Senior Contract Support Officer

KEY ACCOUNTABILITIES
Corporate

1. Take responsibility for the operational delivery of contract management, for those areas allocated to them by the Contract Manager including implementing quality control procedures and performance management.
2. Use feedback from internal and external customers and an understanding of the Council's corporate objectives to suggest opportunities to improve supplier performance.
3. As directed by the Contract Manager, work with internal customers to formally determine, implement and manage the impact of contract change.
4. Provide support and advice to departments on low value/low risk ad-hoc supplier performance issues, as directed by the Contracts Manager.
5. Work collaboratively as part of a team to support and develop positive and constructive partnerships with colleagues across departments, and with other authorities, to deliver quality outcomes for customers.
6. Provide support to the Contracts Manager in achieving the corporate objectives of the Council.
7. Understand service objectives and support these through your day to day activities.
8. Assist the Contracts Manager in delivering supplier performance that complies with appropriate legislation, professional standards and the Council's vision and values.
9. Ensure that supplier risks are identified, managed and escalated to senior managers where necessary;
10. Assist with budgetary control and preparation of budget forecasts and estimates.
11. Provide day to day support to internal and external customers and manage supplier performance enquiries and complaints.
12. Provide support, guidance and mentoring to less experienced colleagues as required.
13. Lead and supervise less experienced members of the support team.
14. Where agreed as part of their PDA, work towards appropriate qualifications as part of their professional development.
15. Participate in the Council's emergency planning and responses to emergency situations when required to do so.
16. Assist in the conduct of elections when required to do so.
17. To Investigate formal complaints and FOIs in accordance with the Council Policies.

KEY PERFORMANCE INDICATORS

1. Initiate and deliver new savings and quality improvements through leading on particular areas of contract and supplier performance management.
2. Ensure high standards of quality assurance, reporting and compliance are maintained and adhered in accordance with KPIs.
3. Ensure comprehensive records are created and maintained
4. Provide accurate reports, as necessary, in a timely fashion.
5. Work to established quality standards and procedures.
6. Operate to agreed deadlines and timescales.

KNOWLEDGE AND EXPERIENCE: The Senior Contract Support Officer should have experience in commercial activities for public and/or private sector organisations and, preferably, be able to demonstrate that they have experience in the following areas;

• Experience in, or knowledge of, a commercial or public administration environment.
• Proven interpersonal skills
• Proven written communication skills
• Awareness or understanding of public sector processes and legislation
• Experience in a procurement or operations environment;
• Experience of managing suppliers;
• Good working knowledge of public sector processes and legislation
• Proven stakeholder management skills;
• Proven experience in supporting internal and external customers;
• Demonstrable supplier performance management and improvement delivery;
• Experience of collaborative working with other organisations;
• Experience of leading on contract management, supplier performance management and contract delivery;
• Demonstrable experience of budgeting and trend analysis.

SKILLS & ABILITIES: The Senior Contract Support Officer should have the following skills and abilities;

• Good level of use of office IT systems and programs particularly Excel;
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills;
• Excellent personal organisational skills and attention to detail;
• Ability to act on their own initiative with appropriate direction;
• Excellent team working and interpersonal skills;
• Ability to produce good quality written reports;
• Ability to deal responsibly with highly confidential and commercially sensitive information;
• Good contract management skills;
• Ability to develop good working relationships with internal stakeholders;
• Ability and confidence in dealing with highly confidential and commercially sensitive information;
• Demonstrable experience of operational delivery of contract management;
• Able to monitor and maintain supplier performance levels;
• Analytical skills, including data analysis and interrogation.
• Mentoring and coaching of less experienced team members;
• Quality assurance processes and compliance monitoring;
• Project Management ability.