Commercial Intelligence Manager

What you’ll be responsible for

As Commercial Intelligence Manager, you will lead Welsh Water’s commercial insight, forecasting and market intelligence capability. You own the procurement delivery plan, ensuring upcoming activity is captured, sequenced and shapes procurement priorities. You and your team produce clear, digestible insight products that give the business a reliable forward commercial view and strengthen decision making. You interpret outputs from the Data, AI and Automation pillar and turn them into commercial direction, strategic narratives and practical insight. You also lead Welsh Water’s market management activity, ensuring market health, supplier intelligence and forward signals are understood internally and across the supplier market.

You will lead the Commercial Intelligence pillar, giving procurement and the wider business a clear, forward view of commercial priorities, risks and opportunities. By maintaining the enterprise procurement portfolio and anticipating shifts in market conditions, you will enable confident, evidence-based decision making and ensure activity is sequenced and planned in line with organisational need. You turn data and market signals into commercial intelligence that directly shapes procurement priorities and supplier market behaviour.

You will manage and develop the Commercial Intelligence team, ensuring the function delivers high quality market and supplier insights and forward commercial visibility through clear standards, prioritisation and professional judgement.

    Key responsibilities of the role
1.    Set the method for interpreting business need, surfacing demand and shaping the forward view of procurement activity, ensuring emerging requirements are understood early and converted into clear planning signals for the procurement portfolio.
2.    Own the end to end procurement portfolio and its delivery plan, determining priorities, sequencing and trade offs, and adjusting activity as commercial conditions change so procurement effort, resources and supplier signalling stay aligned.
3.    Own commercial forecasting for cost, risk and capacity so it informs planning, budgeting, prioritisation and benefits delivery, highlighting commercial opportunities and pressures early for Finance and procurement leadership.
4.    Own senior level engagement with directorates to surface upcoming demand, ensuring procurement is positioned, resourced and informed ahead of key activity.
5.    Own market management insight, producing market health insight and supplier intelligence that provide authoritative understanding of market conditions, supply chain capacity, cost pressures and commercial risk, and strengthen procurement priorities.
6.    Prioritise the development of commercial intelligence products, ensuring they translate business needs, data signals and market information into clear, evidence based commercial instruction for senior decision making
7.    Provide strategic supplier and supply chain intelligence, giving clear, defensible insight and recommendations that inform category strategies, commercial risk assessments and decisions across all suppliers and contracts.
8.    Lead cost intelligence for the organisation, ensuring shifts in market prices, inflation and supply conditions are identified early, communicated clearly and used to steer commercial choices.
9.    Set the approach for value and benefits insight, ensuring reporting is robust, evidence based and aligned with organisational commercial objectives. 
10.    Lead commercial performance insight, providing senior leaders with a clear and consistent commercial narrative on delivery progress, risks and value performance.
11.    Establish and maintain early warning indicators, maintaining visibility of commercial drift, delivery risk and market shifts, and surfacing signals early to support timely action.

About you

The following are essential requirements for the recruitment of the role:

Qualifications
•     Degree level or equivalent in a commercial, analytical, economics, data or procurement related discipline
•    MCIPS (Level 6) or working towards
•    MBA or postgraduate qualification (desirable)
•    Professional development in market intelligence, forecasting or commercial analysis (desirable)

Experience
•    Extensive experience leading commercial insight, forecasting, market intelligence or demand planning within a procurement or commercial environment
•    Experience generating commercial insight that shapes prioritisation, informs category strategies and supports commercial decision making
•    Experience working with senior stakeholders across Finance, operational leadership and procurement to interpret insight, manage demand and steer priorities
•    Experience in a regulated sector such as water, energy, utilities or public services (desirable)
•    Experience working with government, regulators, industry bodies or cross utility groups (desirable)
•    Participation in relevant industry or professional networks (forecasting, commercial intelligence, market insight) (desirable)
•    Passionate about mentoring and capability-building within teams, supporting professional development and CIPS accreditation (desirable)

Knowledge & Skills
•    Deep working knowledge of market analysis, supply chain intelligence, cost drivers and commercial risk signals
•    Strong understanding of demand modelling, portfolio prioritisation, commercial performance and benefits insight
•    Ability to translate data, market information and business signals into clear commercial recommendations, early warning indicators and strategic options
•    Excellent communication, judgement and influencing skills
•    Excellent stakeholder engagement and influencing skills, ensuring effective compliance and ESG strategy alignment across business units, finance, and operational teams.

Good to know

Please note, we may close this role sooner if required. We may also extend the original closing date depending on interest.

Due to the nature of the industry, we require satisfactory references, post offer medical clearance, and a criminal records Basic Disclosure check on all new employees joining the business. For some roles there may be additional checks and security clearance required, and this offer is subject all checks being satisfied. You will receive further information on how to complete these checks via email once you have accepted this offer.

Benefits

As well as a market competitive salary, 34 days annual leave (pro rata, 26 days + 8 public holiday days), we offer a range of employee benefits and rewards including:

•             Variable pay schemes (your salary band will remain the same, but performance depending, you could receive an incremental within-band increase and a yearly incentive)

•             Option to buy additional annual leave up to 5 days per year

•             Enhanced employer pension contributions – Up to 11% employer contributions

•             Free Mortgage Brokering Services 

•             Enhanced family friendly policies

•             Progression opportunities, including the ability to apply for funded training and coaching and mentoring programmes

•             Gym and fitness discounts as well as high street shopping

•             Cycle to work scheme

•             Discount off all Welsh Water visitor attraction centres and gift shops

•             Car-leasing scheme and free on-site parking at all sites

•             Health CashBack scheme and access to an online GP service

•             An employee assistance programme for employees and their immediate family

•             Many more can be found on our website!

Who we are

Dŵr Cymru Welsh Water keep 3 million people healthy each day with safe, reliable water, and take away wastewater to clean, before returning it safely to our beautiful rivers and seas.

To be able to deliver high quality, essential services which help to protect the health of our customers, colleagues and our environment, we need the right people to deliver on our vision.  This is achieved by living our core values and demonstrating the core behaviours that underpin them.  The security of our people, assets and information is key to us, so we are looking for people who understand and comply with the company’s required security objectives.

We know that the most successful teams are the most diverse teams. Equality, diversity and inclusion provide the very foundation to our culture at Welsh Water. We want every individual to feel confident, proud and able to bring their whole selves to work. 

To ensure an improved representation in our workforce, applications are particularly welcome from minority groups including Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic people, Females, LGBT+, Non-binary and people with disabilities. Together we continue to build a workplace that not only celebrates the diverse voices of our colleagues but also represents each customer we serve.

In essence, ours is a company based on trust, openness, respect, commitment and honesty. A company that our colleagues are proud to work for.