Commercial Manager

Job Purpose:Leads the Commercial function at IHCC head office, owning project commercial delivery across the active portfolio and ensuring that commercial decisions on every project — internal and external — are executed to a consistent standard. The role provides executive-level commercial oversight, surfaces risks to leadership, reports on project financial health, and manages time and cost claims across the portfolio. Through a functional (dotted) reporting line to the Corporate Contracts Department, the role formalizes enterprise contractual governance across the commercial function, ensuring consistent application of contractual policy and timely escalation of commercial and contractual risks. The role owns the commercial operating model, governance, and cross-functional integration with Finance, Operations, Estimation, Project Controls, and Corporate Contracts.

Key Responsibilities

Commercial Operating Model & GovernanceLead the commercial operating model at IHCC head office across project commercial delivery, revenue management, cashflow governance, variations and claims, ensuring alignment with business, project and corporate priorities.Own commercial policies, decision rights, delegation principles and operating rhythms, ensuring routine operational matters are managed at the appropriate level and strategic matters escalated to the Vice President Operations and the Corporate Contracts Department.Establish and enforce commercial governance standards applied consistently across internal and external projects — including cashflow governance, commercial coverage at project level, payment application discipline, claim and variation management, cost reporting cadence, and scope handover at award.Formalize the Interface SOP between Operations Commercial and the Corporate Contracts Department as a working protocol with documented decision rights, escalation routes and cadence — not an aspirational document.Project Commercial Delivery & OversightProvide executive oversight of the project commercial function across the active portfolio, ensuring each project has commercial coverage proportionate to its scale, complexity and client type.Provide commercial input during the pre-award and bid stage in coordination with Estimation, Business Development, Finance, Project Controls and Corporate Contracts; review bid assumptions, payment terms, cashflow implications, subcontracting strategy, commercial qualifications and key risks, and ensure material issues are addressed or documented for handover upon award.Where dedicated project commercial managers are not deployed (Group and Internal Projects), provide direct commercial management through quantity surveyors and support to Project Managers.Ensure payment certification, invoice generation, variation processing and payment-application discipline are executed to standard across every project.Own the final account and commercial close-out process for each project, reconciling completed work, approved variations, claims, deductions and outstanding balances; lead final account negotiations and settlement, and coordinate with Finance to secure final payment and release of contractual retentions within agreed timelines.Lead commercial management of subcontractor and supplier packages throughout the project lifecycle, including scope and pricing reviews, payment valuations and certifications, variations, claims, deductions and final accounts; manage commercial exposure and escalations with Procurement, Project teams and Corporate Contracts within approved authority limits.Contractual Governance InterfaceOperate the functional reporting line into the Corporate Contracts Department: ensure consistent application of contractual policy, templates and precedent across all live projects.Partner with Corporate Contracts on contractual interpretation of ambiguous clauses, risk assessment of new contracts prior to signature, and strategy on live claims and disputes.Coordinate periodic contractual audits of live projects led by Corporate Contracts; act on audit findings within the commercial function and track closure.Build and maintain the enterprise view of contractual exposure across the portfolio for executive reporting to the VPO.Claims, Variations & Commercial Risk ManagementLead the commercial function’s management of time and cost claims across the portfolio, ensuring contractual time bars are met and contemporaneous records are maintained.Surface commercial risks and claim-trigger events to the Vice President Operations and the Corporate Contracts Department during execution — not at project close-out.Own the formalised post-award commercial review with Estimation at defined project milestones, closing the loop between pricing assumptions and actual delivery outcomes.Ensure material commercial, contractual, claim and cashflow risks are identified, tracked and addressed through clear owners, actions and escalation routes.Reporting, Analytics & Executive AdvisoryProduce the weekly project commercial reporting pack: project commercial decks, revenue reports, cashflow projections and claim status for executive leadership.Establish, maintain and monitor portfolio commercial KPIs and control logs covering billing and payment certification, collections, variations, claims, commercial risks, final accounts and retentions; validate data accuracy, track variances and overdue actions, and report exceptions and corrective actions to the VPO and executive management.Translate commercial data into insight for strategic decision-making — pipeline conversion risk, portfolio margin exposure, variation trends and cash position.Drive the shift toward data-driven commercial decision-making through improved systems integration, standardised reporting formats and reduced manual reconciliation.Leadership & Cross-Functional GovernanceLead and develop the HO Commercial team and project commercial resources( Quantity Surveyors); set performance expectations, define career pathways and build succession coverage for critical commercial roles.Establish effective interfaces with Finance (cashflow, revenue recognition), Project Controls (cost control and reporting), Estimation (post-award learning), Operations (project delivery), and the Corporate Contracts Department (contractual governance).Represent IHCC Commercial in cross-BU forums and in senior commercial engagements with clients, partners and strategic subcontractors.Drive continuous improvement, digital/data adoption and consistent ways of working across all project commercial locations.Qualification & Experience:Bachelor’s Degree in Quantity Surveying, Commercial Management, Civil / Construction Engineering, Business Administration or a related field; Master’s Degree is desirable.Professional certification in commercial or contract management is required or strongly desirable — MRICS / FRICS (Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors), CIOB (Chartered Institute of Building), or equivalent. FIDIC accredited adjudicator / claims practitioner is an advantage.Fluency in English is required; Arabic is desirable.Minimum 10 years of progressive commercial / quantity surveying experience in construction, design-build or EPC environments, including at least 3 years in a senior commercial leadership role managing a commercial function at a mid-market or tier-one contractor. Deep working knowledge of FIDIC contract forms, Saudi construction contract practice, claims management and variation administration is required.