Commercial & Financial Manager

Company description

Location: Basingstoke

Salary: Competitive

Full time, permanent

We are the AA. And we keep everyone’s show on the road. There for our customers wherever and whenever they need us, we’re always ready for anything. That’s why, for over 100 years, we’ve continued to evolve and adapt. Today, as the nation’s number one motoring organization, we offer a range of excellent products and services to millions of customers.

This is the job

The Commercial & Financial Manager is responsible for all day-to-day commercial and financial aspects of the AA’s relationships with 3rd party vendors. This includes but is not limited to the management of the renewal of 3rd party support contracts and the tracking of costs v budgets, and carrying out service reviews with the key service providers to ensure that they are meeting SLA & other obligations

What will I be doing?

Role Specific Responsibilities & Accountabilities

• Provide a single point of commercial contact for all internal IT & business stakeholders and external suppliers - whether for services, hardware or software
• Accountability for the operational management processes associated with 3rd party suppliers
• Personally lead the support renewal process (c200 per year), ensuring the each contract is optimised in terms of consumption, strategic alignment and commercial competitiveness
• Carry out regular service reviews with key suppliers, ensuring that they are meeting their SLA & other obligations, implementing performance improvement plans as appropriate
• Chair the Contract Renewal Governance board, where each contract renewal is assessed and approved
• Working with IT Infrastructure Delivery & Project Managers to take design outputs and identify which suppliers would be suitable; gain quotes for project requirements and manage the approval process
• Obtaining quotes from 3rd party suppliers for new requirements and renewal of existing contracts
• Managing the approval process for purchase orders for new requirements and renewals such that PO’s are raised in a timely manner
• Managing the receipting of invoices, and resolution of issues and escalations associated with suppliers
• Tracking the third party spend against opex budgets, providing management and finance reports as required
• Providing accrual information to finance to track payments to supplier
• Responsibility for monthly reporting and analysis of OpEx and CAPEX spend to the Head of IT Operations
• Proactively using monthly results and interactions with vendors to identify and quantify risks and supplier performance against budget
• Ownership of annual budgeting and forecasting process.
• Preparation of all consolidated monthly reporting, budget and forecast slide decks and ad-hoc presentations. Each tailored accordingly depending on required content and audience.
• Reviewing, challenging and making recommendations on business cases impacting IT Operations, including validation of benefits and scrutinising costs.
• To work in collaboration with the operational AA Finance, Supplier and Service Level Manager and the Small Projects Manager

What do I need?

Capability, Knowledge and Experience:

• Experience of professionally managing 3rd party suppliers, the ability to represent the AA in a professional manner when dealing with 3rd party suppliers
• Experience of Service Management of 3rd party providers (including offshore providers)
• High detective, analytical and problem-solving capability
• Commercially, contractually & financially astute
• Experience interpreting vendor contract, support & licensing terms and conditions
• Proven experience delivering continuous service improvements for the business
• Demonstrate effective communication, both orally and in writing, with subordinates, colleagues, clients and customers at all levels, both formally and informally - a strong communicator who develops relationships for mutual gain.
• Take initiative to keep own skills up to date and maintain awareness of developments in the IT industry.
• Relentless with attention to detail, with the ability to be continuously thinking one step ahead as well as being fully aware of the AA’s overall strategic priorities and how suppliers contributes to these.
• Collaborative approach coupled with the ability to challenge to achieve the right results
• Extensive experience working in an IT operational environment with a good understanding of technology and operational security
• Experience of the regulatory and audit requirements within an operational environment
• Excellent Excel skills, and ideally SAP

Additional Information

Education and Qualifications:

• Related professional qualifications are beneficial, but not essential.
• Ideally be full qualified (CIMA or equivalent) with extensive commercial experience

Personal Characteristics:

A service orientated driven individual who is committed to continual service improvement.The individual must be comfortable with objectively challenging their peers