Bid Manager

Summary: The Bid Manager role involves leading the development of manufacturing bids within a prestigious defence engineering organization. The position requires a detail-oriented professional to create competitive cost proposals for complex engineering programmes, ensuring alignment with business strategy and operational capabilities. The role is based in Bolton and requires SC clearance, with a focus on collaboration across various departments. This is a 12-month contract position classified as inside IR35.

Key Responsibilities:

• Leading the development of manufacturing bids in collaboration with cross-functional teams.
• Generating detailed cost models in Excel for materials, direct/indirect labour, and other manufacturing-associated costs.
• Producing high-quality bid presentations and cost brochures in PowerPoint for review and approval by senior stakeholders.
• Interpreting bid directives and ensuring proposals align with manufacturing industrial policy and business goals.
• Analysing data to produce accurate, evidence-backed 3-point estimates.
• Reviewing risks, assumptions, and compliance to ensure commercially sound and competitive submissions.
• Collaborating with stakeholders across Engineering, Procurement, Finance, and Programmes to ensure bid readiness throughout the life cycle.
• Championing continuous improvement by capturing lessons learned and feeding into the evolution of bid strategy and cost methodology.
• Supporting the identification of new business opportunities and contributing to win strategies.

Key Skills:

• Strong experience in managing or coordinating bids within an engineering or production environment.
• Solid understanding of manufacturing processes - from procurement through to delivery.
• Proficient in developing cost models and working with commercial data.
• Clear communicator, confident presenting to senior stakeholders and cross-functional teams.
• Skilled in data analysis and logical reasoning, with an eye for detail.
• Comfortable working to tight deadlines and managing multiple bids simultaneously.
• Proactive, enthusiastic, and able to work independently or as part of a collaborative team.
• Knowledge of bid governance and evidence-based cost estimation is highly desirable.
• Experience with PowerPoint and Excel is essential; SAP knowledge would be a plus.

Salary (Rate): £33

City: Bolton

Country: UK

Working Arrangements: undetermined

IR35 Status: inside IR35

Seniority Level: undetermined

Industry: Other