Tender Manager

Decima International; Dubai; On-site; AED 360,000 - 600,000; Full time

Job summary

Decima International seeks an accomplished Tender Manager to lead tendering and procurement for large-scale EPC packages in Dubai. The role focuses on strategy, bid documentation, contractor engagement, commercial evaluation, and award recommendations, aligned with FIDIC principles and project objectives.

The ideal candidate brings 15+ years in tender/procurement, engineering or quantity surveying background, and strong English communication, negotiation, and leadership skills to manage multiple

Qualifications

• 15+ years of tender management, procurement management, contracts management, or EPC procurement experience.
• Bachelor's degree in Civil/Mechanical/Electrical Engineering, Quantity Surveying, Construction Management, or related field.
• Proven experience leading at least 3 large-format EPC procurements for data center or similar projects.
• Strong knowledge of FIDIC contracts, tendering procedures, procurement governance, and EPC procurement requirements.
• Experience coordinating with multidisciplinary teams including engineering, cost control, planning, legal, contracts, procurement, and client representatives.
• Excellent written and verbal English fluency.

Responsibilities

• Lead the full tender lifecycle for large-scale EPC procurement packages.
• Develop and manage tender strategies, procurement plans, schedules, bidder lists, and evaluation criteria.
• Coordinate with project management, engineering, commercial, contracts, cost, procurement, planning, and client teams.
• Prepare, review, and manage tender documentation including instructions, scope, pricing schedules, and terms.
• Lead pre-tender meetings, tender briefings, clarification processes, site visits, bidder communications, and addenda.
• Ensure tender processes are fair, transparent, compliant, and well documented.
• Manage technical and commercial tender evaluations with discipline leads, cost teams, legal, procurement, and client stakeholders.
• Review contractor proposals, commercial submissions, exclusions, assumptions, qualifications, pricing structures, and contract deviations.
• Lead tender clarification meetings, commercial negotiations, and alignment sessions with bidders.
• Prepare tender evaluation reports, bid comparison sheets, and procurement award summaries.
• Ensure compliance with FIDIC-based contract principles and procurement governance.
• Support development, review, and negotiation of EPC contracts including terms, risk allocation, payments, variations, warranties, bonds, insurances, and performance obligations.
• Identify risks within tender submissions and propose mitigation strategies.
• Coordinate with cost management teams to validate pricing and support budget alignment.

Skills

English fluency

Leadership

Negotiation

Stakeholder management

Communication

Analytical skills

Organizational skills

Education

Bachelor's degree in Civil Engineering

Bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering

Bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering

Bachelor's degree in Quantity Surveying

Bachelor's degree in Construction Management

Master's degree

Tools

Aconex

Procore

Oracle Primavera Cloud

SAP

MS Office (Excel, Word, PowerPoint, Outlook)

Job description

Decima International is a professional services company, providing project management and controls services to clients in the United States and the Middle East. Our mission is to become the premier professional services provider across all industry sectors we are engaged in. To accomplish this, Decima International's founders established a simple yet powerful formula:
Approach each client engagement as a partnership, create an environment that attracts the most talented professionals and allows them to flourish, and regulate growth to maintain excellence in our service standards.
We are seeking an accomplished and highly experienced Tender Manager to lead tendering and procurement activities for large-scale EPC packages on complex construction and mission-critical projects in Dubai, UAE. This client-facing role requires strong commercial, technical, procurement, and contract management expertise, with a focus on managing tender strategy, bid documentation, contractor engagement, commercial evaluation, tender clarification, and award recommendations.
The ideal candidate will have a background in Civil Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Electrical Engineering, or Quantity Surveying, with proven experience leading large-format EPC procurements, preferably for data center, mission-critical, infrastructure, industrial, or comparable large-scale projects.
You will play a key role in ensuring that tendering activities are structured, compliant, commercially sound, and aligned with project objectives, client requirements, FIDIC principles, and industry best practices.

Responsibilities

• Lead the full tender lifecycle for large-scale EPC procurement packages, from tender planning and documentation through evaluation, negotiation, recommendation, and award support.
• Develop and manage tender strategies, procurement plans, tender schedules, bidder lists, evaluation criteria, and commercial submission requirements.
• Coordinate with project management, engineering, commercial, contracts, cost, procurement, planning, and client teams to ensure tender documents are complete, clear, and aligned with project objectives.
• Prepare, review, and manage tender documentation, including instructions to tenderers, scope documents, pricing schedules, technical requirements, contract conditions, commercial forms, and evaluation templates.
• Lead pre-tender meetings, tender briefings, clarification processes, site visits, bidder communications, and tender addenda.
• Ensure tender processes are conducted in a fair, transparent, compliant, and properly documented manner.
• Manage technical and commercial tender evaluations in coordination with discipline leads, cost teams, legal, procurement, and client stakeholders.
• Review contractor proposals, commercial submissions, exclusions, assumptions, qualifications, pricing structures, schedules, and contract deviations.
• Lead tender clarification meetings, commercial negotiations, and alignment sessions with bidders.
• Prepare tender evaluation reports, bid comparison sheets, recommendations for award documents, and procurement decision summaries.
• Ensure tender and procurement activities comply with FIDIC-based contract principles, client procurement governance, internal policies, and applicable project requirements.
• Support the development, review, and negotiation of EPC contracts, including contract terms, risk allocation, payment terms, variations, claims provisions, warranties, bonds, insurances, and performance obligations.
• Identify commercial, contractual, technical, schedule, and procurement risks within tender submissions and recommend mitigation strategies.
• Coordinate with cost management teams to validate pricing, benchmark commercial proposals, and support budget alignment.
• Maintain accurate tender records, correspondence, clarification logs, evaluation matrices, approval records, and procurement documentation.
• Support procurement reporting, tender dashboards, award trackers, and executive summaries for leadership and client review.
• Provide guidance to project teams on tendering best practices, procurement governance, FIDIC contract requirements, and commercial risk management.
• Perform other related duties as required and assigned.

Qualifications

• 15+ years of experience in tender management, procurement management, contracts management, commercial management, quantity surveying, or EPC procurement within large-scale construction, infrastructure, industrial, or mission-critical projects.
• Bachelor's degree in Civil Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Quantity Surveying, Construction Management, or a related technical/commercial field.
• Proven experience leading at least 3 large-format EPC procurements for data center or comparable large-scale projects.
• Strong knowledge of FIDIC contracts, tendering procedures, procurement governance, contract conditions, commercial evaluation, and EPC procurement requirements.
• Experience managing tender documentation, bidder communications, tender clarifications, commercial evaluations, negotiations, and award recommendations.
• Strong ability to review technical and commercial proposals, pricing schedules, exclusions, assumptions, qualifications, deviations, and contract risks.
• Experience coordinating with multidisciplinary teams, including engineering, project management, cost control, planning, legal, contracts, procurement, and client representatives.
• Strong understanding of construction procurement, EPC contracting models, contract risk allocation, commercial terms, variations, claims, bonds, insurances, warranties, and payment mechanisms.
• Ability to identify tender risks, commercial gaps, pricing inconsistencies, scope omissions, and contractual exposure.
• Excellent written and verbal English fluency.
• Strong communication, negotiation, leadership, and stakeholder management skills.
• Strong analytical and organizational skills with excellent attention to detail.
• Ability to manage multiple tender packages, deadlines, approvals, and stakeholder inputs in a fast-paced project environment.
• Proficiency in Microsoft Office Suite, particularly Excel, Word, PowerPoint, and Outlook.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience working on data center, hyperscale, mission-critical, industrial, infrastructure, or large-scale commercial building projects.
• Experience working in a PMC, owner's representative, consultant, client-side procurement, or developer-side commercial environment.
• Previous experience working in Dubai, the UAE, or the wider GCC region.
• Master's degree in Engineering, Construction Management, Quantity Surveying, Commercial Management, Procurement, or a related field.
• Professional certifications or memberships such as MRICS, RICS, CIPS, PMP, FIDIC certification, AACE, or equivalent.
• Strong knowledge of UAE/GCC procurement practices, contractor markets, authority requirements, and regional construction delivery models.
• Experience using procurement, contract management, cost management, or document control platforms such as Aconex, Procore, Oracle Primavera Cloud, SAP, or similar systems.
• Arabic language capability is preferred but not required.

Position Details

• Location (On-site): Dubai, United Arab Emirates
• Position: Tender Manager
• Position Classification: Salary-based full-time hours

Decima International is an Equal Opportunity Employer that is committed to the safety and well-being of all. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, religion, creed, colour, national origin, ancestry, sex (including pregnancy, childbirth, breastfeeding, or medical conditions related to pregnancy, childbirth, or breastfeeding), age, medical condition, marital or domestic partner status, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, gender expression and transgender status, mental disability or physical disability, genetic information, military or veteran status, citizenship, low-income status or any other status or characteristic protected by applicable law.