Working at the Cumberland, you become part of something special. We’re a Mutual organisation, committed to improving the lives of our colleagues, customers, and community. Our values are incredibly important to us.
We’re on an exciting transformational journey with our people firmly at the forefront of our plans. If you want to work for a team integral in helping to drive cultural change, a team where you can bring your whole self to work bringing your energy and creativity to make a positive difference, then this is the job for you.
We have an exciting opportunity for a Senior Commercial Relationship Performance Manager to join our Transformation team on a fixed term contract for a period of 12 months.
In this crucial role, you’ll manage the commercial elements of the Transformation programme, ensuring that third parties deliver what is promised in the contract – on time, to the right quality, securely, and to the agreed price – and to ensure Cumberland Building Society uses the contract levers (credits, remedies, escalation, audit rights etc.) when third parties fall short.
The Benefits
- Salary - up to £75,052 p.a. depending on skills and experience (Band 3)
- Holidays - 25 days holiday plus public holidays and the opportunity to buy and sell up to 3 days.
- Learning and Development opportunities - We want you to grow in your role. We’ll work together to support your personal and professional development.
- Hybrid Working - the tools and equipment you need to be able to work from home when you need to, depending on your role.
- Health and Wellbeing - a calendar of events and activities throughout the year, Mental Health & Wellbeing champions, and Cycle to Work scheme.
- Community Day - We offer our people an extra paid day off every year to help local charities and community organisations.
The Role
Main responsibilities include:
Track delivery and deadlines
- Maintain a definitive record and tracker of milestones, deliverables, dependencies, and acceptance criteria.
- Collate evidence and sign-offs of contractual performance (including acceptance certificates).
- Maintain a definitive record of contractual and commercial non-performance.
- Liaise with TMO (Transformation Management Office), procurement, legal and third-party suppliers where necessary.
Monitor service performance: Check SLAs/KPIs, validate third party reporting, and ensure any service credits are calculated and applied
- Oversee CPI/KPI setup, monthly measurement and validation, and ensure accurate MI and timely service credit determination and recovery through invoice set off.
- Initiate remedial/Performance Improvement processes as triggers arise.
- Drive performance of third-party suppliers with contractual information provision requirements and remediation plan proposals.
Manage issues and remediation: Drive action plans when performance slips and escalate this through governance.
- Track potential and actual delays identified by the programme, ensure timely supplier notifications of such delays, and apply LD rules and protect CBS’s commercial position.
- Engage and challenge the supplier to deliver against requirements
Control change: Ensure changes go through the formal change process before anything is agreed.
- Work with TMO to input into maintenance of the programme RAID and ensure it is aligned to the Agreement.
- Ensure all Changes follow the contractual Change Control Procedure and client approvals.
- Liaise internally with stakeholders (e.g. legal, procurement, infosec) on proposed changes to understand contractual impacts of proposed changes.
Remediation, Performance Improvement, and step-in readiness.
- Liaise with the programme team to define remedial Plans and PIPs where contractual rights to require such plans exist.
- With the programme team, monitor progress and evidence, and prepare documentation to support step‑in decisions and recovery to protect and enforce contractual rights where appropriate.
- Keep an audit trail of notices, minutes, decisions, and missed commitments. Coordinate with Legal/Procurement/Ops on the scope of step-in, communications.
Internal third-party stakeholder management
- Liaise with relevant stakeholders to ensure data protection, infosec, regulatory and legal requirements are being met, escalating where appropriate or evidence of compliance is not forthcoming.
- Oversee the Society’s exercise of audit and step-in rights.
- Manage third party suppliers’ appointment of sub-contractors under the contractual approvals mechanism and maintain records.
About You
We’re looking for someone with significant experience in supplier performance management involving large, technology focussed change projects/project management.
Skills, abilities and behaviours we’re looking for include:
- Attention to detail & ability to translate contractual wording into deliverables
- Clear understanding of contracts/deliverables/service levels/service credits
- Confident in dealing with third parties as well as senior (c-suite) colleagues
- Ability to negotiate whilst understanding broader environment/consequences
- Gravitas to be taken seriously by astute suppliers
You’ll also align closely to our values of:
- Forward Thinking –We embrace new ideas to continuously improve
- Customer Led – We put our customers first in everything we do.
- Straight Forward – We work hard to make things simpler.
- Responsible – We do the right thing.
- Better Together – We work as one team.
