Proposal Manager

AtkinsRéalis UK Limited; Manchester; Hybrid; GBP 70,000 - 100,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Hybrid working

Training and development

Competitive salaries

Job summary

AtkinsRéalis UK Limited in Manchester is seeking an experienced Proposal Manager to join our Complex Projects bid team. You will lead end-to-end bid management, shaping strategies and coordinating inputs from technical leads and stakeholders to deliver high-quality, compliant proposals for large-scale infrastructure programmes.

This role requires strong writing skills, stakeholder engagement, and the ability to manage multiple bids under tight deadlines.

Qualifications

• End-to-end bid and proposal management experience in engineering, construction or professional services.
• Ability to develop persuasive, compliant proposals for complex, multi-disciplinary programmes.
• Experience working with senior technical and commercial stakeholders.

Responsibilities

• Manage bids and proposals end to end, including strategy, planning and delivery.
• Coordinate inputs from technical leads and stakeholders to produce clear, compelling content.
• Lead drumbeats and answer planning sessions; ensure quality reviews and compliance.
• Support post-submission activities, clarifications and lessons learned.
• Apply best-practice proposal processes, tools and templates for efficiency.

Skills

Bid and Proposal Management

Stakeholder management

Excellent writing

Project management

Communication

AI-assisted writing

Education

Degree or equivalent qualification in business development, engineering, or related field

Tools

Generative AI tools

Job description

Job Description Overview

Are you ready to take up a vital role in winning and shaping some of our exciting projects? How about joining our talented team, where everyone has a voice, and together we face our clients' problems head‑on. It's a diverse and inclusive work environment where world‑class talent knows no distinctions. Our Win Work team sits at the heart of the Complex Projects business unit and plays a critical role in securing and shaping work across major, high‑value programmes in regulated, high‑risk and technically demanding environments. Together, we strengthen AtkinsRéalis’ position in the market, supporting sustainable growth across sectors including transportation, rail, local transport, highways, rail systems, aviation, water, nuclear, defence, environment, renewables, power grids and advanced technology. We want to hear from you.

The Role

We are seeking an experienced Proposal Manager to join our Complex Projects proposal team. Reporting to the bid team lead, you will be responsible for the end‑to‑end management and delivery of bids, from early engagement and capture support through proposal development and post‑submission activities. You will play a key role in developing persuasive, compliant and high‑quality proposals that clearly articulate our capability to deliver complex, multi‑disciplinary programmes. Working closely with technical leads, win work colleagues and wider bid teams, you will help shape winning strategies and ensure consistent, high‑quality bid delivery across priority sectors.

Your role

You will be responsible for:

• Managing bids and proposals end to end, including:
• Bid strategy and planning
• Capture and opportunity shaping support
• Proposal development including: Setting the bid programme and guiding the team from end to end Leading drumbeats & answer planning sessions.
• Quality reviews and compliance Engaging and managing stakeholders
• Post‑submission activities, including clarifications and lessons learned.
• Developing high‑quality proposal submissions by coordinating inputs from technical subject matter experts to produce clear, compelling and compliant content.
• Applying best‑practice proposal processes, tools and templates to ensure consistency and efficiency across bids.
• Using and supporting the adoption of best‑in‑class approaches and tools, including generative AI (where appropriate), to enhance written quality, consistency and compliance.
• Managing multiple bids simultaneously, maintaining momentum and quality under tight deadlines.
• Contributing to continuous improvement activity, including lessons learned, process improvements and knowledge sharing across the proposal management community.
• Building strong, collaborative relationships with Win Work, technical teams and stakeholders across the Complex Projects business unit.

About you

The ideal candidate will bring a strong track record in proposal management and delivery within complex, regulated or infrastructure‑led environments, and will be comfortable operating in high‑pressure, fast‑paced bid settings.

Skills and experience should include:

• A degree or equivalent qualification (relevant business development or proposal‑related certifications would be desirable).
• Proven end‑to‑end Bid and Proposal Management experience within engineering, construction or professional services environments.
• Experience contributing to large, complex and high‑value proposals, ideally across infrastructure, energy, transportation, defence or regulated sectors.
• A solid understanding of professional services projects and terminology, with the ability to critique and review proposal content.
• Experience working with senior technical and commercial stakeholders.
• Strong project management skills, with the ability to manage multiple proposals concurrently and meet demanding deadlines.
• Excellent writing, editing and verbal communication skills, with a clear, structured and persuasive writing style.
• Experience using generative AI writing tools is desirable.
• High levels of attention to detail to ensure compliance, accuracy and quality.
• A collaborative and proactive working style, with the confidence to challenge, influence and contribute positively within bid teams.
• Well‑developed emotional intelligence, with the ability to adapt your approach to suit different stakeholders and team dynamics.

Rewards & benefits

Explore the rewards and benefits that help you thrive – at every stage of your life and your career.

• Enjoy competitive salaries, employee rewards and a brilliant range of benefits you can tailor to suit your own health, wellbeing, financial and lifestyle choices.
• Make the most of a myriad of opportunities for training and professional development to grow your skills and expertise.
• And combine our hybrid working culture and flexible holiday allowances to balance a great job and fulfilling personal life.

Be rewarded. Find out more.

About AtkinsRéalis

We’re AtkinsRéalis, a world‑class engineering services and nuclear organization. We connect people, data and technology to transform the world's infrastructure and energy systems. Together, with our industry partners and clients, and our global team of consultants, designers, engineers and project managers, we can change the world. We’re committed to leading our clients across our various end markets to engineer a better future for our planet and its people. Find out more.

Security clearance

This role may require security clearance and offers of employment will be dependent on obtaining the relevant level of clearance. If this is necessary, it will be discussed at interview. The vetting process is delivered by United Kingdom Security Vetting (UKSV) and may require candidates to provide proof of residency in the UK of 5 years or longer. If applying to this role please do not make reference to (in conversation) or include in your application or CV, details of any current or previously held security clearance.

We are committed to creating a culture where everyone feels that they belong - a place where we can all be ourselves, thrive and develop to be the best we can be. So we offer a range of family friendly, inclusive employment policies, flexible working arrangements and employee resource groups to support all employees.

As an Equal Opportunities Employer, we value applications from all backgrounds, cultures and ability. As a Disability Confident Leader, we are committed to offering an interview to all applicants who have a disability and meet the essential criteria. If you would like to be considered under this commitment, please let us know at the application stage.

#LI-UK#LI-ATKINS #PPSProContr

Worker Type Employee Job Type Regular

At AtkinsRéalis, we seek to hire individuals with diverse characteristics, backgrounds and perspectives. We strongly believe that world‑class talent makes no distinctions based on gender, ethnic or national origin, sexual identity and orientation, age, religion or disability, but enriches itself through these differences. Created by the integration of long-standing organizations dating back to 1911, AtkinsRéalis is a world‑class engineering services and nuclear company dedicated to engineering a better future for our planet and its people. We create sustainable solutions that connect people, data and technology to transform the world's infrastructure and technology systems. We deploy global capabilities locally to our clients and deliver unique end‑to‑end services across the whole life cycle of an asset including consulting, advisory & environmental services, intelligent networks & cybersecurity, design & engineering, procurement, project & construction management, operations & maintenance, decommissioning and capital.

The breadth and depth of our capabilities are delivered to clients in strategic sectors such as Engineering Services, Nuclear and Capital. News and information are available at Atkinsrealis or follow us on LinkedIn.