Regional Bid Team Lead

Our Bid Team Leads oversee the deployment, development and recruitment of win professionals across the offices in their region as we support technical colleagues in securing new projects which enable Ridge to grow.

Although based in a local office, the individual will lead a team of bid managers, coordinators and writers that supports opportunities across their geographic region. They will also be an integral part of a likeminded community through which we share best practice, define common ways of working, and drive improvement across the UK. Candidates will role model best practice to their team as they take a hands-on role on our key proposals - working with client-facing teams to develop winning strategies for their pipeline, managing the bidding process throughout the tender window, and contributing to the writing of compelling and convincing responses.

Ridge is a growing built environment consultancy that helps clients create better, more sustainable places for people to live, learn, work and play. We are committed to delivering outstanding service and providing our people with the support, opportunities and environment they need to thrive.

What you'll do - professional performance and competence:

You will report to the Director of Pursuits with day-to-day accountability as:

A1. The leader of a regional-facing team of dedicated bid managers, coordinators, writers and designers. The individual will provide day-to-day line management, resource planning, on-the-job coaching and personal development to their team:

• Maintains and recruits a blend of bid-focussed resources that meet forward pipeline demand
• Establishes and leads bid team line management – creating a suitable hierarchy as appropriate
• Identifies and implements development plans and coaching within their team (including appraisal reviews)
• Undertakes bid team resource planning – a sustainable plan for the right people on the right bids 
• Leads weekly, monthly and quarterly calls to communicate plans across individuals in their team
• Works with Pursuits Director and other Regional Bid Team Leads to coordinate UK-wide bid effort
• Instils the right culture to support, direct and motivate their bid team

A2. The interface for discussions across offices and disciplines in the region who has oversight of the complete pipeline. Based on an objective understanding of demand and priorities (both long-term future opportunities and short-term live proposals), the individual will agree where and how their bid team will (or will not) support:

• Works with leaders to create, maintain and champion regional pipeline visibility – single version truth
• Supports regional leaders and the Director of Pursuits in holding data-driven pipeline conversations
• Acts as the conduit for ad-hoc requests for bid support from office, sector and discipline leads
• Chairs ‘go / no go’ bid meetings with appropriate leaders – seeing there is independent challenge
• Uses a regional view to identify priorities and appropriate ‘service level’ support from the bid team
• Supports the Director of Pursuits with updates on pipeline strength, milestones and performance
• Acts as a focus for best practice, sharing and learning – champions the big picture across the region

A3. An experienced bid manager who role models a professionalised approach to win in action. The individual will take hands-on leadership (eg bid management) and / or provide value adding contributions (eg review of draft responses) on our key proposals during both advance capture planning and live bid stages.

• Acts as Bid Manager - leading the end-to-end process to develop, prepare and submit our key bids:
  • Facilitates pre-bid activities to research clients, competitors and markets to support bid strategy
  • Actively participates in early ‘go / no go’ meetings with leaders to review our appetite and right to win
  • Actively participates in commercial risk assessment and approval gateways before submission
  • Reviews tender documentation to understand all requirements – promoting a clear proposal plan
  • Assembles and leads a cross-functional bid team of contributors to bring together timely inputs
  • Drives communication (including kick off, workshops, stand-ups etc) to enable a common understanding
  • Drives a clear plan for compelling high-quality responses through storyboarding, writing and review
  • Reviews and edits inputs prepared by others to see our content is compelling and maximises scores
  • Oversees the coordination of materials into a completed format during production / upload stages
• Provides coaching and value adding roles on bids that are run by others in their team
• Leads post-submission lessons learnt reviews (based on internal and external feedback)

A4. An active member of a steering group of like-mined peers. Led by the Director of Pursuits, our Regional Bid Team Leads will balance resource planning across the UK as needed and be responsible for shaping and embedding a consistent best practice approach to bidding tools, systems, processes and people.

• Joins a weekly call with the Director or Pursuits and their peers to review UK-wide workload
• Works with Director of Pursuits and regional peers to define a common bidding approach for Ridge
• Monitors bid performance and learning themes to identify opportunities and actions for improvement
• Leads small cross-regional teams on bid improvement initiatives in line with an agreed roadmap
• Upskills employees around bidding best practice – their own dedicated bid team and technical teams
• Supports development and maintenance of bid content as part of ongoing knowledge management

To succeed in this role, you'll have:

• Understanding and experience of public and / or private sector procurement processes
• Experience within the construction, engineering, property or consultancy sectors would be beneficial
• Line management experience – supporting the planning, management and development of a team
• Experience managing complex bid submissions from opportunity identification through to submission
• Strong project management and organisational skills - with the ability to manage multiple deadlines
• Excellent writing, editing and proofreading skills with a focus on attention to detail
• The ability to communicate technical information in a clear, persuasive and engaging way
• Commercial awareness and an understanding of successful bidding strategies
• Strong critical thinking skills – curiosity and the ability to ask questions and constructively challenge
• The ability to perform well under pressure and meet challenging deadlines
• A proactive and collaborative approach, with the confidence to influence stakeholders at all levels

Qualifications:

• APMP certification or an equivalent bid management qualification would be advantageous
• Wider proposal and behavioural training - eg Shipley, Miller Heiman, Mindflick etc
• Strong Microsoft Office skills, including Word and PowerPoint
• Proficiency in relevant software / systems (CRM, knowledge management etc)
• Awareness of emerging technology / practices (eg various AI tools, knowledge management etc)