Lead Specialist, Business Contracts

National Grid is hiring a Lead Specialist, Business Contracts for our Project Delivery Support, Contracts department in Syracuse, NY.

Every day we deliver safe and secure energy to homes, communities, and businesses. We are there when people need us the most. We connect people to the energy they need for the lives they live. The pace of change in society and our industry is accelerating and our expertise and track record puts us in an unparalleled position to shape the sustainable future of our industry.

To be successful we must anticipate the needs of our customers, reducing the cost of energy delivery today and pioneering the flexible energy systems of tomorrow. This requires us to deliver on our promises and always look for new opportunities to grow, both ourselves and our business.

National Grid outsources a significant portion of their construction and maintenance work plan. National Grid Project Management & Construction delivers over $500M in electric capital construction annually to ensure safe and reliable energy solutions for our customers and communities. The PM&C portfolio encompasses several contracts including but not limited to: Substation, Transmission Line, Distribution Line, Substation, Civil, & Support Services.

Contract Management provides safety conscious best in class contractor resources to perform the work while maximizing value and minimizing cost. The Framework Contract Management team manages adherence of contract terms, issue resolution, and contractor and contract performance, ensuring Health, Safety, Environmental and Quality compliance is maintained and the Company's procedures and objectives are achieved. The Contract Specialist supports the business in post award contract management: Stakeholder management, conflict resolution, understanding the need of business requirements, support the Process & Performance team, in development of Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) to drive performance, while maximizing value throughout.

• Contract Implementation
  • Participate in Contract Orientations, Help train stakeholders on all aspects of the contract management process and become the expert in post award contracts for non complex construction projects and work plans.
• Contract Management
  • Ensure highest level of safety, performance, and regulatory compliance by the contractors, while maximizing value throughout via overall management of contract.
  • Manage process for agreed to periodic reviews and pricing changes. Create and present rationale for pricing changes to leadership, negotiate with contractor and business customers/stakeholders, assure timely implementation.
  • Monitor contractor performance to include KPI development, conduct performance review meetings, and performance improvements plans. Collecting and analyzing quantitative and qualitative data to monitor the suppliers' performance against agreed service levels, publishing the results and working on actions based on results.
  • Participate in the contract renewal and execution process with adjacent stakeholders. Review contracts and specifications for updates and present issues to stakeholders internal and external to the business unit.
  • Liaising between National Grid and the supplier organizations, supporting the relationship regarding the contracts, and enabling all communications take place effectively and efficiently.
  • Assess through contract cost modelling tools, the benefits, financial risks and impacts of existing and potential new contracts (opportunities) to contribute in delivering value.
  • Influence both business management decisions and individual behaviors to better manage service requirements, service utilization and budgetary controls.

Stakeholder Management

• Consistent and active communication with vendors throughout all levels of the organization.
• Develop and maintain a relationship with all internal and external stakeholders by serving as a single point of contact for contractual matters
• Manage the policies and processes for compliance and audit; ensuring delivery by suppliers and internal stakeholders of the policies and procedures.

• Excellent interpersonal and communication skills.
• Comfortable communicating with impact to a wide cross section of the business including senior management.
• Experience of working within a team as a team player and demonstrating the ability to be unselfish in the pursuit of the team objective.

• Bachelor's or equivalent.
• Previous contracts experience preferably in the construction realm or utility industry.
• Equivalent contract management experience from other technical industries such as government or defense will be considered.
• Ability to lead teams with varying goals, public speaking, and presentations
• Strong technical understanding of contracts and the associated work governed by the contracts.
• Strong understanding of construction pricing structures in contracts (lump sum, unitized values, time & equipment), contractor performance (KPI's) and change management principles in contracts.
• High level competencies in problem solving, conflict resolution, analytics, and influencing to achieve positive outcomes that meet objectives
• Additional: Background in project management.
• Valid driver's license required.