Contracts Manager

The International Rescue Committee (IRC) is one of the world’s leading humanitarian relief organisations. Founded in 1933 at the request of Albert Einstein, the IRC responds to the world’s worst humanitarian crises and helps people survive, recover and rebuild their lives. The IRC delivers emergency aid, protects children, provides healthcare, prevents and responds to violence against women and girls, safeguards human rights and helps to kick-start economic recovery. Working in more than 40 countries, the IRC has restored hope and opportunity to many millions of people.

The IRC is committed to a culture of bold leadership, innovation in all aspects of our work, creative partnerships and, most crucially, accountability to those we serve. The IRC is a tireless advocate for the most vulnerable.

The IRC’s global headquarters are in New York. Our European headquarters, IRC-UK, were established in London in 1997 to support the organisation’s global activities and particularly to diversify its donor base and be able to better advocate with European policy makers on behalf of the people we serve. IRC-UK comprises approximately 50 staff across five departments.

Commercial Contracts Team

The Commercial Contracts Team is tasked with identifying and facilitating business development, for commercial contract opportunities from DFID and other European donors. It has responsibility for supporting all parts of the commercial business development process, including competitor/partner analysis, consortium development, bid writing, pricing, process management, contract negotiation and advice on implementation. The team sits reports to the Director of Pre-Award in IRC’s newly established Awards Management Unit

 The Awards Management Unit

Established in January 2016, the Awards Management Unit is a global unit spanning New York, Washington DC, London, Nairobi and Amman. It has responsibility for identifying, securing and managing all funding from statutory donors. The Unit is organised in to five directorates:

• Pre-Award (in which the Commercial Contracts Team is located). Responsible for securing funding for new projects and extensions to existing ones
• Post-Award. Responsible for tracking and reporting work currently under management
• Compliance. Responsible for ensuring that IRC’s systems and processes ensure compliance with donor regulations
• Strategic Operations. Responsible for information systems and the smooth running of the Unit
• Training (to be established in late 2016). Responsible for training field and HQ staff on essential aspects of awards management.

The Purpose of the Role

The Contracts Manager’s primary purpose is to project manage the development of commercial tenders, coordinating inputs from technical, field, finance and other staff, quality assuring submissions from team members and writing specific proposal sections. In addition, the Contracts Manager will advise on implementation of ongoing contracts, and will develop and maintain relationships with partners and donors.

Key Working Relationships

• Reports to the Head of Commercial Contracts
• Coordinates with Regional Programme Managers and Regional Grants Officers who are the direct link to the field
• Coordinates with Technical Units (TUs) and staff in field offices for business development, project management and compliance
• Coordinates with the rest of Commercial Contracts Team
• First point of contact for current and prospective partner organisations

Scope and Authority

This position has authority to lead on bid writing, providing guidance on risk and remote oversight of project management as well as advising and leading on compliance issues on behalf of the International Programmes Team.

Responsibility for Resources:

This position has no direct budget to manage but is likely to input into any budget decisions made by the Head of Commercial Contracts.

KEY ACCOUNABILITIES

Opportunity Development and Project Management (50%)

• Project manage bid development. Guide and coordinate inputs from country and technical teams ensuring a coherent and well written bid package. For specific tenders, this will involve travel to support teams in country offices
• Write commercial sections of proposals, such as value for money
• Maintain compliance with donor requirements and ensure oversight of competitiveness of the submission and project oversight
• Identify and develop tender submissions for country programmes as team lead or within a bid team
• Maintain key documents including risk log, bid development timeline and win strategy

Donor and Partner Relationships (25%)                                                               

• Support Head of Commercial Contracts in development of strategic partnerships with NGOs, private sector and academic institutions
• Lead identification of consortium partners for specific opportunities and manage the on-going relationship
• Develop professional relationships with key individuals within target donors; from contract negotiation to reporting
• Provide additional review and support where needed for project reporting as required by International Programmes Team
• Act as primary focal point on particular bids with the donor’s procurement department
• Work with Head of Commercial Contracts to  respond to European donors’ move to contracting
• Attend NGO, private sector networks as required, with a view to raising IRC’s profile and engagement externally                                                    

Support Capacity (25%)

• Support IPT’s regional desks to improve review and understanding of commercial contracts
• Design and train IPT and the wider organisation

• Lead a thematic area within the team, for example value for money
• Ensure lessons learnt are embedded into future processes             

PERSON SPECIFICATION

Essential

Skills, Knowledge and Qualifications

• University degree, preferably in a subject related to this post, or equivalent experience
• Extensive knowledge of commercial tendering processes, ideally with UK Government
• Ability to lead multi disciplinary teams to undertake preparatory work and tender submissions, working with remote field offices and partners.
• First-class attention to detail and the ability to analyse and synthesise information along with excellent communication skills, verbal and written.
• Ability to strategically analyse opportunities
• Understanding of value for money and competitiveness
• Proven relationship building skills with internal and external stakeholders
• Ability to handle pressure and meet tight deadlines

Experience

• Some experience of successfully developing and managing commercial tenders whether for DfID for other European donors

Desirable

• Negotiation and legal skills to minimise risks to the organisation and partners
• Understanding of commercial tenders from commissioners outside the UK
• Experience of working in developing countries
• Fluency in French

Special Requirements

• International travel. Up to three months per year. Duration flexible, but likely to be 3-5 trips to IRC country offices and headquarters, for 1-4 weeks at a time.

 For more information, including details of how to apply, please visit https://www.rescue-uk.org/jobs-irc-uk 

The closing date for applications is 9am on Monday 22nd February 2016.