Contract Manager

About the Role

A prominent Irish government regulatory body responsible for Transport seeks an experienced ICT Contracts Manager to join the Technology Platforms & Solutions directorate. This contract position, initially for 12 months with likely extensions, is based in Dublin or Mayo and requires onsite presence three days a week.

Key Responsibilities

• Drive and oversee technology procurement initiatives within the directorate.
• Manage technology vendors and contracts, ensuring service levels, budget adherence, and performance standards are met.
• Implement structured supplier management procedures, including service reviews, performance metrics reporting, issue resolution, and escalation paths.
• Continuously assess supplier performance against KPIs and SLAs, addressing issues immediately.
• Maintain strong supplier relationships while upholding commercial accountability.
• Lead public procurement competitions and prepare clear documentation covering requirements, specifications, and evaluation criteria.
• Ensure all procurement activities comply with public procurement laws, RSA governance standards, and internal approval processes.
• Create and maintain a proactive procurement and contract renewal schedule to manage contract expirations efficiently.
• Support supplier evaluations and transitions to ensure commercial viability, technical suitability, and alignment to business needs.
• Keep track of contract spending, supplier costs, and commercial proposals to safeguard value for money and effective risk management.
• Identify, handle, and escalate risks related to commercial, contractual, financial, and service continuity matters, while seeking savings and efficiency opportunities.
• Develop governance processes, operating procedures, templates, reporting frameworks, and initiatives for continuous improvement of supplier, contract, and procurement management.

Candidate Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in Business, Computer Science/IT, or another relevant field.
• At least five years of substantial experience in contract management focused on technology suppliers and public procurement.
• Sound knowledge of technology services including infrastructure, applications, cybersecurity, cloud services, service management, and project delivery.
• Capable of engaging with technical suppliers and critically evaluating proposals, costs, and delivery plans.
• Experience in preparing, reviewing, or supporting procurement documents, agreements, SLAs, KPIs, and service credit arrangements.
• Proven record managing supplier performance reviews, handling contractual issues, service escalations, and driving continuous improvements.
• Commercially savvy with strong ability to assess value for money in supplier proposals.
• Excellent communication, negotiation, stakeholder management, and influencing skills.
• Strong organizational and planning abilities with the capacity to juggle multiple priorities and meet deadlines.
• Attention to detail and capability to produce precise and clear documentation.
• Ability to work independently and collaboratively with technology, business, finance, procurement, and governance teams.

Additional Information

Applicants must have immediate authorization to work within Ireland or the EU as the employer does not provide visa or work permit sponsorship.

Work Arrangement

This position operates on a hybrid basis, requiring onsite attendance three days per week in Dublin or Mayo.