Strategic Bid Manager
Hybrid – Milton Keynes (1 day per week, expenses covered)
Up to £65,000 + Bonus
Urgent Appointment | Major NHS Bid Programme Launching June
I’m working exclusively with a growing healthcare services organisation at a pivotal point in its NHS growth journey. This is a genuinely exciting opportunity as they build an entirely new bid function from the ground up to shape how future NHS bids are built. This role will be integral in ensuring submissions are not just competitive, but operationally credible, commercially viable, and grounded in real-world service delivery.
This is not a “process admin” bid role.
This is a high-impact opportunity for an experienced NHS bid leader to take full ownership of bid strategy, shape how the business competes, and build a more sophisticated, resilient approach to winning NHS contracts.
The business needs someone who understands how NHS commissioners think, what drives scoring decisions, and how to build submissions that are genuinely winnable. You’ll be the person who bridges the gap between operational capability and commissioner expectation.
What you’ll own
✔ End-to-end ownership of complex NHS bid programmes from qualification through to submission
✔ Defining bid strategy, win themes, positioning and differentiation
✔ Leading bid/no-bid decision making to focus effort on high-quality, commercially viable opportunities
✔ Translating commissioner priorities into compelling submission strategy
✔ Coordinating internal stakeholders and external bid writing resource to deliver exceptional outputs
✔ Running post-bid debriefs and embedding continuous improvement into future submissions
✔ Building scalable bid processes, governance and templates to eliminate historic single-point-of-failure risk
What we’re looking for
Essential:
✅ Proven experience leading complex NHS bids end-to-end
✅ Strong understanding of NHS commissioning, contracting, scoring and evaluation frameworks
✅ Experience within primary care commissioning, NHS contracting, procurement, or transformation environments
✅ Strong strategic thinking with commercial delivery focus
✅ Able to influence and challenge senior stakeholders confidently
✅ Highly organised with exceptional attention to detail under pressure
Highly desirable:
➕ Experience shaping strategic positioning against NHS competitors
➕ Horizon scanning / pipeline development capability
➕ Ability to combine both strategic and hands-on bid leadership
Why this role is different
This role will help build a fit-for-purpose bid function with real strategic capability, one that doesn’t just submit bids, but wins the right contracts profitably and sustainably. You’ll work directly with senior leadership and have genuine influence over how NHS growth is delivered.