Bid Manager, Business

Your focus will be to help Realise win new business and grow our contract portfolio across Realise Training Group, including Smart Energy and Tidal Training. As Bid Manager, you will lead and contribute to a range of business development projects, working with internal and external stakeholders to create compelling, high-quality proposals.

Your key responsibilities are likely to be:

• Lead and manage multiple bid work streams from start to finish, taking responsibility for the quality and consistency of the content.
• Lead bids with a total contract value of up to £5 million.
• Project-manage virtual bid teams of up to 20 contributors across 10 or more work streams.
• Mentor and support the development of Bid Coordinators and Apprentice Bid Coordinators.
• Lead and contribute to bid meetings, including kick-off meetings, solution design sessions and reviews.
• Analyse customer requirements and support bid planning, solution design, storyboarding and content development.
• Write clear, persuasive and well-structured responses to procurement questionnaires, invitations to tender and requests for proposals.
• Build strong relationships with partners, training providers, funders, combined authorities and other external stakeholders.
• Identify new business opportunities that will help to diversify our contract portfolio.
• Use AI tools responsibly to support tender analysis, research, drafting, evaluation and quality assurance, applying human judgement and fact-checking throughout.

This role is home based, but may occasionally require travel for team meetings. This will be discussed with you at interview stage.

• 25 days holiday plus public and bank holidays
• Purchase scheme for up to 5 additional days annual leave
• Birthday and Christmas Eve off
• Flexible working
• Health Shield scheme
• Life insurance
• Enhanced maternity, paternity and adoption pay
• Sick pay
• Bereavement leave
• Employee Assistance Programme
• £1,000 Employee referral bonus scheme

• You have knowledge and experience of the skills and training market, including apprenticeships, the Adult Skills Fund and devolved combined authority commissioning.
• You have well-evidenced experience of working within a commercial or corporate environment.
• You are commercially aware and numerate, with experience in bidding, sales or marketing.
• You can bring together and lead multiple stakeholders to produce high-quality work on time and within budget.
• You are highly organised and confident managing several competing deadlines.
• You have working knowledge of the Procurement Act 2023 and current public sector procurement procedures.
• You have excellent IT skills. Experience using bid design software such as InDesign would be an advantage.
• Experience using AI tools throughout the bid process would be beneficial, although support will be available to help you develop these skills.
• You are an innovative thinker who can turn complex information into clear, persuasive content.

• The Realise Recruitment team will be in touch, regardless of the outcome.
• Our interview process is tailored to each role and can be in-person or held remotely.
• You can expect a two-stage interview process for this position, which will comprise of two one-hour formal interviews, likely on Teams, where we will ask you a series of competency and behavioural questions, followed by a short presentation.
• As an inclusive employer please do let us know if you require any reasonable adjustments.

• Realise helps more than 18,000 learners every year to achieve their goals. We only specialise in the areas we have in-depth expertise in, that’s early years & education, health & social care, transport, business skills, and adult skills.
• Our mission has always been clear, to deliver great training programmes.
• We promote the wellbeing of all our learners and our employees and are fully committed to safeguarding, safer recruitment and fulfilling our Prevent Duty obligations.
• Please be aware that all successful applicants will undergo a DBS and online search check at the job offer stage. We request proof of qualifications and the Right to Work in the UK.
• Realise is committed to investing in the latest technology to support our learners and teams. As part of our quality assurance and training processes, we may occasionally record audio and visual content. By applying, you acknowledge and accept this as part of our working environment.
• Realise has been in business for over 35 years, from our humble roots in Sheffield to over 500 employees…