Preconstruction Project Manager

Willmott Dixon; Cardiff; Hybrid; GBP 65,000 - 90,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Enhanced pension

Private medical for you and a partner

Life assurance

Incentive bonus

Car scheme

Job summary

Willmott Dixon is seeking a Preconstruction Project Manager (Bid Manager) in Cardiff to lead the preconstruction bid process within the Wales & West region. The role involves coordinating a bid team, developing commercial strategies, and managing customer expectations to deliver high-quality, on-time bids.

You will oversee two-stage/negotiated tenders across Education, Leisure, Health, Blue Light, transport and Commercial sectors, with project values from £10m to £150m.

Qualifications

• Experience coordinating multi-disciplinary input across estimators, design professionals, MEPs and planners.
• Experience leading two-stage/negotiated tenders from RIBA Stages 2-4.
• Ability to manage complex construction bids to time, budget and quality targets.

Responsibilities

• Motivate and lead a bid team including internal and external resources.
• Develop and implement the commercial strategy for bids.
• Manage customer expectations through formal and informal health checks.
• Develop project strategies to meet sustainability objectives.
• Monitor progress, identify risks/opportunities and drive corrective actions.
• Maintain continuous professional development within the team and drive best practices.
• Ensure seamless transition from preconstruction to operations.
• Coordinate inception workshops to capture customer needs and drive value in bids.

Skills

Bid management

Leadership

Stakeholder management

Team leadership

Commercial strategy

Risk management

Job description

Willmott Dixon is looking for a Preconstruction Project Manager (Bid Manager) to join our Construction Wales & West region. Supporting our preconstruction team in South Wales, you will be based in our Cardiff office primarily and work on a hybrid basis.

Reporting to the Preconstruction Manager, the successful person will demonstrate true leadership and manage both internal and external resources to deliver successful bids, on time, within budget and to the highest quality, ensuring our customers’ expectations are met and, wherever possible, exceeded. Essentially project managing the preconstruction bid process throughout the PSCA period.

With a proven track record of successful projects, you will be responsible for leading two-stage/negotiated tenders for projects ranging in value from £10m to £150m across a range of sectors, including Education, Leisure, Health, Blue Light, transport and Commercial. At Willmott Dixon we operate through several frameworks, allowing for a greater probability of seeing your hard work come to life.

As a Preconstruction Project Manager, you will be responsible for

• Motivating and leading a bid team that includes both internal (estimators, design professionals, MEP professionals and planners) and often external (supply chain and consultants) resource.
• Working closely with your team to develop the commercial strategy.
• Managing the customers’ expectations through informal and formal ‘health checks’, adopting a professional and considerate approach to maintain good working relations.
• Developing and incorporating project strategies to achieve the company’s sustainability objectives.
• Ensuring regular monitoring and reporting on progress, managing potential risks and opportunities, and instigating pre-emptive and corrective actions as required.
• Maintaining continuous professional development of yourself and your team to ensure appropriate technical awareness, implementing best practices and driving continuous improvement.
• Maintaining a ‘one team’ approach throughout to create a seamless transition from preconstruction to operations.
• Coordinating inception workshops with our customers and using your proven listening skills to ensure we truly understand our customers 'Why', gaining vital information that will enable your bid team to go the extra mile.

Experience in managing diverse technical input, understanding complex construction schemes and leading the bid or PCSA process will help you thrive in this role. If you have previously worked in a construction technical role within a main contractor, including but not limited to Operations, Planning, Commercial, Design or Estimating this will help you hit the ground running. You will need experience leading a multi-disciplinary project team throughout RIBA Stages 2-4.

This is an exciting and challenging opportunity for you to become a key part of our pre-construction team, if you will enjoy understanding the challenges our customers face and are motivated by finding innovative solutions.

Personal Qualities

We reward our people generously with a competitive salary and a market-leading benefits package that gives you flexible benefits to fit your lifestyle and priorities. This includes but is not limited to, an enhanced pension scheme, full private medical for you and a partner, life assurance, incentive bonus and a car scheme which will make us a market leader in sustainable company travel.

At Willmott Dixon we provide an inclusive and flexible working environment for people to thrive in and we are happy to support agile working wherever possible.

We are a proud member of the Disability Confident Scheme.

About Us

With over 170 years of rich history, Willmott Dixon’s purpose is beyond profit; delivering brilliant buildings, transforming lives, strengthening communities and enhancing the environment so our world is fit for future generations. Ensuring that we add lasting value to the neighbourhoods we work in; our values, people, innovation, partnerships and focus on sustainability has allowed us to build a successful and solid privately owned business where our people can thrive.

Willmott Dixon was recognised by The Sunday Times as one of the Top 10 "Big" Companies to Work For in 2025, named among the Times Top 50 Employers for Gender Equality in 2024, and ranked in the Top Five of Europe’s 1,000 best workplaces by the Financial Times in 2025. Willmott Dixon is also the first major contractor and developer to win a King's Award for Enterprise in the category of sustainable development.