asset optimisation and complex programme delivery. Our culture and values underpin everything we do.