Head of Commercial

About the role

The Head of Commercial will oversee budgeting, contracts, and financial performance for a portfolio of building projects, guiding them from initial planning through closeout. Reporting to the Construction Director, this senior position sets financial policies, drives margin improvement, and manages finance and contracts staff.

Key responsibilities

• Direct financial and contractual operations across multiple simultaneous developments.
• Prepare viability assessments, budgets, cost estimates and cash‑flow projections for each scheme.
• Guide sourcing, bid evaluation, subcontractor agreements and award decisions.
• Handle interim payments, expenditure tracking, scope changes, projections and account closeouts.
• Supervise administration of standard‑form and custom agreements.
• Address exposure to loss, formal claims, scope adjustments and early dispute resolution.
• Build performance metrics and leadership‑level reporting tools.
• Guide and develop surveying staff and supporting finance personnel.
• Coordinate with design, delivery and accounting teams to strengthen outcomes.
• Champion ongoing refinement of internal financial and oversight procedures.

Required profile

• University qualification in Surveying, Cost Management or a related discipline.
• 10+ years directing financial functions on large‑scale building schemes.
• Strong background in early‑stage planning, cost forecasting and sourcing activities.
• Proven experience supervising finance and contracts personnel.
• Excellent business and numerical analysis capabilities.
• Well‑developed interpersonal skills for stakeholder engagement.
• Chartered status with a recognized surveying or building institute (preferred).
• Experience on projects in tropical or hard‑to‑access locations (preferred).

Required skills

• Construction management software platforms
• Data visualization tools
• Commercial analytics tools