Product Development Bid Engineer

Manpower UK Ltd; Larkhill; On-site; GBP 45,000 - 65,000; Full time

Job summary

Manpower UK Ltd is recruiting a Product Development Bid Engineer to translate customer requirements into robust technical proposals. You’ll work with engineering, sales and manufacturing to develop costed plans and innovative solutions.

The role spans bid development, process improvement and governance to ensure competitiveness and timely delivery on major development programmes in a highly regulated environment.

Qualifications

• Degree in Engineering, Chemistry or related technical discipline.
• Experience in engineering product development.
• Experience scoping, planning and costing engineering development programmes.
• Strong technical writing and proposal development skills.
• Ability to interpret complex technical information and communicate clearly to technical and non-technical audiences.

Responsibilities

• Bid & Proposal Development: review customer requirements and develop solutions, create costed project plans, prepare proposals and bid docs.
• Process Improvement & Strategic Development: improve bid processes, support NPI methodologies, governance and best practices.
• Collaborate with engineering, project management, manufacturing and commercial teams to deliver competitive bids and timely development programmes.

Skills

Technical writing

Proposal development

Costing projects

Cross-functional collaboration

Technical communication

Education

Bachelor's degree in Engineering, Chemistry or related

Job description

Shape the Future of Advanced Engineering Programmes

An exciting opportunity has arisen for a Product Development Bid Engineer to join a leading UK-based engineering and manufacturing organisation operating in a highly regulated, technology-driven sector.

This role sits at the intersection of engineering, business development, and programme delivery, making it ideal for an engineer who enjoys translating customer requirements into innovative, deliverable solutions. Reporting to the Chief Engineer and working closely with Sales & Marketing, you'll play a pivotal role in securing and shaping future development programmes.

You’ll be responsible for developing technical proposals, costing new product development programmes, and driving improvements to bid and product development processes across the business.

What You’ll Be Doing

Bid & Proposal Development

• Review and analyse customer requirements to develop robust technical solutions.
• Collaborate with cross-functional teams to create costed project plans and work breakdown structures.
• Prepare technical proposals, compliance matrices, and supporting bid documentation.
• Participate in customer discussions, requirements reviews, and bid review meetings.
• Identify opportunities to improve programme delivery timelines and reduce development costs while maintaining technical and quality standards.

Process Improvement & Strategic Development

• Improve bid development processes, tools, and templates to increase efficiency and consistency.
• Support the evolution of product development and New Product Introduction (NPI) methodologies.
• Work with stakeholders across engineering, project management, manufacturing, and commercial teams to implement best practices.
• Contribute to process governance, documentation, and role clarity within quality management systems.
• Drive initiatives that enable faster, more robust, and commercially competitive bids.

What We’re Looking For

Essential

• Degree (or equivalent qualification) in Engineering, Chemistry, or a related technical discipline.
• Experience working within an engineering product development environment.
• Proven experience scoping, planning, and costing engineering development programmes.
• Strong technical writing and proposal development skills.
• Ability to interpret complex technical information and communicate it clearly to both technical and non-technical audiences.

Desirable

• Knowledge of New Product Introduction (NPI) or product lifecycle development processes.
• Experience within aerospace, defence, manufacturing, or other highly regulated engineering sectors.
• Understanding of product qualification, certification, or testing activities.
• Commercial awareness with an interest in balancing technical and business objectives.

Why Apply?

• Opportunity to work on technically challenging, high-impact development programmes.
• Influence how new engineering projects are shaped from concept through to delivery.
• Collaborate with multidisciplinary teams and external customers.
• Play a key role in improving business processes and securing future growth.
• Ongoing training and development to support your career progression.

If you’re an engineer with a passion for product development, problem-solving, and shaping winning technical proposals, we’d love to hear from you.