Job Description
Technology…...or technology that breathes life into work? SHL, People Science. People Answers.
This role can be UK or US based.
As the Principal Bid Manager you will be accountable for leading and orchestrating complex, high-value RFPs, tenders, and strategic proposals within a fast-growing SaaS HR Tech organisation. Operating at the intersection of Sales, Presales, Product, Legal, Finance, and Delivery, this role ensures the business submits high-quality, commercially sound, and technically accurate bids that maximise win probability while protecting margin and delivery risk. You will provide leadership and direction to the Bid Management team, fostering a culture of excellence, collaboration, and continuous improvement. This includes developing team capability, ensuring effective resource allocation, and embedding best practices to scale bid operations globally.
An excellent benefits package is offered in a culture where career development, with ongoing manager guidance, collaboration, flexibility, diversity and inclusivity are all intrinsic to our culture. There is a huge investment in SHL currently so there’s no better time to become a part of something transformational. Hybrid working is available.
What you will be doing:
1. Lead, coach, and develop the Bid Management team to deliver high-quality bids.
Allocate resources effectively and manage workload across multiple pursuits.
2. Act as an escalation point for complex bids and provide strategic guidance.
3. Define and maintain bid governance, processes, and best practices. Drive continuous improvement and capability development within the bid function. Monitor team performance metrics and implement improvement initiatives.
4. Own the end-to-end lifecycle of all assigned bids: qualification, structuring, governance, submission, and close-out. Lead complex SaaS and enterprise HR Tech RFPs, RFIs, DDQs, and procurement exercises.
5. Establish clear bid plans, timelines, content accountabilities, and approval workflows.
Chair bid kick-offs, stand-ups, and governance reviews.
6. Partner with Sales & Presales to ensure proposals are commercially viable, margin-protected, delivery-feasible, leverage MEDDPIC
7. Manage assumptions, dependencies, risks, and contractual exposures.
8. Work closely with Finance and Legal on Pricing structures, Payment terms. Data protection & security, SaaS contracting models (SOW, MSA, DPA)
9. Collaborate with Solution Architects and Solution Engineering to shape scalable solution designs, translate technical capability into compelling customer value, ensure architectural and security accuracy, act as the single orchestration point between technical, commercial, and delivery streams.
10. Own and continuously improve standard proposal responses, win themes, value propositions, differentiation narratives
11. Ensure all bids clearly articulate SaaS platform value, AI / analytics capability, security & compliance posture, implementation & commercial certainty, governance & operating rhythm
12. Enforce bid qualification thresholds, Go/No-Go governance, executive approvals
13. Track bid performance win rates, cycle times, cost-to-bid, common loss drivers
14. Maintain a structured bid library and response knowledge base.
15. Stakeholder & Executive Engagement
What we are looking for in you:
Essential
16. Bid Management, Proposal Management, or Commercial Operations
17. SaaS Commercial Models, Subscription Pricing, HR Tech, HCM, or enterprise software environments
18. Proven delivery of complex, multi-stakeholder RFPs
19. Data privacy, InfoSec, and compliance
20. Proven experience leading and developing teams in a SaaS or enterprise environment.
Desirable
21. R Tech, Talent Tech, Assessment, ATS, HCM, or People Analytics
22. ISO, SOC2, GDPR, data residency
23. AI-enabled SaaS platforms
24. APM, PMP, or Bid Management certification
You must have the relevant right to work in the country of application.
Get in touch:
Find out how this one-off opportunity can help you to achieve your career goals by making an application to our knowledgeable and friendly Talent Acquisition team. Choose a new path with SHL.
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#CareerOpportunities #JobOpportunities
About Us
25. We unlock the possibilities of businesses through the power of people, science and technology.
26. We started this industry of people insight more than 40 years ago and continue to lead the market with powerhouse product launches, ground-breaking science and business transformation.
27. When you inspire and transform people’s lives, you will experience the greatest business outcomes possible. SHL’s products insights, experiences, and services can help achieve growth at scale.
What SHL can offer you
Diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility are key threads in the fabric of SHL’s business and culture (find out more about )
28. Employee benefits package that takes care of you and your family.
29. Support, coaching, and on-the-job development to achieve career success
30. A fun and flexible workplace where you’ll be inspired to do your best work (find out more )
31. The ability to transform workplaces around the world for others.
SHL is an equal opportunity employer. We support and encourage applications from a diverse range of candidates. We can, and do make adjustments to make sure our recruitment process is as inclusive as possible.