Head of Proposals

See Ishidas current vacancies; Birmingham; On-site; GBP 125,000 - 150,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading engineering company in Birmingham is seeking a Head of Proposals to lead the Proposals and Applications teams. This strategic role involves managing the bidding process and ensuring high-quality, compliant proposals. Candidates should have significant experience in proposals management, strong leadership skills, and technical knowledge in engineering. The role requires effective communication across multiple stakeholders and a focus on delivering value-driven customer solutions. This is an opportunity to join a dynamic team, contributing to the success of projects in the EMEA region.

Qualifications

• 5+ years experience in turnkey project or proposals management.
• Formal line-management experience with oversight of budgets.
• Proven experience leading technical and/or commercial engineering teams.

Responsibilities

• Lead and develop Proposals and Applications teams.
• Plan and deliver high-quality winning proposals.
• Develop bid strategies that align with company goals.
• Ensure compliance with ISO 9001 and governance processes.
• Coordinate with sales on proposal prioritization and forecasts.

Skills

Leadership abilities

Communication skills

Commercial awareness

Project management

Analytical and detail-oriented

Education

HNC/HND in Engineering or related discipline

ISO 9001 Auditor certification

Project management credentials (Prince2, PMP)

Tools

Microsoft Office

Teams

Project management tools

Job description

Main Purpose of the role

The Head of Proposals is a strategic leadership role with the overall responsibility for the planning overseeing and coordinating the commercial bidding processes that involve multiple stakeholders within the EMEA business.

The role oversees the end-to-end bid process from opportunity qualification developing win strategies managing resources coordinate all internal and external stakeholders to ensure at all times commercial proposals are of a high quality are on time and are in compliance with customers requirements.

This role manages the Proposals and Applications teams with support from the Project Management function in regional locations to deliver accurate and value adding customer solutions which are aligned with Ishidas operational and strategic goals. It also leads the compliance to provide strong governance risk management and performance reporting throughout the sales lifecycle from pre-RFP through to final order negotiation.

Primary Responsibilities

The Head of Proposals is accountable for :

• Providing leadership and development of the Proposals and Applications teams including line management of two Team Leaders.
• Planning and delivering technically accurate and commercially viable high quality winning proposals
• Developing bid strategies that align with the Company goals and client requirements
• Ensuring all proposals include for accurate costing mechanisms with minimum technical and commercial risks
• Ensuring that all bid documentation is maintained of high quality appropriately documented and stored in line with Companys guidelines.
• Governance and consistency in the application of applicable tools delegation of authorities and processes throughout.
• Ensuring effective communication collaboration and alignment in the bid lifeccyle process between sales engineering operations procurement finance legal and project teams.
• Driving standardisation consistency and continuous improvement across proposals applications in order to enhance efficiency and effectiveness.
• Supporting strategic decision-making with accurate project and proposal metrics.
• Reporting on annually adjusted KPIs that include but not limited to year on year order growth increase in order win / loss ratios reduction in on time to delivery team utilisation reduction in post award rectification costs and maintaining as min as sold margin.
• Coordinate with sales on proposal prioritisation bid / no bid and bid delivery forecasts.
• Facilitate rigorous bid review and when appropriate board approval meetings
• ISO 9001 compliance of applicable workflow processes and tools

What skills are we looking for

The ideal candidate must have the capability to fully deliver the core responsibilities of the role including Managing and developing supply partners throughout the EMEA region to provide quality solutions to suit local expectation encourage culture of innovative design to maximise Ishida product content and solution competitiveness manage technical risk with proposals and bespoke individual product sales HNC / HND in Engineering or a related discipline with an Engineering Degree or higher considered desirable. Additional qualifications such as ISO 9001 Auditor leadership and management certifications or project management credentials (Prince2 PMP) would further strengthen their suitability. They will demonstrate strong leadership and line management abilities excellent communication and organisation commercial awareness with a focus on margin management experience managing cross-functional teams and sound project finance knowledge. Proficiency in Microsoft Office Teams and project tools is expected along with at least five years experience in turnkey project or proposals management and the behaviours of a strategic thinker who is results-driven customer-focused analytical and detail-oriented.

The successful candidate must have proven experience leading technical and / or commercial engineering teams including formal line-management responsibilities and oversight of budgets and performance reporting. They will be capable of working collaboratively in cross-functional environments maintaining strong interpersonal relationships and demonstrating excellent coaching communication and customer-facing skills. The successful candidate will thrive under pressure act with professionalism and strategic insight and consistently deliver high-quality solutions that align with business goals.

In addition it would be desirable for candidates to bring experience with CRM or proposal software Lean or Continuous Improvement certifications and international project experience preferably within the EMEA region. A resilient mindset willingness to travel within the EMEA region and possession of a full UK driving licence would also be advantageous further supporting the candidates ability to represent the business effectively across diverse markets.

Applications should be submitted by the close of 14 December 2025

Are you interested in this opportunity

If you would like an informal conversation about the role before applying please contact Guy Dix discuss with your manager and then apply using the link in the email.