Specialist Officer

Position: Specialist Officer (Contract)
Contracts Commercial Lead
Westminster
Contract
£650 per day limited paid via umbrella company inside IR35
Our client is looking for an experienced Contracts Commercial Lead
About the Role
Westminster City Council is delivering its ambitious Fit for the Future 2030 transformation programme – a commitment to becoming a modern, inclusive, resident-led council. As a key enabler of this programme, the Contracts Commercial Lead will play a central role in improving our commercial performance and optimising outcomes across a diverse contract portfolio.
This is a highly strategic, delivery-focused interim role that will shape how we manage commercial relationships, identify efficiencies, and drive measurable improvements in value for money. The postholder will work across Procurement & Commercial Services, Finance, Legal, and operational teams to embed best practice and secure improved outcomes from our supplier base.
This position is hybrid, requiring at least three days per week on-site in Victoria, along with flexibility to attend out-of-hours and in-person meetings as required.
Fully remote working cannot be accommodated for this role.
This is one of many opportunities we are currently recruiting for please visit our website colbernlimited co uk for more jobs
Key Purpose
The Contracts Commercial Lead will drive commercial optimisation and contract management improvements aligned to three core programme objectives:
Re-imagining
Innovating commercial practices and supplier partnerships to deliver locally tailored, impactful solutions.
Strengthening
Embedding commercial excellence, improving governance, and supporting organisational resilience.
Optimisation
Ensuring effective use of resources, improving cost efficiency, and enhancing financial sustainability while maintaining service quality.

Key Responsibilities
Strategic Contract Review

• Lead rapid assessments of priority contracts to identify renegotiation opportunities, cost-saving levers, rebates/credits, and areas for improvement.
Savings Prioritisation

• Focus on contracts with upcoming extensions and higher strategic value.

• Sequence activity to maximise near-term savings and reduce risks, including supplier sustainability risks.
Stakeholder Engagement

• Work with Procurement, Finance, Legal and contract managers to shape enhanced contract management approaches.

• Agree revised terms and changes that strengthen delivery and financial outcomes.
Negotiation & Delivery

• Lead supplier negotiations to secure immediate and longer-term savings.

• Maintain service quality, compliance, and strong supplier relationships.
Continuous Improvement

• Critique current cost models, pricing mechanisms and commercial levers.

• Recommend improved structures (e.g., incentives, indexation, risk/benefit sharing, gain-share approaches).
Governance & Reporting

• Establish clear governance and reporting mechanisms, including weekly highlight reports and monthly savings trackers.

• Provide transparent benefits reporting to senior stakeholders.
Knowledge Transfer

• Share commercial expertise across Procurement & Commercial Services, Business Partners and contract managers.

• Work with teams during contract deep-dives to identify specification reductions and other cost-saving opportunities.
What Success Looks Like
Within the first six months, we expect to see:

• Reduction in contract spend across targeted contracts (validated with Finance).

• Improved supplier terms (pricing, SLAs, indexation, rebates) without compromising service performance.

• Embedding of new commercial approaches within procurement evaluations and contractual mechanisms.
About You
You will bring a strong blend of commercial expertise, analytical capability, and negotiation skill, with the ability to work at pace and influence stakeholders across the organisation.
Required Experience & Skills

• Proven experience delivering contract savings and improved terms across complex supplier portfolios (public or private sector).

• Strong commercial analysis skillset, including spend analytics, lifecycle costing, price/volume analysis and benchmarking.

• Advanced supplier negotiation capability with a balanced understanding of cost, risk and service outcomes.

• Knowledge of public procurement and contract management good practice, with the ability to work within policy, legal and audit frameworks.

• Strong stakeholder and relationship management skills across procurement, finance and operational teams.

• Clear, concise communication with the ability to articulate financial and commercial trade-offs to senior stakeholders.
PLEASE VISIT OUR WEBSITE FOR MORE OPPORTUNITIES colbernlimited co uk
The first part of our recruitment process is to send your CV. Should you be short listed Colbern Limited will contact you within 5 days or we may contact you about other job opportunities. Colbern Limited along with our clients
are an equal opportunities employer