Contracts Manager

Established in 2007 and headquartered in Claremorris with Regional Offices in Tullamore, Galway and Cork, Donegal and Limerick. Electric Skyline is a leading-edge electrical contracting & consultancy company at the forefront of the Lighting and Utility Services sector in Ireland.

Electric Skyline provides lighting solutions throughout all 32 counties and maintain in excess of 200,000 public lights across 14 Irish local authorities. Electric Skyline is the largest dedicated Sports Lighting Contractor in Ireland. Our team are highly experienced in Public Lighting, Sports Lighting and EV chargers.

Our Vision is to be the recognised leader in empowering communities to thrive whilst preserving our environment.

Safety is a priority in all our projects. We pride ourselves on an excellent Safety Record and we continuously work towards company improvements and initiatives to maintain our excellent Health, Safety & Environment record. Health, Safety and Environment are at the forefront when planning and carrying out all work activities.

Job Summary

Reporting to the Managing Director, the Contracts Manager is responsible for the successful delivery of a portfolio of electrical and civil engineering projects from contract award through to completion. The role ensures projects are delivered safely, on time, within budget, and to the required quality standards while maintaining excellent client relationships and maximizing commercial performance. The Contracts Manager will provide leadership to Project Managers, Supervisors, and operational teams, ensuring consistency in project delivery, contractual compliance, and operational excellence across all contract

Responsibilities Contract & Project Management

• Manage a portfolio of electrical, public lighting, utility, infrastructure, renewable energy, and civil engineering projects.
• Review contract documentation and ensure project teams understand contractual obligations, risks, and opportunities.
• Monitor project performance against programme, budget, quality, and safety targets.
• Ensure projects are appropriately resourced and delivered in accordance with contractual requirements.
• Support project teams in resolving technical, operational, safety and commercial challenges.
• Chair project review meetings, contractor performance reviews and maintain oversight of project progress.

Commercial Management

• Work closely with Commerical Team and Project Managers to manage project profitability.
• Ensure Project teams monitor project costs, valuations, variations, claims, and final accounts.
• Identify commercial risks and opportunities and implement mitigation plans.
• Ensure accurate forecasting of revenue, margin, project cash flow, and resource requirements.
• Review monthly project financial performance and take corrective action where required.

Health, Safety, Quality & Environmental Management

• Promote and lead a strong safety culture across all projects, with a focus on zero injuries.
• Ensure compliance with company safety procedures, guidance and statutory regulations.
• Support site management teams in achieving health and safety objectives.
• Ensure projects comply with environmental standards and sustainability requirements.
• Drive quality assurance and continuous improvement initiatives.
• Hold contract review meetings with contractors to ensure standards are met.

Leadership

• Lead, mentor, and develop Project Managers, Site Managers, Supervisors, and operational staff.
• Conduct regular performance reviews and support employee development.
• Build a high-performance culture focused on accountability, teamwork, and customer service.
• Support workforce planning and recruitment requirements.

Client & Stakeholder Management

• Develop and maintain strong relationships with clients, consultants, local authorities, utilities, and subcontractors.
• Act as the senior operational point of contact for assigned contracts.
• Attend client meetings and provide regular performance updates.
• Ensure high levels of customer satisfaction and contract retention.

Planning & Operational Excellence

• Monitor project programmes and resource allocations.
• Ensure effective coordination between electrical and civils delivery teams.
• Drive continuous improvement initiatives across project delivery processes in conjunction with the Business Transformation Manager.
• Support the implementation of Lean and operational excellence practices.
• Carry out Lessons Learned on key projects and ensure information is captured and shared across the business.
• Identify contractual, operational, commercial, and resource risks.
• Develop mitigation strategies to minimise project impacts.
• Ensure contract obligations are fulfilled and company interests protected.
• Manage escalated project issues and disputes where required.

Person Specification

Qualifications
Degree, Higher Diploma, or trade qualification in Electrical Engineering, Civil Engineering, Construction Management, or a related discipline.

Experience

• Minimum 7-10 years' experience managing multi-discipline construction or infrastructure projects.
• Strong experience in electrical contracting and civil engineering works.
• Proven experience managing multiple projects simultaneously.
• Strong commercial and contractual management experience.
• Excellent leadership and people management skills.

Desirable

• Project Management qualification.
• Health & Safety qualification (IOSH, NEBOSH, etc.).
• Experience in public lighting, utilities, renewable energy, or infrastructure sectors.
• Knowledge of public sector contracts and framework agreements.

Leadership

Provide clear leadership, direction and support to Project Managers, ensuring regular 1:1s, structured performance reviews, coaching, issue resolution and development conversations are in place. Promote accountability, consistency and professionalism across the regional project management team.

Safety, Health, Environment & Quality

Champion a strong safety-first culture across all regional activities, ensuring compliance with company procedures, client requirements and relevant statutory obligations. Work closely with HSQE to review incidents, audits, corrective actions and quality standards, while driving continuous improvement in safe systems of work and site practices.

Internal Collaboration

Work collaboratively with internal departments and senior management to ensure regional operations are aligned, well-supported and commercially controlled. Ensure information flows effectively between departments so that project delivery, materials, design inputs, reporting and invoicing can progress without unnecessary delays.

Systems, Performance & Continuous Improvement

Drive the consistent use of project planning, scheduling, reporting, cost tracking and risk management systems across the region. Review regional performance against maintenance KPIs, identify trends or gaps, and implement practical improvements that strengthen efficiency, visibility, accountability and service delivery.

Commercial Readiness & Project Close-Out

Support Project Managers to ensure works are properly recorded, completed, closed out and ready for invoicing in line with internal requirements. Monitor close-out discipline across the region, helping to resolve delays, improve documentation quality and ensure commercial information is accurate, timely and complete.

Regional Reporting & Governance

Ensure all Project Managers within the region maintain accurate, timely and complete information in project schedules, resource plans, cost tracking tools, risk logs and internal reporting platforms. Provide clear updates to the Managing Director on regional performance, risks, resource requirements, client matters and improvement priorities.

Project quality & Operational Oversight

Oversee the delivery of projects ensuring programmes are planned, resourced and delivered safely, efficiently and to the required quality standard. Monitor progress, remove operational blockers, support prioritisation and ensure consistency in how works are managed across counties and contracts. Ensure quality is built into project planning, site execution, documentation, snagging, close-out and handover, with recurring defects or non-conformances reviewed and corrective actions implemented to drive right-first-time delivery and continuous improvement.

Communication

Communicate clearly, consistently and professionally with Project Managers, operational teams, senior management, clients and internal departments. Ensure expectations, priorities, risks, programme updates, resource requirements and performance issues are shared in a timely manner, with appropriate follow-up and escalation where required. Promote open communication across the region so that issues are resolved quickly, decisions are understood, and teams remain aligned on service delivery, safety, quality and commercial objectives.

Systems, Performance & Continuous Improvement

Drive the consistent use of project planning, scheduling, reporting, cost tracking and risk management systems across the region. Review regional performance against maintenance KPIs, identify trends or gaps, and implement practical improvements that strengthen efficiency, visibility, accountability and service delivery.