Senior Manager: Contracting and Risk Management at Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR)

About the Job:

• The CSIR has a vacancy for a Senior Manager: Contracting and Risk Management within the Advanced Production and Security Division.
• The Division comprises three clusters- Defence and Security, Mining and Manufacturing. 
• The position reports to the Business Development and Commercialisation Executive of the Division and is based in Pretoria.  
• The incumbent will be expected to spend significant time at the CSIR campus engaging with the different Divisional clusters.
• The incumbent will be responsible for leading and overseeing the strategic management of contracts and risks to support long-term business success, improving operational efficiency, ensuring that all contractual obligations are met in alignment with the organization's goals and governance requirements, and facilitate required stakeholder engagements both internally and externally to the organization. The role also involves integrating inputs from the business development and operational functions, optimizing project execution, and maintaining compliance with legal and regulatory standards.

Key Responsibilities:

• Lead contract negotiation strategies and the selection, drafting, and review of all BD&C-negotiated divisional contracts, ensuring alignment with business objectives and contributing to the organization's overall strategic goals. The contract magnitude would be from small to large contracts, e.g R2million to over a billion.
• Lead efforts in identifying potential future contracting risks and implement proactive risk mitigation strategies that align with CSIR’s overall strategy
• Identify and assess contract types to ensure appropriate application across different agreements providing strategic recommendations to ensure alignment with future business needs and evolving market conditions to mitigate potential challenges.
• Interface with respective internal and external stakeholders in order to ensure the contracts effectively align with CSIR’s strategic interests
• Develop and maintain contract risk dashboards for all divisional contracts, monitoring financial exposure, liabilities, penalties and operational risks.
• Ensure adherence to contract deliverables and project timelines, aligning contractual obligations with operational execution.
• Set clear, measurable objectives for contract execution and monitor these throughout the contract life cycle.
• Act as a critical Project/Programmes/Contracts interface between BD&C and the Clusters to ensure on time, on terms and on budget contract delivery
• Establish and lead BD management meetings for the Division, working closely with the Divisional Operational Manager to address BD-Operational challenges.
• Gather and analyze divisional data to compile BD&C monthly reports for divisional feedback and quarterly reports for EXCO feedback sessions.
• Ensure proper finalization of contracting documentation and maintain compliance with internal policies.
• Drive continuous improvement by analyzing contracting and business development performance metrices, identifying areas for optimization.
• Influence company-wide governance policies and ensure that all contracts align with the strategic compliance objectives, proactively identifying and managing potential compliance risks.

Qualifications, experience and skills:

• A Master’s Degree in Engineering or Science coupled with a certification in Project Management with at least fifteen years applicable experience in a research and development environment of which six years must be in contracts management and business development
• Developing strategies in an R&D environment
• In-depth knowledge and understanding of multi-disciplinary R&D programme development
• Stakeholder management which included international, private and public sector entities
• Formulation of relevant strategic relationship agreements. These include NDA’s; MOU’s; MOA’s; SLA’s etc.
• Understanding of integrated business development, system’s approach and technology development processes
• Packaging technology solutions from a suit of R&D capabilities at various technology maturity levels
• Knowledge of Systems Engineering
• Ability to work in conjunction with a diverse group of professionals to reach objectives
• Proficiency in data analysis using Excel, including pivot tables, formulas, and data visualisation tools.
• Knowledge of common frameworks or of end-to-end management of contracts, families (e.g., NEC3, NEC 4, etc.).

Closing date: 25 July 2025