The Service Manager is accountable for contract performance, service quality, and the delivery of value across all managed services and will act as the primary interface with key suppliers, particularly ISS, and is responsible for strengthening contract performance through effective use of contractual mechanisms and robust governance.
The role requires specialist expertise in Facilities Management contract management, including performance management frameworks, commercial governance, supplier assurance, and statutory compliance. It also demands strong leadership capability to develop team skills, challenge underperformance, and drive continuous improvement across high-value, complex contracts.
The postholder will lead the team, manage senior stakeholders, and make key decisions to enable high standards of contract performance. This includes ensuring the effective delivery of services, achieving value for money, and supporting a sustainable, forward-looking strategy that meets the needs of Defra and our customers.
Job overview
Provide end-to-end leadership of contract management processes, including instructions, communications, early warnings, compensation events, payments, and performance governance.
Drive contract performance, continuous improvement, and benefits realisation through proactive management of service outcomes and supplier accountability.
Establish, maintain, and mature governance frameworks across the contract and Defra, ensuring clear decision-making, escalation routes, and performance visibility.
Act as a key escalation point and, where appropriate, final arbiter on contract interpretation, ambiguity resolution, and dispute management.
Own and maintain contract scope (including specifications, service catalogue, policies, and standards), ensuring it remains aligned to departmental objectives, evolving needs, and future operating models.
Lead, coach, and develop a team of approximately 10 -12 Delegated Service Managers and contract support staff, fostering high performance, consistency, and professional growth.
Ensure alignment and consistency across Delegated Service Managers, embedding best practice and standardised approaches to contract management across all service areas.
Build strong, trusted relationships with internal stakeholders, Defra Group Commercial, and service partners to enable collaborative, outcome-focused delivery.
Act as a strategic partner to senior stakeholders, providing insight-led advice that influences decision-making, shapes priorities, and supports long-term service transformation
Play a central role in Strategic Supplier Relationship Management, embedding a partnership-based approach that drives innovation, value creation, and service optimisation.
Use data, performance analytics, benchmarking, and market intelligence to identify improvement opportunities and challenge underperformance.
Champion continuous improvement, driving structured improvement plans with suppliers and internal teams, including the use of contractual levers where required.
Oversee delegations and approvals frameworks, enabling effective financial, transactional, and supply chain governance, including supplier assurance and compliance activities.
Ensure the team and wider organisation have the appropriate capability, training, and technical expertise to manage complex contracts effectively.
Lead the development of contract management capability across the organisation, embedding knowledge sharing, lessons learned, and best practice.
Provide expert, risk-based advice to senior leaders and external partners, ensuring decisions are informed by legislation, policy, commercial insight, and operational realities
Influence upwards by translating operational performance into strategic insight, shaping senior leadership priorities, investment decisions, and future service direction.
Support and influence future strategy by identifying emerging trends in facilities management, workplace services, sustainability, digital enablement, and integrated service delivery models.
Lead integration across national programmes and capital projects, ensuring alignment between service providers, internal project teams, and sustainability specialists to deliver coherent, high-quality outcomes.
Promote innovation and modern service delivery approaches, including digital contract management tools, predictive performance management, and outcome-based contracting where appropriate.
Act impartially in accordance with the contract, ensuring fair and transparent treatment of both Client and Service Provider.
Person specification
The Service Manager will require strong knowledge of NEC contract management principles, alongside a comprehensive understanding of the full range of services delivered by supply partners and service providers.
A recognised understanding of NEC contract frameworks is essential. The post holder will be supported and expected to work towards achieving the NEC4 Service Manager qualification after appointment if not already held.
Essential experience includes
Managing and developing large-scale, multi-million-pound national contracts within complex operating environments
Leading commercial negotiations and influencing senior internal stakeholders and external suppliers
Strong understanding of contractual and legal principles, including drafting and managing service level agreements
Delivering value, efficiencies, and performance improvements through national or multi-site contracts
Strong market awareness, including benchmarking, competitor insight, and awareness of emerging best practice
Ability to translate external best practice into practical improvements within the organisation.
Behaviours
We'll assess you against these behaviours during the selection process:
- Leadership
- Delivering at Pace
- Communicating and Influencing
- Changing and Improving
Benefits
Alongside your salary of £67,730, Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs contributes £19,621 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides.
- Learning and development tailored to your role
- An environment with flexible working options
- A culture encouraging inclusion and diversity
- A Civil Service pension with an employer contribution of 28.97% Flexi Time Policy. Our Flexi-time policy allows you to vary your hours from day to day, within the requirements of your role, to suit your needs and to offer a better work/life balance.
- Leave. If you work full time at Defra you are entitled to 25 days’ leave (rising, over 5 years, to 30 days’). If you work part time it will be pro-rated.Privilege day. You are also entitled to a privilege day off in May to mark the King’s birthday (date varies), plus time off for the 8 public holidays a year.
- Career breaks. We recognise that your work-life balance can extend beyond the short-term to the longer-term, and to support this you are able to apply for career breaks. These are unpaid extended breaks from work, granted at the discretion of the department.
- Volunteering leave - 3 days paid volunteering leave every year (pro-rata). Once you have passed probation.
- Season ticket loan – for an interest free season ticket loan, if you have worked within the Defra for more than three months. This can be used to purchase train and bus season tickets, as well as station car parking.
- Tenancy deposit loan – for an interest free loan, to assist you in meeting the deposit costs for your privately rented home.
- Salary advances and loans for other circumstances – for salary advances and loans in the following circumstances: for new entrants, for the purchase of bicycles, holidays and religious holidays.
- Tax-Free Childcare (TFC) scheme – Since the closure to new entrants of the employer childcare voucher scheme, the government introduced the Tax-Free Childcare (TFC) scheme. In this scheme, working parents open an online childcare account and for every £8 they pay in, the government adds £2, up to a maximum of £2,000 a year for each child or £4,000 for a disabled child. Parents then use the funds to pay for registered childcare.
- Support to buy a bicycle – we run two schemes that can help you buy a bicycle for your commute:
- The Cycle to Work Scheme –you can apply for a bicycle for your commute, up to the value of £6,000, which is recovered from you through salary sacrifice, as a tax-free benefit. At the end of the repayment period, you have the option to buy the bike if you wish, saving around 30% of the original cost.
- Bike loan – if you are not eligible to apply for the Cycle to Work Scheme, you can apply for a loan of up to £1,000 towards the cost of a bike using the Bike loan scheme. This however is not a salary sacrifice scheme.High-street and online discounts.
- Offers through SmartSpending™ which is accessed through the StaR platform. Accessible 24/7, you can save at hundreds of top retailers.
- Maternity leave, paternity leave and shared parental leave. We offer generous maternity leave, paternity leave and shared parental leave – a total of 52 weeks leave to look after your new baby, regardless of your length of service. Most mothers are entitled to 39 weeks of paid leave, and a further 13 weeks of unpaid leave. Most partners are entitled to 15 days of paid paternity leave. Shared parental leave arrangements are in place, allowing parents to divide their leave with each other.
- Professional Membership. Defra group will fund one professional membership for each permanent employee which is relevant to their role.
- Eye care scheme. If you use a computer screen in connection with your job, we will pay for a regular eyesight test, and you may also be entitled to help towards purchasing new glasses, if they are needed for computer use.
- The Employee Assistance Programme (EAP) is a free 24/7 confidential telephone advice service, available to all of our staff throughout the year.
- Civil Service Sports Council. The opportunity to join the Civil Services Sports Council.
Artificial intelligence
Artificial intelligence can be a useful tool to support your application, however, all examples and statements provided must be truthful, factually accurate and taken directly from your own experience.
Where plagiarism has been identified (presenting the ideas and experiences of others, or generated by artificial intelligence, as your own) applications may be withdrawn and internal candidates may be subject to disciplinary action.
Please see our candidate guidance (opens in a new window) for more information on appropriate and inappropriate use.
Selection process details
This vacancy is using Success Profiles (opens in a new window), and will assess your Behaviours, Strengths and Experience.
Application Process As part of the application process you will be asked to complete a CV, personal statement and behaviour statements. Further details around what this will entail are listed on the application form. Sift Should a large number of applications be received, an initial sift may be conducted on the personal statement.
Candidates who pass the initial sift may be progressed to a full sift or progressed straight to assessment/interview. Sifting will take place w/c 15th June. Interview If successful at application stage, you will be invited to interview where you will be assessed on behaviours, experience and strengths.
Interviews are currently scheduled to take place w/c 29th June but may be subject to change.
Candidates selected for interview will be required to deliver a 5 minute presentation on the lead competency (Leadership).
Sift and interview dates to be confirmed.
Your interview will either be conducted face to face or by video. You will be notified of the location if you are selected for interview.
Near miss
Candidates who are judged to be a near miss at interview may be considered for other positions in Defra which may be at a lower grade but have a potential skills match.
Salary
New entrants to the Civil Service are expected to start on the minimum of the pay band. The internal roles rules apply to existing Civil Servants, i.e. level transfers move on current salary or the pay range minimum, transfers on promotion move to new pay range minimum or receive 10% increase. Either case is determined by whichever is the highest.
Location & Travel
As part of the pre-employment process for this post, successful candidate(s) will be able to agree a contractual workplace from those locations listed in this advert. The agreed contractual workplace is then the substantive and permanent place of work for the successful candidate(s).
Where the location is ‘National’ the successful appointee should discuss and agree an appropriate contractual location in line with both Defra’s location policy and site capacity, prior to proceeding with pre-employment processes.
The agreed amount of time spent at a workplace for this post will reflect the requirement for Civil Servants to spend at least 60% of their working time in an organisation workplace with the option to work the remaining time flexibly from home.
Working time spent at a workplace may include time spent at other organisational locations including field-based operational locations, together with supplier, customer or partner locations. This is a non-contractual agreement which is consistent with common Civil Service expectations.
Travel costs to non-contractual workplaces will be subject to departmental travel and subsistence policies. Travel costs to contractual workplaces are the responsibility of the employee.
The successful candidate is required to carry out all their duties from a UK location, and cannot do so from an overseas location at any time.
Defra includes the core department, APHA, RPA, Cefas and VMD.
You will need to agree your working arrangements with your new manager. Some travel may be required and occasional overnight stays.
To work from 2 Marsham Street you will require the higher level of CTC clearance. Therefore, confirmation of appointment to the advertised post will be dependent upon successful CTC clearance being confirmed as part of pre-employment checks.
Reserve List
A reserve list may be held for a period of 12 months from which further appointments can be made.
Childcare Vouchers
Any move to Defra from another employer will mean you can no longer access childcare vouchers. This includes moves between government departments. You may however be eligible for other government schemes, including Tax Free Childcare; for further information visit the Childcare Choices website.
Reasonable Adjustments
If a person with disabilities is put at a substantial disadvantage compared to a non-disabled person, we have a duty to make reasonable changes to our processes.
If you need a change to be made so that you can make your application, you should:
Contact Government Recruitment Service via [email protected] as soon as possible before the closing date to discuss your needs.
Complete the ‘Assistance required’ section in the ‘Additional requirements’ page of your application form to tell us what changes or help you might need further on in the recruitment process. For instance, you may need wheelchair access at interview, or if you’re deaf, a Language Service Professional.
Accessibility
If you are experiencing accessibility problems with any attachments on this advert, please contact the email address in the 'Contact point for applicants' section.
Visa Sponsorship Statement
Please take note that Defra does not hold a UK Visa & Immigration (UKVI) Skilled Worker License sponsor and are unable to sponsor any individuals for Skilled Worker Sponsorship.
Criminal Record Check
If successful and transferring from another Government Department a criminal record check may be carried out.
In order to process applications without delay, we will be sending a Criminal Record Check to Disclosure and Barring Service on your behalf.
However, we recognise in exceptional circumstances some candidates will want to send their completed forms direct. If you will be doing this, please advise Government Recruitment Service of your intention by emailing [email protected] stating the job reference number in the subject heading.
All of these posts require the successful candidate to hold basic security clearance. Candidates posted to London may be subject to a higher level of clearance because of the security requirements for that location. Job offers to these posts are made on the basis of merit. Security vetting will only take place after the receipt of a job offer.
For further information on National Security Vetting please visit the Demystifying Vetting website.
Please be aware the levels of national security clearance are changing which may impact on the level needed for this role by the time of appointment. All efforts will be made to keep candidates informed of any changes and what that will mean in terms of vetting criteria. For more information please See our vetting charter
Internal Fraud Database Check
Applicants who are successful at interview will be, as part of pre-employment screening, subject to a check on the Internal Fraud Database (IFD). This check will provide information about employees who have been dismissed for fraud or dishonesty offences.
This check also applies to employees who resign or otherwise leave before being dismissed for fraud or dishonesty had their employment continued. Any applicant’s details held on the IFD will be refused employment.
A candidate is not eligible to apply for a role within the Civil Service if the application is made within a 5 year period following a dismissal for carrying out internal fraud against government.
Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.
Security
Successful candidates must undergo a criminal record check.
People working with government assets must complete baseline personnel security standard (opens in new window) checks.
Nationality requirements
This job is broadly open to the following groups:
- UK nationals
- nationals of the Republic of Ireland
- nationals of Commonwealth countries who have the right to work in the UK
- nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities with settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS) (opens in a new window)
- nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities who have made a valid application for settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS)
- individuals with limited leave to remain or indefinite leave to remain who were eligible to apply for EUSS on or before 31 December 2020
- Turkish nationals, and certain family members of Turkish nationals, who have accrued the right to work in the Civil Service
Further information on nationality requirements (opens in a new window).
Working for the Civil Service
The Civil Service Code (opens in a new window) sets out the standards of behaviour expected of civil servants. We recruit by merit on the basis of fair and open competition, as outlined in the Civil Service Commission's recruitment principles (opens in a new window).
The Civil Service embraces diversity and promotes equal opportunities. As such, we run a Disability Confident Scheme (DCS) for candidates with disabilities who meet the minimum selection criteria.
The Civil Service also offers a Redeployment Interview Scheme to civil servants who are at risk of redundancy, and who meet the minimum requirements for the advertised vacancy.
Diversity and Inclusion
The Civil Service is committed to attract, retain and invest in talent wherever it is found. To learn more please see the Civil Service People Plan (opens in a new window) and the Civil Service Diversity and Inclusion Strategy (opens in a new window).
Apply and further information
This vacancy is part of the Great Place to Work for Veterans (opens in a new window) initiative.
The Civil Service welcomes applications from people who have recently left prison or have an unspent conviction. Read more about prison leaver recruitment (opens in new window).
Once this job has closed, the job advert will no longer be available. You may want to save a copy for your records.
Contact point for applicants
Job contact
Recruitment team
Further information
If you feel your application has not been treated in accordance with the Recruitment Principles and you wish to make a complaint, in the first instance, you should contact Government Recruitment Services via email: [email protected].
If you are not satisfied with the response you receive from the Department, you can contact the Civil Service Commission: here.
