Commercial Director Ground Engineering

The business

A specialist ground engineering contractor operating as part of a larger UK contracting group. The business delivers piling, ground improvement, geotechnical and specialist foundation works across [infrastructure, energy, water, residential and commercial] sectors, both as a direct subcontractor to the wider market and in support of the group's own projects.

The group is midway through a strategy shift away from volume and towards margin quality: fewer, better contracts, tighter risk selection, and a commercial function that can say no as confidently as it says yes. This appointment is central to that.

Why the role exists

The commercial function has grown project by project rather than by design. Process, reporting and risk discipline vary between sites, and bid governance is inconsistent. The business is bidding work that a stronger commercial voice would either price differently or decline.

The Commercial Director is being brought in to own that voice. This is not a caretaker role over an established function. It is a build.

What you will actually do

In the first 12 months

• Take ownership of the commercial function end to end: estimating, bid strategy, contract negotiation, post-contract commercial management, final accounts.
• Establish a single, consistent commercial reporting standard across the portfolio, and a CVR process the board can rely on.
• Introduce bid and contract governance with clear authority levels and a defensible go/no-go position. Be the person who defends it.
• Review the current contract book and identify where margin is leaking, where risk is unpriced, and where recovery is realistic.
• Assess the commercial team, fill the gaps, and develop the people worth developing.

Ongoing

• Set commercial strategy for the business and translate it into pricing, terms and contract selection.
• Lead negotiation on the significant contracts and on any dispute that reaches formal territory.
• Own the commercial relationship with major clients and the supply chain, including framework and term arrangements.
• Report commercial performance and forecast to group leadership, and hold the number.

What the client is looking for

Essential

• Commercial leadership at director or head of commercial level within ground engineering, geotechnical, piling or heavy civils. Sector adjacency will be considered where the risk profile genuinely maps across.
• A track record of contracts that finished where they were forecast to finish, and a clear account of the ones that did not.
• Depth in specialist subcontract forms and the risk that comes with them: ground risk, design responsibility, programme interface, unforeseen conditions.
• Genuine negotiation, claims and dispute experience. Not oversight of it. Delivery of it.
• Experience building or rebuilding a commercial function rather than inheriting one that already works.
• The standing to challenge an operational team and a group board, and to be listened to.

Desirable

• MRICS or equivalent.
• Exposure to major frameworks, and to the reporting demands of a listed or group-owned parent.
• Experience integrating commercial systems or moving a business onto a common reporting platform.

What this role is not

• It is not a supervisory position over a commercial function that is already performing.
• It is not suited to a candidate who is comfortable only in main contracting and has not carried specialist subcontract ground risk.
• It is not a role for someone who needs consensus before taking a position.

Why candidates are taking the call

• Genuine ownership. The commercial model here is not fixed, and the person appointed will set it.
• Group backing with specialist autonomy: the balance sheet and pipeline of a Tier 1 parent, and the pace of a specialist business.
• Visible route to the board of the ground engineering business, and to group commercial leadership beyond it.

Next steps

This is a retained appointment handled by Lechley Associates. Initial conversations are confidential and carry no obligation. If the brief is close but not exact, it is still worth a conversation. The client has been clear that they would rather move on the right person than the exact CV.

Contact: [Scott Lechley, Lechley Associates, contact details]