Senior BD Manager

Cognizant; Tambaram; On-site; INR 3,000,000 - 5,200,000; Full time

Job summary

Cognizant in Chennai, India, seeks a Senior Manager for Business Development and Bid Management to lead complex pursuits and develop competitive solutions addressing client priorities.

You will coordinate with pursuit, commercial, solution, technology, consulting, transition, finance, and service-line stakeholders to deliver differentiated proposals and strengthen overall competitiveness.

Qualifications

• 12 to 18 years of relevant experience in business development, bid management, pursuit management, presales, or solution development.
• Experience managing complex opportunities and end-to-end responses to RFPs and RFIs.
• Experience creating bid plans, coordinating stakeholders and reviews, developing win themes and proposals.
• Strong understanding of solution development across IT outsourcing, digital engineering, and data and platforms implementations.
• Knowledge of commercial models, deal estimation, and pricing, with ability to collaborate with commercial, finance, and delivery teams.

Responsibilities

• Lead the pursuit lifecycle for RFPs and RFIs, including understanding client requirements and coordinating reviews.
• Partner with pursuit and solution teams to shape end-to-end solutions and pricing.
• Review and challenge proposed solutions to identify gaps and bring items to closure with stakeholders.
• Manage relationships across the pursuit ecosystem, including commercial, solution-design, Transition Office, Finance, Technology Office, and Professional Services.
• Support business development through deal analytics, market research, and mentoring of team members.

Skills

Stakeholder management

Communication

Presentation

Team coordination

Mentoring/coaching

Job description

Senior Manager, Business Development

About the role

As a Senior Manager Business Development and Bid Management, you will make an impact by leading complex pursuits and developing competitive solutions that address clients’ business and technology priorities.

You will be a valued member of the Business Development team, collaborating with pursuit, commercial, solution, technology, consulting, transition, finance, and service-line stakeholders. You will bring these teams together to develop differentiated proposals, strengthen solution quality, and improve the overall competitiveness of strategic opportunities.

In this role, you will:

• Lead the pursuit lifecycle for requests for proposals and requests for information, including understanding client requirements, preparing bid plans, identifying stakeholders, coordinating reviews, developing win themes, and ensuring the completeness and competitiveness of responses.
• Partner with pursuit and solution teams to shape end-to-end solutions, develop supporting artifacts, evaluate alternative approaches, and contribute to commercial models, estimates, and pricing.
• Review and challenge proposed solutions to identify gaps across workstreams, improve quality, and bring open items to closure with the appropriate stakeholders.
• Manage relationships across the pursuit ecosystem, including commercial teams, solution-design specialists, the Transition Office, Finance Planning and Analysis, the Technology Office, Business Consulting, and Professional Services.
• Support business development through deal analytics, prospect development, reusable assets, market research, client and analyst visits, knowledge-sharing sessions, and the mentoring and coaching of team members.

Work model

This role is based in Chennai, India.

Work from office - Chennai, India.

What you need to have to be considered

• 12 to 18 years of relevant experience in business development, bid management, pursuit management, presales, or solution development.
• Demonstrated experience managing complex opportunities and developing end-to-end responses to requests for proposals and requests for information.
• Experience creating bid plans, coordinating stakeholders and reviews, developing win themes, and managing proposals through completion.
• Strong understanding of solution development across Information Technology Outsourcing, digital engineering, and data and platforms implementation opportunities.
• Experience reviewing solution quality, identifying gaps across workstreams, and working with solution and service-line stakeholders to improve the completeness and competitiveness of proposals.
• Knowledge of commercial models, deal estimation, and pricing, with the ability to collaborate effectively with commercial, finance, and delivery stakeholders.
• Strong stakeholder-management, communication, presentation, and team coordination capabilities.
• Handled team of size 5+ FTE's, mentor, coach & govern their deliverables

These will help you stand out

• Experience independently owning solution responses for smaller or nonstrategic opportunities.
• Ability to assess a client’s problem statement and recommend alternative solution approaches.
• Experience conducting competitor analysis, deal analytics, industry research, and market studies.
• Experience developing case studies, standardized collateral, solution artifacts, and other reusable business-development assets.
• Experience supporting client, intermediary, or analyst visits for large or complex opportunities.
• Demonstrated ability to mentor team members and facilitate knowledge-sharing sessions on emerging business, domain, and technology trends.