Job Description:

Assistant Commercial Manager

Location: Cambridgeshire
Salary: £35,000–£40,000 + benefits, with flexibility up to £45,000 for an exceptional candidate
Working pattern: Full-time, office-based

A broad commercial role with real responsibility

This is an exciting opportunity for an ambitious early-career professional to step into a newly created Assistant Commercial Manager role, working closely with the Commercial Head and gaining exposure across legal, commercial strategy and bids.
This is not a traditional legal or contracts position. You’ll be expected to understand the bigger picture, build relationships across the business and help turn complex issues into practical commercial decisions.

It’s a role with significant breadth and visibility, offering the opportunity to learn quickly and take on responsibility from day one.

The Role

You’ll work across three key areas:

Legal & Compliance

• Supporting the review, negotiation and management of commercial contracts
• Identifying contractual and commercial risks and helping develop practical solutions
• Supporting regulatory and compliance matters
• Providing internal support on HR-related matters where required
• Helping the business identify and address issues before they become problems

Commercial

• Working alongside the Commercial Head on commercial and deal-making strategy
• Supporting negotiations and helping shape commercially sensible outcomes
• Looking beyond the legal wording of an agreement to understand the wider business implications
• Working with stakeholders across the business to understand issues, find answers and keep things moving

Bids

• Coordinating and managing the bid process from opportunity through to submission
• Working closely with Sales throughout the bid cycle
• Managing and supporting a team of four within the bid function
• Bringing greater structure, planning and consistency to the bid process
• Helping ensure opportunities are properly prepared and progressed

The role is deliberately broad. One day you could be reviewing a contract, the next helping resolve a commercial issue or working with Sales on an important bid.

About You

We’re particularly interested in candidates with around 12–18 months of post-graduate experience who are looking for a role where they can develop quickly and broaden their skill set.

A degree in Law, Business, Economics or a related subject would be ideal.

More important than your exact background is your approach.

You’ll be someone who:

• Thinks commercially rather than simply interpreting rules or contracts
• Can join the dots between legal, commercial and operational issues
• Is confident communicating with people at all levels
• Can hold their own in a room and is comfortable engaging with senior stakeholders
• Is personable, approachable and naturally good at building relationships
• Is curious and willing to get out into the business to find answers
• Is adaptable and comfortable working in a role that is still evolving
• Takes ownership rather than waiting to be told what to do
• Is keen to learn and develop across multiple areas of the business

Previous bid experience would be a bonus, but is not expected at this level.

Equally, we're not necessarily looking for someone with years of experience. The opportunity is particularly suited to someone who is early in their career, highly capable and keen to take their next step.

Why This Role?

The role offers something that’s difficult to find early in your career: genuine breadth and exposure.
You’ll work closely with senior decision-makers and develop experience across contracts, risk, commercial negotiations, bids and sales — rather than becoming pigeonholed into a single specialism.

You’ll also have the opportunity to help shape the function itself. The team is moving from a largely reactive approach towards a more structured, proactive way of working, and you’ll play an important part in that change.

If you’re ambitious, commercially minded and enjoy solving problems with people rather than simply working from a process, this could be an excellent next step.

What’s on Offer

• £35,000–£40,000 salary, with flexibility up to £55,000 for an exceptional candidate
• A genuinely broad remit with significant exposure to senior stakeholders
• Opportunity to develop across legal, commercial and bid management
• A role with plenty of scope to grow as the function develops