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 rol
e.
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 contrac
ts.
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 expectat
ion.
What you’l
l own✔ End-to-end ownership of complex NHS bid programmes from qualification through to submi
ssion✔ Defining bid strategy, win themes, positioning and differenti
ation✔ Leading bid/no-bid decision making to focus effort on high-quality, commercially viable opportun
ities✔ Translating commissioner priorities into compelling submission str
ategy✔ Coordinating internal stakeholders and external bid writing resource to deliver exceptional ou
tputs✔ Running post-bid debriefs and embedding continuous improvement into future submis
sions✔ Building scalable bid processes, governance and templates to eliminate historic single-point-of-failure
risk
What we’re looki
ng forEsse
ntial:✅ Proven experience leading complex NHS bids end-
to-end✅ Strong understanding of NHS commissioning, contracting, scoring and evaluation fram
eworks✅ Experience within primary care commissioning, NHS contracting, procurement, or transformation enviro
nments✅ Strong strategic thinking with commercial delivery
focus✅ Able to influence and challenge senior stakeholders confi
dently✅ Highly organised with exceptional attention to detail under pr
essure
Highly des
irable:➕ Experience shaping strategic positioning against NHS comp
etitors➕ Horizon scanning / pipeline development cap
ability➕ Ability to combine both strategic and hands-on bid lea
dership
Why this role is d
ifferentThis 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 de
livered.