Commercial Manager

Commercial Manager

London

• An exciting opportunity for a Commercial Manager
• Competitive annual salary and attractive benefits package

About Our Client

Westminster City Council is an organisation like no other - a flagship local authority in the heart of a global city. Westminster is home to a quarter of a million people and it is also an international centre for government, business, tourism and culture that welcomes more than a million visitors each day.

This is an exciting time to join Westminster City Council's Development team. The development programme is in place to deliver 1,850 new affordable homes over the next 4 years and we are on track to meet this challenging target. Beyond this, a pipeline of additional sites has been identified for a further potential 2,000 new homes.

Westminster City Council has committed to the most ambitious affordable housing initiative for a generation, with plans to deliver high quality affordable housing across the city. The programme is running more than 50 live projects. These range from some of the largest and most comprehensive regeneration schemes seen in central London, where we are investing to make a lasting difference to the lives of our communities, to the smaller infill sites that transform unused space into homes for Westminster's residents.

If you are passionate about delivering high quality projects and world class design, then we want to hear from you. In return, we offer you the opportunity to work in some of the most historic and high-profile neighbourhoods in the country.

Job Description

This is an exciting opportunity for a Commercial Manager to join the Development team. You will lead on financial modelling and development financing across multiple schemes, ensuring an interface with business plans, corporate strategies and governance processes. You will be the link between Development and Finance, ensuring schemes are appraised, approved and market ready, while always protecting the Council's interests.

Day-to-day, you will play a key role in structuring entry and exit deals, business case investment appraisals and managing major commercial and contractual issues. You will assist in the monitoring of the Council's housing and affordable housing programme, including borrowing bids and bespoke housing asks from relevant government departments and/or agencies. You will monitor scheme procurement performance and pricing to ensure that the delivery team are procuring at values which maintain scheme viability and deliverability in line with the Council's objectives.

You will contribute to the development and maintenance of financial models and corporate forecasting strategies and will structure and store information in an intuitive manner so that scenario modelling can easily be undertaken.

The Commercial Manager is integral in reviewing specifications and scopes of service to ensure that the council can maximise the value of projects and assets, working with the wider team to drive effective value engineering. Managing, monitoring and controlling externalised contracts effectively, ensuring that Service Level Agreements, service standards and contractual obligations are met are also key aspects of the role. The post holder will lead and inform the target growth strategy for the Council based on ongoing analysis of market trends and development and investment activities to maintain and maximise viability whilst minimising risk.

The Successful Applicant

To succeed, you will have excellent and demonstrable commercial, financial and analytical skills. You will be adept at analysing and interpreting a high volume of complex management, performance and financial information and, using this insight, be able to make clear recommendations to senior management. You will also be able to write and deliver presentations and reports that successfully engage a wide spectrum of audiences, including senior managers and elected councillors.

You will have extensive experience of strategic financial planning, development finance, budgeting and monitoring and effective financial management requirements. You will be skilled at developing and maintaining financial models, dashboards and investigating and evaluating options and opportunities that you identify. You will have a thorough knowledge of both the affordable housing and wider residential sectors, in particular an expert understanding of affordable housing development and regulatory requirements.

You will have strong interpersonal skills and be able to demonstrate when you have established productive working relationships within a complex corporate environment. You will also be able to inspire and influence a wide range of stakeholders, from colleagues in the Development team to senior management and councillors, partner organisations, communities and the public.

The Council and its partners are committed to achieving diverse shortlists for all vacancies at Band 4 or above to support our desire to increase the number of staff from underrepresented groups in our workforce. If you are from a black, Asian and minority ethnic background (BAME) and would like to self-declare this to the hiring manager as part of our positive action commitments, please do so.

What's on Offer

• A competitive annual salary
• Local Government Pension Scheme
• 30 days Annual Leave per year plus bank holidays (plus an extra day for your birthday)
• Agile Working
• A range of other benefits including On-site Occupational Health Service, Occupational Parental Pay and an inclusive Employee Benefits Platform

Where specific UK qualifications are required we will take into account overseas equivalents. All third party applications will be forwarded to Michael Page.
Ref Code: MPPN14026153Z
Closing Date: 21/08/2019

To apply for this role, or for more information, please click the Apply button.