About the role
12 months Fixed Term Contract
Up to £50,000 + Pension + BUPA + ShareSave + 6.6 weeks holiday + Hybrid Working (2/3 days per week in the office)
Southampton, Store Support Office
We believe anyone can improve their home to make life better. From our Southampton Store Support office (SSO) we equip our stores, our people, and our whole business with everything it takes to help our millions of customers create a home they’ll love. Join us as a Vendor & Contracts Manager and you’ll be a big part of this.
Role Purpose: The Vendor & Contract Manager plays a pivotal role in driving B&Q's technological advancements by strategically managing an annual contract spend of £55m with top global technology partners such as Google, Amazon Web Services, Microsoft, and Salesforce. This role is essential in optimizing service delivery and ensuring that B&Q's business stakeholders' needs are met efficiently. By creating and managing a transparent process for technology contracts, the Vendor & Contract Manager will maximize value from partnerships, enhance stakeholder engagement, and contribute to B&Q's overall success. Reporting to the Head of Portfolio & Transformation, this role will be instrumental in fostering collaboration across departments, ensuring accurate contract data management, and driving cost-saving initiatives.
Key responsibilities
Key Accountabilities / Responsibilities:
- Compile a comprehensive overview of all B&Q technology contracts, including those managed by the Group and those solely managed by B&Q.
- Collaborate with B&Q business stakeholders to ascertain their requirements and utilization of these contracts.
- Develop, implement, and maintain a robust process for managing technology contracts, ensuring all pertinent data is accurately entered into ServiceNow, replacing the current reliance on multiple spreadsheets.
- Coordinate with Group Technology to establish precise protocols for reporting and storing contracts.
- Design and manage a reporting suite for B&Q to facilitate informed contract management and reporting to senior stakeholders.
- Oversee the annual contract budget, set appropriate yearly budgets, monitor expenditure, and highlight savings or overspends as necessary.
- Conduct supplier review meetings in conjunction with contract managers and business stakeholders to assess performance and discuss future plans.
- Clarify and communicate variable charges on contracts to relevant business stakeholders as required.
- Understand and manage the reporting mechanisms related to variable cost contracts.
- Initiate contract renewal discussions well in advance of expiry dates to ensure timely and preferred actions are taken.Develop a communication and training plan to ensure all stakeholders are informed and understand the new contract management process within B&Q.
- Serve as the primary point of contact for new B&Q technology contracts, working closely with the Procurement team to secure agreements.
Key Business Relationships:
- B&Q Heads of Products and team members
- B&Q Finance team
- Kingfisher Digital and Technology teams
- Technology & Digital Finance
- B&Q Business teams
Required skills & experience
Required Skills & Experience:
- Contract Management Expertise: Strong experience in managing technology contracts, including contract negotiation, execution, and renewal processes.
- Stakeholder Engagement: Strong ability to collaborate and communicate effectively with business stakeholders to understand and address their needs.
- Process Implementation: Proven track record in developing, implementing, and managing robust processes for contract management, with attention to detail and accuracy.
- Familiarity with ServiceNow: Hands-on experience with ServiceNow or similar contract management systems to ensure accurate data entry and reporting.
- Budget Management: Competence in managing annual budgets, tracking expenditures, and identifying cost-saving opportunities.
- Analytical Skills: Strong analytical abilities to understand variable charges, reporting mechanisms, and produce insightful reports for senior stakeholders.
- Supplier Relationship Management: Experience in conducting supplier performance reviews and discussing future roadmaps with stakeholders.
- Communication Skills: Excellent written and verbal communication skills to effectively relay information to stakeholders and create training plans.
- Project Management: Ability to organize and manage multiple tasks, including timely contract renewals and coordinating with procurement teams.
- Attention to Detail: Meticulous attention to detail to ensure accuracy in contract data management and reporting.
- Industry Knowledge: Understanding of the technology sector and its contract management practices.
Career progression
What's in it for me?
As part of a great team, you’ll be valued for who you are.We’re committed to making B&Q more diverse and representative of the communities we serve, where everyone can feel they belong and have equal opportunities. You will have access to a range of networks that represent our colleagues and allies and help us to continue to put diversity and inclusion at the heart of our business.
We also recognise that wellness means different things to different people, and we want to help colleagues be at their best and feel well by offering a range of benefits to help you. As well as a competitive salary, our benefits package includes an award-winning pension scheme, bonus, ShareSave options, 6.6 weeks holiday, payroll giving, an Employee Assistance Programme, shopping discounts, colleague wellbeing benefits and lots more!
So we can support you during the application or interview process, please contact recruitment@b-and-q.co.uk for any recruitment adjustments.
We want to ensure that all employees, future employees and applicants to all Kingfisher companies are treated equally regardless of age, gender, marital or civil partnership status, colour, ethnic or national origin, culture, religious belief, philosophical belief, political opinion, disability, gender identity, gender expression or sexual orientation.
If you require any additional support or adjustments to help you make an application, please contact us at recruitment@b-and-q.co.uk.
