Proposals Engineer

Hollybank Trustees Ltd; Ireland; On-site; EUR 70,000 - 95,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Ambitious & growing organization

Weekdays with early finish on Fridays

23 days annual leave + 10 bank hols

EAP – confidential counselling

Job summary

Glanua is seeking a Proposals Engineer to coordinate and deliver winning bids across Food, Beverage, and Pharmaceutical sectors, reporting to the Group Engineering and Technology Manager. The role involves leading technical and commercial bid activities from tender to contract award, driving value propositions and win strategies.

The position requires a background in fabrications/manufacturing, familiarity with the Irish/UK water sector bid process, and strong leadership and risk-management

Qualifications

• Proven capability in delivering successful bids for major construction or manufacturing projects.
• Background in fabrication and manufacturing.
• Experience in Irish/UK water sector bid management from identification through to bid submission.
• Leadership on opportunity identification, win strategies, commercial strategies, and solution design.
• Fully conversant with the competitive marketplace.
• Excellent presentation and customer-facing ability.
• Exceptional commercial intuition and risk management skills.
• Ability to manage complex, multi-workstream opportunities.
• Experience in implementation or improvement of processes and procedures to ensure efficient working.
• Degree in Engineering or Quantity Surveying.

Responsibilities

• Oversee the entire proposal process, from bid qualification to contract award, ensuring compliance and quality standards are met.
• Identify key differentiators and win strategies to maximise bid success.
• Develop and implement winning commercial approaches, ensuring cost competitiveness and risk mitigation.
• Lead the development of high-quality technical and commercial submissions, ensuring alignment with client requirements.
• Assess contractual risks, manage clarifications, and engage with customer procurement teams.
• Ensure bid submissions meet technical, commercial, and governance standards, maximising scoring potential.
• Manage inputs from design, estimating, and project delivery teams to optimise value and bid quality.
• Provide a structured handover from bid stage to project delivery.

Skills

Bid management

Commercial strategy

Leadership

Communication/presentation

Risk management

Market analysis

Process improvement

Education

Degree in Engineering or Quantity Surveying

Job description

Location: On site / Navan, Co. Meath, Ireland
job type: Permanent / Full-time
Sector and subsector: Engineering | General
Salary: Negotiable salary

The role:

We are seeking a suitable candidate for the position of a Proposals engineer, reporting to the Group Engineering and Technology Manager and will therefore play a key role in this growth ambition by taking responsibility for coordinating and delivering winning bids for the business in line with group expectations for growth. The Proposal Engineer will be responsible for managing opportunities from tender through to contract award. This role will involve leading technical and commercial bid activities, ensuring high-quality submissions that align with business strategy and financial objectives. The successful candidate will play a key role in identifying value propositions, driving winning commercial strategies, and ensuring proposals meet customer expectations within the Food, Beverage, and Pharmaceutical sectors.

Main Duties and Responsibilities:

• Bid Management: Oversee the entire proposal process, from bid qualification to contract award, ensuring compliance and quality standards are met.
• Value Proposition & Win Themes: Identify key differentiators and win strategies to maximise bid success.
• Commercial Strategy: Develop and implement winning commercial approaches, ensuring cost competitiveness and risk mitigation.
• Technical & Price Submissions: Lead the development of high-quality technical and commercial submissions, ensuring alignment with client requirements.
• Contract Review & Risk Management: Assess contractual risks, manage clarifications, and engage with customer procurement teams.
• Bid Quality & Compliance: Ensure bid submissions meet technical, commercial, and governance standards, maximising scoring potential.
• Win Rate & Backlog Targets: Drive proposal success to achieve win rates and backlog in linewith company targets.
• Market & Opportunity Analysis: Actively target and assess new opportunities to align bidding activities with the group’s strategic objectives.
• Stakeholder Coordination: Manage inputs from design, estimating, and project delivery teams to optimise value and bid quality.
• Supply Chain Engagement: Ensure best-value procurement strategies and supplier alignment with bid objectives.
• Bid Qualification Process: Lead go/no-go assessments and provide well-informed recommendations on bid pursuits.
• Proposal Team Development: Build and mentor a high-performing proposals team, fostering a culture of excellence and continuous improvement.
• Business Strategy Contribution: Provide insights and recommendations to enhance business growth and development strategies.
• Budget Management: Oversee and manage the proposals department budget effectively.
• Problem-Solving & Decision Making: Address complex technical, strategic, and commercial challenges with a solutions-oriented approach.
• Continuous Improvement: Implement post-bid reviews and feedback loops to enhance future submissions.
• Handover to Project Delivery: Ensure a structured and seamless transition from bid stage to project execution.
• Client & Business Development Support: Engage with potential clients, attend meetings, and contribute to business growth initiatives.
• Governance & Process Improvement: Review and enhance bid management procedures and compliance frameworks.

Knowledge, Skills and Experience:

• Proven capability in delivering successful bids for major construction or manufacturing projects.
• Ideally has a background in fabrication and manufacturing.
• Ideally has a background in the Irish and/or UK water sector and experience of bid management from opportunity identification through to bid submission
• Demonstrable track record in providing valuable leadership on opportunity identification, win strategies, commercial strategies, and solution design
• Will be fully conversant with the competitive marketplace
• Excellent presentation and customer-facing ability
• Exceptional commercial intuition and risk management skills
• Has the ability to manage complex, multi-workstream opportunities.
• Experience in implementation or improvement of processes and procedures to ensure efficient working
• Degree in either Engineering or Quantity Surveying

What we offer you:

• The opportunity to join an ambitious and growing organization.
• Monday to Friday working week finishing early on Fridays.
• 23 days annual leave plus 10 bank holidays.
• Access to EAP – 24/7 365 days confidential employee counselling service, free for employees and their families

About Glanua

Glanua is an industry leader in providing innovative and sustainable engineering solutions to design, build, operate and maintain critical water and wastewater infrastructure across Ireland and the UK. We are a trusted provider to the municipal and industrial sector where our clients include Ireland and the UK’s largest water utilities, Uisce Éireann (formally Irish Water), Thames Water, Yorkshire Water and Affinity Water.

Glanua is passionate about solving today’s environmental challenges and delivering a decarbonised and sustainable world. We know that to build successful creative teams we need a diverse workforce that can deliver new innovative ways of thinking. We provide an environment where you will have the freedom to develop and grow to your full potential. We champion our core values and uphold the highest standards of Safety and Well-being, Innovation, Integrity, Collaboration, Courage, Agility, Accountability, Diversity and Inclusion in everything we do.

We have a talented team of 600+ people across Ireland and the UK and are rapidly expanding our workforce across several disciplines to meet our ambitious growth plans.

At Glanua, we believe that people are the core of the business. We know that to build successful creative teams we need a diverse workforce that can deliver new innovative ways of thinking. We provide an environment where you will have the freedom to develop and grow to your full potential.

Glanua Limited is an equal opportunities employer.