Senior Bid Manager

JR United Kingdom; Newcastle upon Tyne; On-site; GBP 45,000 - 65,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading company in the defence and engineering sector seeks a Senior Bid Manager to lead and manage bids for complex projects. The ideal candidate will bring expertise in bid management, strong negotiation skills, and a proven track record in delivering successful bids across various sectors. This position offers hybrid working options and a competitive benefits package.

Benefits

Performance-related bonus

Half day every Friday

28 days annual leave plus bank holidays

24 hours volunteering paid for

Life cover

24/7 Employee Assistance Program

Qualifications

• Proven track record in managing successful bids in sectors like defence, IT, or engineering.
• Experience with complex bid management processes.
• Knowledge of industry standards for bid management.

Responsibilities

• Lead multi-disciplinary bid teams to produce high-quality proposals.
• Manage relationships with key internal and external stakeholders.
• Ensure structured and rigorous bid preparation and governance.

Skills

Negotiation skills

Stakeholder management

Bid management

Commercial awareness

Job description

Job title: Senior Bid Manager

Location: Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Tyne and Wear, United Kingdom

Job Category: Other

EU work permit required: Yes

Job Views: 2

Posted: 04.06.2025

Expiry Date: 19.07.2025

Job Description:

Job title: Senior Bid Manager

Location: Belfast (hybrid working – 3 days per week in the office vs. home)

Hours: Full time or part time opportunities available

Do you have a positive attitude combined with excellent interpersonal and motivational skills? Do you enjoy being able to generate or initiate innovative solutions? Do you pride yourself on leading bid teams, shaping compelling and competitive offers to clients? Then look no further…

What the role has to offer:

• Working in an exciting dynamic fast paced environment
• Working on high tech interesting projects
• Working in a team environment with individual work tasks

Core Benefits:

On offer is a competitive salary and benefits package, which includes;

• Performance-related bonus
• Half day every Friday, usually finishing around 13:00pm
• 28 days annual leave (plus bank holidays) plus opportunity to buy up to 40 hours/year (pro rata)
• 24 hours volunteering paid for
• Life cover
• 24/7 Employee Assistance Program and access to mental wellbeing app
• Employee discount shopping schemes on major brands and retailers

This is a truly demanding and interesting role where you will gain exposure across a wide variety of bids and where you will be responsible for leading the bid team to ensure successful bid production and delivery. You will put your professional bid management capabilities to the test by giving rigour to change control, commercial awareness and stakeholder management.

Key responsibilities include:

• Bringing structure, clarity and governance to the bid process.
• Helping shape solutions to provide compelling offers to our customers.
• Managing strong relationships with internal and external key UK and international customers.
• Managing multi-disciplinary bid teams to deliver high quality business winning proposals.
• Applying business acumen to maximise Thales’ position to secure new business.
• Managing the preparation of prequalification response submissions to customers with the objective of securing an invitation to bid.
• Leading in Bid Kick-Off meetings, providing bid management direction and engagement with the Bid Team.
• Managing the creation of the bid deliverables, shaping a compelling offer and ensuring review and governance, leading to the creation of a high-quality proposal.

About You:

We would be keen to see an application from you if you have the following skills/experience:

• A proven track record of managing and delivering successful bids in contexts relevant to Thales: defence, heavy engineering (aerospace, rail, energy, marine), or construction, or IT infrastructure backgrounds.
• Experience managing large, complex bids.
• Full business/bid lifecycle management, including capture, qualification and developing capture plans and winning strategies.
• Experience of working across boundaries, including knowledge of commercial management, finance functions.
• A working knowledge of industry standard approaches to bid management (such as Shipley Capture Bench).
• The ability to successfully manage a bid team and to drive solutions to successful conclusion.
• Negotiation skills with the ability to deal with customers, partners, suppliers and other parts of the business (stakeholder management skills).