Senior Contracts & Warranty Manager

Senior Contracts & Warranty Manager

Application Deadline: 10 November 2025

Department: Maintenance Services

Employment Type: Full Time

Location: Derby

Description About us

Porterbrook is the UK's leading rolling stock financier and asset management company. We've been at the heart of the rail network for over three decades with 4000 vehicles in our diverse portfolio of passenger and freight trains.

As a partner that adds value to the railway today and for the future, we've invested over £3.5bn in new rolling stock and we're actively looking to invest a further £1bn in the years ahead. Since 2020, this includes over £550 million in new trains, fleet upgrades, traction innovation and rail infrastructure.

Sustainability is embedded in our decision making, and we've been named the global sector leader in the annual GRESB sustainability assessment for the last four years.

Our teams are leading some of the most exciting innovations taking place in the railway today at our sites in Derby, London, and the 135-acre Long Marston Rail Innovation Centre in Warwickshire - an invaluable asset for the railway to test and trial new traction technologies.

Our values

Our values

About the team

We provide comprehensive engineering, project management and asset management services to ensure our assets deliver industry leading levels of performance and passenger satisfaction for our customers.

About the role

A great opportunity for an exceptional Senior Contracts & Warranty Manager, to join the Porterbrook team.

Role Purpose

Accountable as the senior interface between the business, customers and the supply chain for the effective management of all contractual and warranty matters. The Senior Contracts and Warranty Manager ensures that service levels are achieved, contractual obligations are met, and issues are escalated and resolved in a timely and professional manner. The role provides strategic oversight of Spares Management Agreements (SMAs) and Spares Access Agreements (SAAs), ensuring alignment with business objectives and the closure of open warranty issues.

A key part of the role is driving supplier performance against agreed Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) and leading continuous improvement initiatives across the supply chain base. To achieve this, you will lead a small team ensuring that the KPIs are delivered and continuous improvement is seen across all contracts within your control.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead the implementation, and governance of supplier contracts, SMAs, and SAAs to ensure commercial and operational effectiveness
• Ensure you and your direct reports are monitoring supplier and contract performance against KPIs, identifying risks and opportunities for improvements, escalating as required on areas of concern
• Support the development of new commercial agreements, advising on terms, risks, and performance measures to protect business interests
• Foster collaboration between engineering, procurement, and maintenance teams to ensure efficient and compliant delivery of contractual obligations
• Lead and implement key team skills required to negotiate supplier spares contracts and SMAs, consulted, advising and informing of any requirements needed for a new contract
• Lead and ensure implementation of contract governance to ensure that SMAs, warranty and KPIs are executed along with Project Execution Plans (PEPs) and contract workbooks
• Manage and maintain a risk register within your workbooks ensuring mitigation where needed
• Ensure you and your direct reports develop strategic relationships with all stakeholders. Ensure that service levels are being implemented as per contractual obligations
• Ensure regular contract reviews are held with the supply chain to successfully manage performance, report on these monthly to the wider business, including Procurement, for supplier performance monitoring at QBR reviews
• Ensure that your and your team's contracts material assets are managed effectively through the correct identification of assets, ensuring storage meets the specifications and requirements
• Ensure compliance audits are conducted regularly in line with contractual requirements for those material assets
• Ensure annual stock takes are held for any contracts which include float material and condition assessment
• Oversee the warranty portal and its effective operation, whilst ensuring swift resolution of warranty claims and open issues to closure and alignment with contractual terms
• Administer the warranty process to bring about resolution, ensuring all warranty claims raised by Porterbrook customers are dealt with in a timely manner
• Act as the escalation point of contact for all stakeholders on contractual and warranty matters, providing expert advice and guidance as required
• Work with customers and suppliers to resolve disputes, ensuring suppliers have float available to support both planned and unplanned requirements where possible
• Where required, support the business in mobilising any Free Issue Material (FIM) Orders
• Ensure that all Porterbrook's suppliers are accredited for the scope of work undertaken by you and your team
• Ensure that all suppliers are set up correctly, including the management of POs
• Ensure the WLMP is kept up to date with any price changes relating to the overhaul services for spares. Challenge as required these changes with the supply chain
• Manage and track your and your direct reports' contractual "Additional Arising Work" (AAW) spend, ensure suppliers provide adequate information for Porterbrook to attribute cost responsibilities appropriately
• Track and recover expenditure relating to missing and damaged items claimed by the supply chain on overhauled components. Established KPIs around this requirement
• Ensure that suppliers and customers take responsibility for the care, custody and control of Porterbrook's spares assets, when in their jurisdiction
• Ensure such spares are managed, maintained, overhauled and provided to users in an effective and efficient manner, to specification
• Manage all third-party relationships for the control and use of spares
• Provide support to TOCs in respect of their requirements
• Liaise with the Planning department to ensure that productions plans are delivered on time, ensuring they are consistently updated
• Work with the Engineering department for timely completion of maintenance contracts

Other Duties

• Cover for your respective team members during periods of absence
• Provide support to suppliers and internal functions on any health and safety matters
• Support the function and business in the drive for continuous improvement
• Operate in line with the organisation's values and behaviours
• Support all business areas to ensure that current and future SMA contracts are set-up in an appropriate way so they can be managed successfully
• Hold regular meetings with the Supplier Contracts Manager to provide KPIs on supplier performance and contractual escalation requirements, receive feedback from Quarterly Business Reviews (QBR)
• Conduct regular 1-2-1s (monthly minimum) with your direct reports
• Establish and implement yearly objectives for each of your direct reports, conducting mid-year and end of year reviews
• Provide monthly status reports to the Head of Maintenance Services on key metric data as required

Skills / Experience

What you'll need to have

• The ideal candidate will have previous line management experience, is able to work as part of a wider team whilst leading their own team
• Able to take a pragmatic approach to challenges and actively solve problems before escalation
• Experienced in taking full accountability for the end-to-end operational procurement processes
• Experience of Oracle systems desirable
• CIPS Qualified, working towards or prepared to embark on the journey
• HNC or HND standard preferably in business
• 5 years minimum experience in a contractual procurement role
• 2 years minimum experience of leading a team