Contract Specialist

**Details**:
**Reference number**:

- 357625**Salary**:

- £39,150 - £43,280- New entrants are expected to start on the minimum of the pay band.- A Civil Service Pension with an average employer contribution of 27%**Job grade**:

- Senior Executive Officer**Contract type**:

- Permanent**Business area**:

- CEFAS - International Funding & Partnerships**Type of role**:

- Commercial**Working pattern**:

- Flexible working, Full-time, Job share, Part-time**Number of jobs available**:

- 1Contents

Location

About the job

**Benefits**:
Things you need to know

Location
- Lowestoft, WeymouthAbout the job

**Job summary**:
The Commercial Advice Team (CAT) are a customer facing, professional team responsible for Cefas’ contractual and legal documentation. This primarily involves reviewing, drafting, negotiating and advising on various types of contractual/ legal documentation and identifying associated commercial risks. For this role we are looking for someone who is able to read and draft various legal/ contract documents, highlight commercial risks and provide pragmatic commercial advice to various areas of the business to achieve the following:

- Ensuring selection of the most effective/ appropriate type of Contract or Agreement which adheres to internal policies and Government regulations.
- Mitigation of risks through appropriate legal contracts/ agreements.
- Protection of Cefas’ interests through contractual arrangements whilst enhancing the chance of winning successful funding contracts.
- Implementation of consistent commercial advice and approaches throughout Cefas.

The Civil Service is committed to attract, retain and invest in talent wherever it is found. To learn more please see the Civil Service People Plan and the Civil Service Diversity and Inclusion Strategy.

**Job description**:
The main duties of the successful applicant will be to take the lead in advising, drafting and negotiating suitable contract terms. The successful applicant will liaise with Portfolio Leads and project teams to provide commercial advice on a variety of topics during both bidding and delivery phases of the project. These topics include highlighting commercial risks and potential mitigations for input into bidding go/no go decisions, review of final bidding documentation, advising on legal aspects within contracts, explanation of contract terms and conditions to project delivery staff, review of contract variations, commercial risk mitigation and representation of the CAT on at least one of the lower-level cluster boards.

Where necessary the successful applicant will work with various types of organisations such as universities and international partners to draft and agree appropriate collaboration agreements. In addition, there is also a drive within the team to improve and streamline procedures and documents to ensure they comply with the latest standards. The successful applicant will be expected to provide input to this and also to the Commercial Advice Strategy including developing others within Cefas in commercial/ contractual matters.

In addition, Cefas reserves the right to ask staff to take on additional duties and responsibilities which are commensurate with their grade. Team Leaders and management will have a discussion with staff to explain the changes that are to be made. A new job description will be issued if required.

**Person specification**:
The following are essential criteria required for this role and you must be able to demonstrate your skills and experience in the following areas:

- Ability to draft and negotiate legal contract wording with an in-depth knowledge of contractual terms such as liabilities, insurances, Intellectual property, force majeure and termination.
- Experience and knowledge of different types of contracts and other types of legal arrangements and the ability to select the correct type.
- Effective communication skills required for building good relationships both internally and externally to enable successful negotiation of contracts/ agreements.
- Good commercial awareness and the ability to judge situations and make sound business decisions.
- Ability and confidence to challenge and question. This is essential to ensure Cefas’/ UK Govt’s interests are protected and to ensure appropriate legal documentation is put in place.

**Behaviours**:
We'll assess you against these behaviours during the selection process:

- Communicating and Influencing
- Delivering at Pace
- Making Effective Decisions
- Working Together
- Communicating and Influencing

**Benefits**:

- Alongside your salary of £39,150, Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science contributes £13,955 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides.- Generous annual leave entitlement - Cefas offers 25 days' annul leave on entry (rising to 30 days over first 5yrs) for full-time new entrants to the Civil S