Are you an experienced bid leader with a passion for driving high‑quality, high‑scoring proposals? Do you thrive in a fast‑paced environment where continuous improvement, stakeholder influence, and measurable ROI are at the heart of your work?
We’re looking for a strategic and proactive Head of Bids to lead a professional, high‑performing central bid function for our client based in London.
About the Role
As the Head of Bids, you’ll lead a small but impactful team responsible for strengthening end‑to‑end bid processes, ensuring quality assurance, and driving improvements in bid capability across the organisation. This is a pivotal role that blends operational excellence, strategic thinking, stakeholder collaboration, and innovation — including the smart use of AI and automation.
Head of Bids Key Responsibilities
* Manage and lead a small team of bid professionals (c2 People).
* Oversee and refine the end‑to‑end bid process, ensuring it is fit for purpose and adaptable to varying requirements and timeframes.
* Lead bid submission, debrief, and lessons‑learned processes to support continuous improvement.
* Act as the first line of quality assurance for compliance and technical content, using judgement, mark schemes, and requirement documents.
* Provide second‑line commercial quality assurance.
* Influence the shaping of RFPs for warm clients to maximise win potential.
* Identify new opportunities through market and tender intelligence tools.
* Develop and maintain procurement routes‑to‑market guidance.
* Set policies for the effective and ethical use of AI within the bid environment.
Head of Bids Qualifications & Capabilities
* Ideally Shipley or APMP Bid & Proposal Management Practitioner‑level expertise.
* Worked in a similar role across the Public Sector, Not‑for‑Profit, Defence or Nuclear, Industrials.
* Proven experience applying AI and automation to bid processes and knowledge management.
* Strong people leadership and coaching skills.
* Excellent prioritisation, time management, and stakeholder engagement.
* Ability to build proactive and trusted relationships across the business.
Why Join this company?
This is a unique opportunity to:
* Shape and elevate a core business capability.
* Lead a talented, central team with strong organisational visibility.
* Influence bid strategy across multiple sectors.
* Drive real, measurable impact through improvements in quality and process.
Should this position be of interest, please contact Lisa Easthope at Bid Solutions