Assistant Contract Manager

Contract type: Permanent
Hours: Full time or Part Time; 37.5 hours per week (FTE)

Salary: £48,000-£57,000 commensurate with experience

Location: Leeds

WFH policy: Employees are required to attend the office 2 days/week

Flexible working: Variety of flexible work patterns subject to line manager discretion e.g. Compressed 9-day fortnight.

Reports to: Lead Contract Manager
Deadline Note: We reserve the right to close the advert before the advertised deadline if there are a high volume of applications.

Find out more about working with us.

About us

We’re an independent company and arms-length governmental body, set up and owned by the Department of Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ). We administer the Contracts for Difference (CfD) scheme, which aims to encourage investment in low carbon electricity generation. In 2024, projects managed under CfD’s generated enough energy to power 15.2 million homes and mitigated 2,818,008 tons of CO2 emissions.

Role Summary

Develop your career as you help drive net zero.

As Assistant Contract Manager at the Low Carbon Contracts Company you will learn the role of Contract Manager and how to manage the contracts that make low carbon technology investible.

You’ll be working on the contracts for a variety of cutting-edge projects in sectors such as offshore wind, geothermal electricity, tidal, biomass and carbon capture.

CCUS & H2

The CCUS Contract Management Team manage a variety of contractual frameworks that support the application of carbon capture for different use cases. This currently includes the Dispatchable Power, Industrial Carbon Capture and Industrial Carbon Capture and Waste and is expected to grow in the future.

The team has three areas of focus:

Working with government to develop these contracts to ensure they are operable
Developing the systems, tools and processes to manage these contracts
Developing and managing relationships with Emitters/Generators, supporting and managing them through contract milestones and working with them and other stakeholders to solve legal, technical and contractual problems to enable projects to succeed.

Nuclear / Bespoke Contract Management Team:

The Nuclear / Bespoke Contract Management Team manage the Hinkley Point C (HPC) CfD. HPC, a nuclear plant under construction, is a major multi-billion infrastructure project of key importance for the UK, set to deliver once commissioned 3.2GW of capacity and circa 7% of the current UK electricity needs. As such, it attracts significant attention at all levels within LCCC and key stakeholders, including the Department of Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ), the Infrastructure Projects Authority (IPA) and HMT. An important aspect of this role will be to support the preparation and presentation of regular briefings to senior stakeholders (including UK Government) on the progress of the project, key risks and any other relevant matters.

Electricity CfD Team:

Within the Electricity CfD Team, our main aim is to facilitate renewable energy projects through relationship management of Developers and/or Generators whilst supporting and managing them through the milestones within the Contracts for Difference (CfD) all whilst working with them and other stakeholders to solve legal, technical and contractual problems to ultimately enable projects to succeed. With over 360 contracts in our current portfolio and the Government’s Carbon Power Action Plan for 2030 (CP30) this is set to increase significantly; there’s never been a greater time to get involved and help drive the UK to achieving Net Zero. The projects in our portfolio cover a wider range of technologies including:

Wind: Remote Island, Onshore, Offshore, Floating Offshore
Solar
Biomass
Energy from Waste
Tidal; and
Advanced Conversion Technologies and Geothermal

Key Responsibilities

Relationship management

Getting out and meeting people face-to-face. Taking a proactive approach to building strong, professional relationships is the most important part of the role. It’s essential that you’re the type of person who will pick up the phone, or go to visit a site, rather than always relying on email.
Working as part of a close-knit team and learning from your colleagues (see section on Learning Contracts for Difference processes).
Collaborating and building trust with stakeholders as you support them to meet all contractual requirements.

Communication

Articulating technical requirements for a variety of people, including those without much technical knowledge, via email, phone calls and face-to-face meetings.
Responding to queries and concisely summarising key messages and salient points.
Presenting papers to Lead or Senior Contract Managers in order to get approval papers signed off.
Managing and communicating information in a timely and accurate way, and raising potential issues before they become problematic.
Presenting high-quality, reliable data using the appropriate templates.
Keeping abreast of policy, process and procedural changes, and alerting counterparties to any that may affect them.

Problem solving

Using a solution based approach to help counterparties identify and solve specific project issues, such as contractor delays. You are always guided by the confines of the contract and the best outcome for the project.
Thinking about project problems creatively and flexibly, on a case-by-case basis. Acting as a trusted advisor and making sure counterparties feel they can come to you as soon as an issue arises.
Applying critical thinking and an engineering mindset to offer counterparties a range of pragmatic, workable solutions.
Pro-actively sharing ideas for improvements to processes and procedures.
Breaking down lengthy consultation documents into succinct, comprehensible text.

Learning Contracts for Difference processes

Understanding contractual terms and conditions.
Applying LCCC processes to bring contracts to fruition; all the way from allocation rounds to power generation.
Receiving coaching from Senior Contract Managers and support from Contract Managers.
Shadowing and assisting Contract Managers across various contractual milestones.
Learning how to review information and notice subtle nuances in contracts, documents and processing claims.

Training and development

We will work with you to develop a personal development plan, designed to support your career aspirations and fill certain skill or knowledge gaps.

Because each plan is bespoke, we cannot say what yours might include. But, for example, we’ve supported colleagues with chartered status with the World Commerce and Contracting Association, and chartered status with the Chartered Institute of Mechanical Engineers. And in the past we’ve provided Assistant Contract Managers with training in the areas of emotional intelligence, presenting with impact, communication, critical thinking and problem solving.

When appropriate, we will also pay for and provide study leave for specific external training and qualifications relevant to your role. Internal mentorship schemes are also available.

We are keen to promote internally and will support you to progress to your next career step, which is Contract Manager, and then Senior Contract Manager.

Skills Knowledge and Expertise

Essential

You either have a STEM degree and two years’ relevant experience, including relationship management, communication and problem solving. Otherwise four years’ relevant experience without a STEM degree.

Highly desirable

Experience managing claims or disputes.
Energy background, with technical knowledge of renewable technology.

Employee Benefits

As if contributing to and supporting work that makes life better for millions wasn’t rewarding enough, we offer a full range of benefits too. Key benefits that may be available depending on the role include:

Annual performance based bonus, up to 10%
25 days annual leave, plus eight bank holidays
Up to 8% pension contribution
Financial support and time off for study relevant to your role, plus one free professional membership subscription
Employee referral scheme (up to £1500), and colleague recognition scheme
· Family friendly policies, including enhanced maternity leave and shared parental leave
· Free, confidential employee assistance, including financial management, family care, mental health, and on-call GP service
· Three paid volunteering days a year
· Season ticket loan and cycle to work schemes
· Family savings on days out and English Heritage, gym discounts, cash back and discounts at selected retailers
· Employee resource groups

About Low Carbon Contracts Company

The Low Carbon Contracts Company (LCCC) exists to help decarbonise the generation of electricity and make it more affordable for the future. Our work is central to the delivery of the Government’s objective to achieve Net Zero target by 2050.

Discover more about LCCC and what it’s like to work with us by watching this video: https://vimeo.com/1046713265

Please take the time to answer the optional diversity questions
At LCCC, we are dedicated to fostering a diverse and inclusive workplace where everyone can be their authentic selves and contribute to our mission of advancing a flexible energy future. Our aim is to be reflective of the environments where we operate and truly benefit from a rich tapestry of backgrounds and experiences where everyone thrives which of course make us stronger together. Your diversity data is valuable to us, it helps us understand whether we are effectively connecting with underrepresented groups and realising our diversity aims. Please note that your diversity data will remain anonymised to us as it only feeds into high-level reports not connected to the candidates.