Senior Commercial Contract Advisor

We support peace and prosperity by building connections, understanding and trust between people in the UK and countries worldwide.

We work directly with individuals to help them gain the skills, confidence and connections to transform their lives and shape a better world in partnership with the UK. We support them to build networks and explore creative ideas, to learn English, to get a high-quality education and to gain internationally recognised qualifications.

Working with people in over 200 countries and territories, we are on the ground in more than 100 countries. In 202122 we reached 650 million people.

Senior Commercial Contract Advisor

Hybrid/flexible working (with an expectation to be in the office when required on an ad hoc basis).This role can be based from any of our UK locationsLondon, Manchester, Edinburgh, Belfast, Cardiff

Role Context:

The British Council is the UKs international organisation for cultural relations and educational opportunities changing lives by creating opportunities, building connections and engendering trust.

The role is based in the in-house Contract Management team supporting programmes and projects globally in education, culture, and arts with professional contracting advice, support and services. Examples of programmes and projects can be found here: https://www.britishcouncil.org/education/skills-employability/programmes.

Ideal candidates will have an advanced understanding and experience of legal and contractual issues (such as liabilities, indemnities, data protection, intellectual property, and commercial contracting principles) and possess excellent attention to detail, communication, and interpersonal skills as well as demonstrable experience of providing supervision.

Main Accountabilities:

• Provide a responsive, professional and customer-focused contract management advisory service on a range of legal, compliance and contracting issues to internal clients/stakeholders to support ongoing commercial opportunities.
• Provide effective supervision to team members on a range of commercial and contracting issues and support collaborative working and problem solving.
• Review, draft and negotiate a variety of commercial agreements, using in-house templates, to meet business needs and drafting appropriate variations where required.
• Check contractual documentation and ensure that information is correct and relevant policies and procedures have been followed.
• Review, analyse and interpret external contract terms and conditions, advising operational teams on associated risks and liability and proposing appropriate contractual variations, mitigations and solutions.
• Lead contracting support for complex, high value and novel/contentious agreements and programmes/projects.
• Comply with systems and procedures that are in place for storage and filing of contractual enquiries and documentation, to ensure an audit trail and compliance with contract retention policy.
• Be accountable for and manage own time and prioritise workload, and support others to do the same, in a busy environment frequently handling conflicting priorities and timelines.
• Refer for additional support and guidance if required from other specialist internal teams.
• Leading on the production, presentation and delivery of capacity building resources on a variety of legal, regulatory, and internal topics.

Further Information:

• Contract Type Indefinite
• Pay Band 8
• Salary – 38,820 Gross plus 3,300 London allowance if based in London . This salary is negotiable up to a certain limit.
• Benefits – 32 days annual leave, upto 3 days volunteering leave, attractive civil service pension scheme
• Requirements candidates applying must have the legal right to work in the UK
• Applicationclosing date: 22ndDecember,2023
• Interviews are to be planned in mid Jan 2024

A connected and trusted UK in a more connected and trusted world.

Equality , Diversity, and Inclusion(EDI) Statement

The British Council is committed to policies and practices of equality, diversity and inclusion across everything we do. We support all staff to make sure their behaviour is consistent with this commitment. We want to address under representation and encourage applicants from under-represented groups, in particular, but not exclusively, on grounds of ethnicity and disability. All disabled applicants who meet the essential criteria are guaranteed an interview and we have Disability Confident Employer Status. We welcome discussions about specific requirements or adjustments to enable participation and engagement in our work and activities.

The British Council iscommitted to safeguarding children, young people and adults who we work with.

We believe that all children and adults everywhere in the world deserve to live in safe environments and have the right to be protected from all forms of abuse, maltreatment and exploitation as set out in article 19, UNCRC (United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child) 1989.

Appointment to positions where there is direct involvement with vulnerable groups will be dependent on thorough checks being completed; these will include qualification checks, reference checks, identity & criminal record checks in line with legal requirements and with the British Councils Safeguarding policies for Adults and Children.

If you have any problems with your application please email askhr@britishcouncil.org

Please note: Applications to this role can only be considered when made through the Apply section of our careers website. Our ASK HR email is only to be used in case of a technical issue encountered when applying through the careers website. Emails with supporting statements and CV/Resumes sent to this email address will not be reviewed and will be deleted.