Commercial Manager

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Company Description

McDonald's has run its business in the UK since 1974 and celebrates its 50th anniversary this year. The business currently operates over 1,450 restaurants across the UK and Ireland, serving almost four million customers each day. McDonald's is one of the UK's largest private sector employers, employing over 177,000 people.

McDonald's UK & Ireland has a proven track record of investing in the development of its employees and offering flexibility as part of its dedication to being a modern and progressive company. Every year, it invests over £40 million in developing people, giving every one of its employees the opportunity to take part in structured training.

McDonald's buys ingredients from over 23,000 British and Irish farmers and spends over £1.1billion annually on its food and packaging requirements. McDonald's is committed to supporting British and Irish farmers to ensure it can continue to source many of its ingredients from the UK and Ireland.

McDonald's is a market leader in its field, striving for the highest standard of quality, speed and restaurant experience. Re-generation of our restaurant infrastructure, covering digital ordering, re-imaging and dual-point service make working at McDonald's more exciting than ever!

We are dedicated to using our scale for good: good for people, our industry and the planet. From bold recycling initiatives and sustainable sourcing efforts to our partnership with Ronald McDonald House Charities, we see every day as a chance to have a genuine impact on our customers, our people and our partners.

We're a people business just as much as we are a restaurant business. We strive to be the most inclusive brand in the world by building diverse teams who create delicious, feel-good moments that are easy for everyone to enjoy. Joining McDonald's means thinking big every day and preparing for a career that can have impact around the world.

Company Vision and Culture...

Our Global vision is to build a better McDonald's and, in the UK, and Ireland we are working hard to be the UK & Irelands best-loved restaurant company.

McDonald's is defined by its culture. Our culture shapes and informs everything we think and everything we do. Our culture influences the way we interact with each other, and how we interact with customers, franchisees and suppliers. Our culture motivates and inspires us to attract and retain great talent, creating positive, energising, exceptional working environment for us all.

Our values drive our culture and shape our beliefs, our priorities and our actions. They influence the decisions we make, how we treat one another and how we show up as a brand to the world.

Serve: We put our customers and our people first

Inclusion: We open our doors to everyone

Integrity: We do the right thing

Community: We are good neighbours

Family: We get better together

Job Description

A hybrid role, working 3 days in our East Finchley office and 2 days from home.

This is an exciting opportunity to lead the commercial and contractual governance framework for over 140 suppliers, that provide a wide range of Equipment, Building Maintenance and Soft services to enable the smooth running of our 1520 restaurants. The successful candidate will oversee the commercial needs of the entire Restaurant Solutions Group (RSG) across the UK & Ireland, recognising business opportunities to deliver value and enhanced services, alongside our supporting sustainability goals. They will be responsible for setting the standards for structured and effective supplier management and govenance, requiring a very high degree of integrity and confidentiality.

As Commercial Manager, you will be responsible for the continuous development of commercial agreements with our suppliers. This requires close working relationship with our Key Equipment & Restaurant Services supplier partner (H+K) and leveraging the scale of the McDonald's system to ensure that we have the most appropriate arrangements in place. You will provide leadership in supplier negotiations and play a pivotal role in shaping future service requirements in line with McDonald's growth and business priorities (Roadmap, Plan to Win). This is key to developing stable and long-term partners that are suitably motivated to deliver the best service to our restaurants.

Working with contract managers and Subject Matter Experts (SMEs), you will continuously work to strategically expand, preserve or improve the company's processes and policies for existing and new suppliers whilst maintaining regulatory compliance and company requirements.

The applicant must have an awareness of the importance of the service and supplier support structure within the UK&I, and a clear belief in the 3-Legged Stool approach (Company, Franchisees & Supplier partnerships) for our future growth.

The Commercial Manager will also lead budget planning to support the Finance team with cost projections including Capital Investment and Expenditure (capex) and Maintenance & Repair (M&R). They will oversee department General & Administration (G&A), as well as equipment forecasting and forward bulk purchasing for assured supply in line with business requirements. This will be achieved through effective collaboration with the senior leadership team and support from direct reports.

What will my accountabilities be?

• Lead for RSG in providing contractual and commercial solutions to business challenges
• Lead supplier contract negotiations to support franchisees and restaurants and leverage the scale of the McDonald's system to deliver high business value and cost certainty
• Maintain relationships with suppliers and service partners
• Ownership of a comprehensive services and suppliers procurement strategy for RSG including Request for Information (RFI) / Pre-qualification (PQQ), Request for Proposal (RFP) / Invitation to Tender (ITT), supplier evaluation criteria, cost modelling, negotiation, benchmarking, supplier selection, onboarding. Maintain full procuremt and tendering library to provide structure, accountability and governance
• Accountable for leading the process to onboard new suppliers
• Utilise knowledge of business law to verify, oversee or approve commercial agreements and documentation in partnership with the Legal team
• Ensure formal contracts are in place for all service partners and maintain accurate records of all contract negotiations
• Maintain commercial calendar to allow effective planning of contract renewals and pricing reviews
• Monitor performance of companies to agreed contractual Service Level Agreements (SLAs) and Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) via performance management system, site surveys and internal feedback mechanisms
• Communicate with key stakeholders across the business, through appropriate forums, on supplier performance, pricing and cost trends, and current and anticipated supplier issues. These include McDonald's UK and Ireland operations hierarchy, McDienstens, RGRG, franchisees, Operations, Finance and other key departments
• Liaise with SMEs in the business on future service impacts of new asset purchases, new legislation and other service impacting factors
• Accountable for financial management of a mutli-millin pound budget and providing financial integrity for budgets and expenditure within areas of responsibility, ensuring accurate allocation and apportionment of funds, invoice reconciliations and reporting suites, and all financial targets are met within acceptable tolerances. Investigate and report areas of risk
• Ongoing commercial risk assessment for contracts and suppliers
• Work with external contract managers to highlight effectiveness of commercial arrangements and recommend changes as appropriate to improve product availability and enhance the customer experience
• Liaise with SMEs in the business on future service impacts of new asset purchases, new legislation and other service impacting factors
• Support the development and management of the 3-year RSG Capital Investment plan for corporate restaurants
• Benchmarking of supply chain and service model pricing, logistics and structure to provide an appropriate balance of value-for-money and give confidence to franchisees and restaurants in current costs and contracting arrangements
• Ongoing development of service integrator (eTech) in line with business requirements
• Provide financial audits and integrity of eTech, key suppliers and service providers
• Stock auditing of bulk purchased equipment across our key suppliers in partnership with Finance team
• Work closely with RSG Insights team to develop data reporting suites including services, equipment reliability, M&R cost trends, capacity etc. in line with priorities and RSG Roadmap
• Provide innovative solutions to services self-management for franchisees and restaurants
• Handling daily business issues, managing and recognize business opportunities
• Manage commercial contract disputes with suppliers and liaising with all relevant parties as necessary to reach acceptable resolution
• Provide leadership to foster a high-performing culture aligned with RSG and company values
• Provide ongoing coaching and mentoring to members of your team, ensuring that all individuals have strong development plans
• Support wider RSG team and other departments and our Global colleagues with commercial guidance and analysis

What Team will I be a part of?

You will be part of our Restaurant Solutions Group (RSG). RSG is a dynamic team that puts our people first and provides a supportive and inclusive working environment. You will lead the Commercial team, which ensures we have the best and most appropriate commercial arrangements and governance structures in place with 140+ global and local suppliers, service partners and manufacturers. This is key to developing stable and long-term partners that are suitably motivated to deliver the best service to our restaurants, ensure that the equipment in our restaurants meets our requirements, produces the best and consistent quality, and can also be maintained quickly. They enable our restaurants stay open and maintain a consistent customer experience across UK and Ireland.

Who are my customers?

RSG team alongside other key business functions including Operations, Finance, Global Banking Services, Legal, Franchising, Internal Communications, Business Strategy & Insight, Development, Property & Estate and colleagues in other McDonald's markets. As well as our Franchisee community, our Key Equipment & Restaurant Services supplier partner (H+K) and other external suppliers, service partners and equipment manufacturers.

Qualifications

• An inclusive and supportive work ethic - both self-starting and comfortable with a People First mindset
• Extensive sourcing and commercial experience whilst familiar with related legal constructs
• Expert negotiation skills and commercial acumen
• Significant experience in managing a diverse and broad range of suppliers
• Understands the importance of developing stable and long-term supplier relationships
• Experience in strategic planning and implementing governance frameworks
• Excellent verbal and written communication and interpersonal skills and ability to interact and converse with stakeholders and SMEs both internally and externally
• Strong presentation + analytical skills
• Experience in budget planning, cost forecasting and financial management
• Proven track record of successful team leadership and development, inspiring others to persevere through challenges, and have the ability to develop good relationships and work collaboratively in a fast-paced and dynamic team environment to identify and implement solutions
• Able to manage multiple projects and workstreams to meet deadlines and adapt to change
• Experience in procurement systems and implementation would be advantagous
• Demonstrates curious mind set and a genuine desire to learn, confident, independent and a self-starter
• Some McDonald's or retail operations experience with an understanding of key commercial services that are delivered to restaurants is an advantage
• Experience in the area of sustainability would be beneficial, but is not essential

Additional Information

At McDonald's we are People from all Walks of Life...

People are at the heart of everything we do, and they make the McDonald's experience. We embrace diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive culture that means people can be their best authentic self in our restaurants and offices, which helps us to better serve our customers. We have a strong heritage of diversity and representation within our communities, which we are proud of. The diversity of our people, customers, Franchisees and suppliers gives us strength.

We do not tolerate inequality, injustice or discrimination of any kind. These are hugely important issues and a brand with our reach and relevance means we have a very meaningful role to play.

We also recognise our responsibility as a large employer to continue being active in our communities, helping to develop skills and drive aspirations that will help people to be more aware of the world of work and more successful within it, whether with McDonald's or elsewhere."

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