Group Leader Sales Engineering​/Bid Manager

Are you ready to lead winning proposals and inspire a team of sales engineering professionals? Do you thrive in a dynamic commercial environment where strategy, technology, and leadership come together? Are you looking for a role where you can directly influence business success while developing and leading a team of talented specialists? Then this opportunity at Vanderlande could be your next career move.

As Bid Manager & Group Leader Sales Engineering, you will play a pivotal role within our Distribution Sales organization. You will combine commercial leadership with people management, leading complex bid processes while guiding a team of sales engineering professionals towards continued success and growth.

Imagine starting your day by leading a bid strategy session for a major customer opportunity. Together with colleagues from Sales, Engineering, Service, Finance, and Legal, you align on a winning approach and define how Vanderlande can create maximum value for the customer.

Later in the day, you facilitate a customer workshop, confidently presenting concepts and guiding discussions around technical and commercial solutions. Meanwhile, your team of Sales Engineers is working on layouts, calculations, cost models, and technical proposals. You coach your team members, remove obstacles, and help them develop their skills to meet future challenges.

As deadlines approach, you ensure all proposal elements come together into a compelling and high-quality submission. Through structured planning, stakeholder management, and clear communication, you keep everyone aligned and focused on delivering the best possible solution.

When the bid is submitted successfully, you celebrate the achievement with the team while already preparing for the next opportunity. Through your leadership, commercial insight, and ability to connect people, you help Vanderlande continue to win business and deliver innovative solutions to customers worldwide.

As a Bid Manager you will be responsible for managing the complete bid lifecycle and ensuring the delivery of competitive, customer-focused proposals.

Your responsibilities include:

• Taking ownership of the full bid process, from opportunity handover through final proposal submission.
• Defining winning bid strategies and coordinating multidisciplinary teams.
• Leading customer-facing design and proposal meetings.
• Managing proposal planning, review cycles, risks, and key milestones.
• Ensuring proposals meet customer requirements and internal governance standards.
• Clearly articulating Vanderlande's value proposition and competitive advantages.
• Facilitating bid reviews and decision-making sessions.
• Driving continuous improvements in bid processes, templates, and content.
• Providing management with regular updates on progress, opportunities, and risks.

You will lead a team of Sales Engineers and Sales Layout Engineers who support the commercial organization with technical expertise and solution development.

Your responsibilities include:

• Leading, coaching, and developing a team of 5-10 Sales Engineering professionals.
• Setting team objectives and supporting performance and development discussions.
• Creating an environment focused on collaboration, innovation, and continuous improvement.
• Supporting team members in delivering high-quality technical solutions and proposals.
• Managing workload, priorities, and resource planning within the team.
• Identifying opportunities to improve processes, tools, and ways of working.
• Strengthening collaboration with Sales, Engineering, Service, and international colleagues.
• Contributing to the strategic development of the Sales Engineering function.

We are looking for an experienced professional who combines commercial awareness with strong leadership capabilities.

You bring:

• A Bachelor's or Master's degree in a technical field.
• 5-10 years of experience in bid management, proposal development, or sales engineering.
• Proven experience in leading teams and developing technical and commercial professionals.
• Strong project management and organizational skills.
• Experience managing complex timelines, stakeholders, and multiple priorities.
• Excellent communication and presentation skills.
• Strong stakeholder management capabilities and the ability to influence at different organizational levels.
• Affinity with, or knowledge of, industrial automation, logistics systems, or material handling solutions.
• Proficiency in Microsoft Office tools including Excel, PowerPoint, and Word.
• Fluency in Dutch and English, both written and spoken.
• Willingness to travel up to 25%.

• A natural leader who motivates and develops people.
• Customer-focused and commercially driven.
• Structured, organized, and able to perform under pressure.
• Analytical, proactive, and solution-oriented.
• A strong communicator who easily connects people and teams.
• Comfortable working in an international and fast-paced environment.

You will join…