Business Winning Graduate Programme
Programme title: Business Winning Graduate Programme
Salary: Minimum £35,. Salary is dependent on location, role and qualifications.
Location: Warrington
Application closing date: 16 October
Programme start date: September
Role ID:
What will you do on the programme?
The Business Winning Graduate Programme offers a unique insight into the bid-winning work we deliver at Cavendish Nuclear. You’ll work closely with technical and commercial teams on tenders, helping to shape proposals from early strategic planning through to the delivery of a successful bid.
This is an exciting and varied programme. You’ll work alongside experienced Bid and Proposal Managers on live tenders, handling clarifications, preparing review packs, and keeping progress trackers on course. Being embedded in live projects will give you in-depth experience and build your confidence in managing bids from start to finish.
You’ll also gain insight into how our bid pipeline is managed, updating and tracking opportunities while contributing to continuous improvement activities that keep our processes efficient and effective.
Every placement offers something new to discover – whether collaborating with colleagues across the business, mastering the finer points of bid preparation, or seeing your work directly contribute to projects that make a real difference in clean energy, civil decommissioning, and national defence.
How is the programme structured?
Over two years, you’ll follow a mix of core and shorter placements designed to provide a complete view of the Business Winning lifecycle. Your main core placement will be within the Central Bids area in Bid and Proposal Management, typically lasting nine to twelve months. Another core placement will be with the Bid Services and Pipeline team, where you’ll learn how we maintain and update our pipeline and carry out weekly opportunity searches.
Alongside these, shorter placements may take you into areas such as Business Development, Estimating, Graphics, or Marketing. These rotations will broaden your skills and give you an appreciation of how different teams contribute to the bidding process. In some cases, you may work across more than one placement at a time, ensuring that by the end of the programme you have experienced the full process of turning opportunities into successful contracts.
How do we develop and support you?
From day one, you’ll receive structured support, personalised training, and dedicated mentorship to help you excel throughout your programme and beyond.
You’ll join our Graduate Development Programme, featuring expert-led masterclasses on communication, personal branding, resilience, and wellbeing.
For this programme, you’ll work towards the Association of Proposal Management Professionals (APMP) Foundation level certification by the end of your second year. This globally recognised standard is supported by a targeted competency matrix covering areas such as bid writing, graphics production and opportunity management. You will also have access to in-house training such as commercial awareness to deepen your business knowledge.
What rewards and benefits will you get?
We want you to feel supported, valued and excited about what’s ahead. That’s why we offer a comprehensive package designed to support your development, your wellbeing and your life outside of work too.
In addition to a minimum starting salary of £35,, you’ll benefit from:
1. A minimum of 25 days of holiday plus bank holidays, with agile working options subject to discussion with your manager
2. Generous pension and employee share schemes
3. Flexible benefits, including cycle to work scheme, discounts
4. Wellbeing support, covering mental, physical, financial, and social wellbeing, with services like our Employee Assistance Programme, digital GP service, and health checks.
You’ll also have the chance to get involved in our STEM outreach activities and volunteering opportunities.
What do you need to apply?
5. A bachelor’s degree, ideally in a business-related subject.
6. Many of our graduate programmes are subject to Security Clearance and Trade Control restrictions which mean that your place of birth, nationality, citizenship, or residency you hold or have held may impact which programmes you are eligible for. For this programme, you must be able to achieve Baseline Personnel Security Standard (BPSS) and Security Check (SC) clearance. Further details are available at
Where will you be based?
Places on our Business Winning programme for Autumn are available at Cavendish Nuclear in Warrington.
Cavendish Nuclear is a core part of