Senior Proposal Manager

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A little more about your role .

As a member of the Strategic Bids team, you will play a key role in securing profitable business for WSP by managing our most important bid projects. Reporting to the Head of Strategic Bids, you will be involved in the capture planning process and may be required to lead it.

Once assigned to a bidding opportunity, the Senior Proposal Manager will take charge of managing and supporting the bid team, communicating with clients and partners, organising review and approval meetings, and submitting the proposal. They will lead the formulation of winning strategies, client solutions, tender planning, and response delivery, and ensure successful handover to the delivery team upon winning the opportunity.

In addition to your bid responsibilities, the Senior Proposal Manager will lead the formulation of winning strategies, client solutions, tender planning, and response delivery. They will also champion best practices in work-winning through personal projects, coaching, and training initiatives, overseeing the management and development of any staff under their management.

The position requires UK-wide and potentially international travel.

Key Responsibilities

• To lead and manage complex and high value strategic bids as bid manager or other senior support roles as required depending on size and complexity of the bid.
• To ensure that the appropriate bid governance and bid review processes are followed.
• Provide input to the strategic bid capture planning process
• Work with client and the Prospect Director to develop customised solutions that meets the client's specific needs and helps them achieve their objectives.
• Assist in prospect qualification throughout
• To understand internal and external customer requirements and provide resource expertise, providing support, management and leadership of strategic bids
• To provide challenge to operational, technical, commercial and financial proposals to facilitate the development of solutions that provide greatest benefit for the businesses while delivering customer requirements and needs
• Work with the bid authors /solution architects to convert knowledge from operational and business development staff into winning solutions and proposals.
• Support lessons learnt from bids. Analyse each bid, including customer feedback, to identify and share good practice with operational, bid and business development staff across the business and suggest improvements to process and team dynamics.
• Train and coach colleagues on the bid process and associated skills
• Contributing to the overall development of the UK Strategic Growth team and its services
• Taking responsibility for liaison with one or more business sectors and attendance at sector meetings to represent the proposals team
• Collate market and competitor information that will be useful to WSP in the future.

What we will be looking for you to demonstrate

• Qualified to degree level in an appropriate subject
• APMP Foundation as a minimum
• Thorough understanding of the public sector procurement process
• Good experience of producing tenders in the markets that WSP operates in
• An acknowledged senior bid manager with a demonstrable record of success in winning bids
• A good awareness and understanding of bid governance and bid review processes. Good bid writing and management skills, and commercial skills
• Strong and effective verbal and written communication, with the ability to present complex ideas in a straightforward and simple way
• Robust project management skills with a meticulous approach to detail and quality
• Strong time management skills and ability to prioritise
• Adopt a pro-active approach, use initiative and take responsibility for own actions
• Ability to assimilate large volumes of information and understand, plan and manage associated workflows
• Develop strong relationships and rapport with external clients and internal colleagues
• Excellent people skills to lead, encourage, motivate and enthuse others
• A passion for quality and continuous improvement with a focus on delivery
• Confidence to delegate to all levels, where required
• Exhibit and demonstrate behaviours and attitudes in accordance with WSP core values to create a team culture and promote excellent communications
• Support and promote a culture of continuous improvement

Don't quite meet all the criteria? Apply, and we can see how your experience aligns to this role and other opportunities within the team.

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