Contracts Manager - Fire, Safety and… at Universal… · Coventry

Contracts Manager - Fire, Safety and Emergency Systems Location: Coventry Department: Projects Delivery Package: Competitive Salary

Lead with Integrity. Deliver with Excellence. Build What Protects Lives.

We are a respected life-safety solutions provider, trusted by clients across the UK for delivering critical fire and emergency-systems projects with absolute compliance and care.

We are now seeking a Projects Delivery & Contracts Manager to lead our Projects Delivery Team and ensure every system we install is safe, compliant and completed to the highest standards — with a robust audit trail from concept to commissioning.

This is a senior leadership role for someone who combines technical excellence, emotional intelligence, and a passion for high-standards in a regulated, mission-critical environment.

If you see process, governance and compliance not as bureaucracy, but as the backbone of life-safety excellence, we want to speak with you.

Your Purpose

Lead and develop a high-performing delivery team, ensuring multiple fire-life-safety projects are delivered safely, compliantly, and profitably, following a proven stage-gate methodology. You’ll bring people together — internal teams, suppliers, subcontractors and clients — to deliver projects that pass every audit, earn client trust, and protect life and property.

What You’ll Lead

• Daily project delivery cadence & contractor coordination
• Stage-gate control from pre-construction to handover and aftercare
• Testing, commissioning & technical compliance against BS 5839 and BAFE requirements
• Client, consultant & stakeholder engagement
• Health & Safety leadership, CDM compliance & site audits
• Commercial control, forecasting, variations & final accounts
• Coaching & developing project managers, supervisors & commissioning staff.
• You will be the glue that connects planning to execution, and strategy to safe-in-service systems.
• You'll be hungry for success and want to develop your career.

What Good Looks Like

• Zero-harm safety culture & robust CDM controls
• Fully evidenced, auditable project records
• On-time delivery with controlled variations
• Strong client relationships & repeat business
• Empowered, engaged project teams who grow under your leadership

Who You Are

You bring both competence and character. You are:

• Calm under pressure; a clear thinker in complexity
• Detail-focused and compliance-driven
• A confident communicator — from site to boardroom
• Emotionally intelligent, collaborative and trusted
• Proactive, structured and solutions-focused
• Resilient, adaptable and committed to continuous improvement
• Grounded, self-aware and integrity-led — always doing what’s right
• You don’t wait to be told — you anticipate, plan, communicate and execute

What You Bring

• 5+ years’ experience delivering building-services / M&E / life-safety projects

• Strong understanding of BS 5839-1 and industry standards

• Experience commissioning and delivering fire-safety systems

• Familiarity with BAFE SP203-1 / LPS 1014 frameworks (advantageous)

• Competent in Microsoft 365, planning tools and evidence management

• Full UK Driving Licence

• Desirable: SMSTS/SSSTS, IOSH/NEBOSH, CSCS Manager/Professional, Building Safety Act understanding

• Holidays: 21 days plus 8 bank - additional for birthday

• Recognised and valued employee - not just a number

• Package: Competitive

This is a rare opportunity to step into a role with genuine responsibility, trust and influence, in an organisation where compliance, excellence and people leadership truly matter.

You’ll be supported, listened to and empowered to build capability — not firefight chaos.