Bid Manager

Company

The Fedcap Group is a mission-led international not-for-profit organisation focused on improving economic mobility and quality of life by unlocking opportunities for individuals and communities. Operating across multiple countries and jurisdictions, the Group delivers a diverse portfolio spanning education, health, employability and economic development. We combine global scale and shared capability with strong regional and local leadership, embedding social value, innovation and measurable impact in how we work, partner and deliver.

The Role

Reporting to the Director of Opportunity Management, the Bid Manager leads and coordinates assigned pursuits from qualification through submission, award and mobilisation readiness. The role acts as the day-to-day project manager for strategic opportunities, ensuring workstreams are engaged at the appropriate stage, governance requirements are met, risks are managed and delivery remains on track.

The Bid Manager owns pursuit planning, orchestration, governance and submission readiness. Proposal writing, solution architecture, proposition development and capture content remain with the Bid & Proposal Centre of Excellence.

Key Accountabilities

1. Bid Project Management

Lead assigned pursuits through qualification, planning, submission and mobilisation readiness. Maintain an integrated plan and provide disciplined day-to-day control of scope, milestones, dependencies and deliverables.

- Develop and maintain the pursuit plan, bid schedule, critical path and review timetable.
- Coordinate PQQ, SQ, tender, dialogue and BAFO activity where applicable.
- Assign and track workstream deliverables, owners and deadlines.
- Maintain a current view of pursuit status and provide concise progress reporting.
- Escalate delivery barriers, capacity issues and material slippage

2. Opportunity Qualification & Readiness

Coordinate the evidence and analysis required to determine whether an assigned opportunity is ready to progress. Ensure qualification recommendations are complete, balanced and supported by clear actions and conditions.

- Coordinate qualification assessments and supporting evidence.
- Gather inputs on strategic fit, customer position, delivery capability, financial feasibility and risk.
- Prepare Go/No-Go and stage-gate materials for review.
- Track conditions and actions arising from qualification decisions.
- Trigger review where material opportunity assumptions change.

3. Cross-Functional Workstream Management

Mobilise and coordinate the operational and enabling workstreams required to develop a complete and deliverable response. Ensure dependencies are understood and inputs are delivered in line with the pursuit plan.

- Coordinate Operations on service design and delivery readiness.
- Engage HR on workforce planning and organisational assumptions.
- Coordinate Technology, Estates, Quality and Governance workstreams.
- Support Finance, Commercial and Legal review activity.
- Resolve routine interdependencies and escalate unresolved ownership or capacity gaps.

4. Governance & Stage-Gate Management

Manage the governance activity for assigned pursuits and ensure opportunities do not progress without the required evidence, reviews and approvals.

- Schedule qualification, stage-gate, readiness and executive reviews.
- Coordinate review packs, risks, recommendations and decision requests.
- Maintain decisions, conditions, actions, owners and deadlines.
- Monitor closure of governance actions and approval conditions.
- Maintain an auditable record of key reviews and decisions.

5. Submission Management & Compliance

Coordinate the operational delivery of compliant submissions while maintaining clear separation from the Bid & Proposal Centre of Excellence, which owns proposition and proposal content.

- Maintain the submission plan, compliance matrix and requirements schedule.
- Coordinate contributor inputs, mandatory evidence, declarations and attachments.
- Manage document status, approvals and final readiness activities.
- Confirm functional assurance reviews and authorisations are complete.
- Coordinate authorised submission and retain the final audit trail.

6. Risk, Issue & Dependency Management

Maintain active control of risks, issues, assumptions and dependencies affecting the pursuit. Drive timely mitigation and escalation to protect delivery and submission deadlines.

- Maintain risk, issue, assumption and dependency logs.
- Assess impact, ownership and mitigation actions.
- Track critical dependencies and external deadlines.
- Escalate matters requiring Director or executive intervention.
- Ensure material risks are reflected in governance and readiness reviews.

7. Stakeholder & Pursuit Team Coordination

Create an organised and accountable pursuit team with clear communication and delivery expectations. Maintain effective relationships across contributors, leaders and specialist functions.

- Establish the meeting cadence, team structure and communication arrangements.
- Clarify workstream responsibilities, deliverables and deadlines.
- Provide regular status and exception updates.
- Facilitate resolution of competing priorities and delivery conflicts.

8. Mobilisation & Implementation Readiness

Lead the mobilisation and implementation of awarded opportunities, translating the project plan developed during the bid into a controlled, executable delivery plan. Ensure implementation is completed on time, within agreed parameters and in line with all contractual commitments, funder deadlines, milestones, gateways and readiness requirements.

- Own and lead the end-to-end mobilisation and implementation plan from contract award through to operational go-live and stabilisation.
- Translate the bid-stage solution, commitments and project plan into a detailed implementation schedule with clear workstreams, owners, dependencies, resources, critical paths and acceptance criteria.
- Drive cross-functional delivery against agreed funder deadlines, contractual milestones, governance gateways and readiness reviews, taking corrective action where progress is off track.
- Establish implementation governance, reporting cadence and controls, maintaining clear visibility of progress, decisions, risks, issues, assumptions and dependencies.
- Prepare and manage 30, 60 and 90-day mobilisation plans, detailed cutover and go-live activity, and any funder assurance or evidence requirements.
- Escalate material slippage, capacity constraints and delivery risks promptly, with clear recovery actions and recommendations.
- Secure formal readiness and handover into business-as-usual delivery, confirming that outstanding actions, responsibilities, documentation and benefits measures have been accepted by the operational owner.

9. Continuous Improvement

Capture learning from assigned pursuits and contribute to stronger, more consistent Opportunity Management practice.

- Coordinate post-pursuit lessons-learned activity.
- Maintain and improve practical templates, checklists and playbooks.
- Share effective practices across the Opportunity Management team.
- Identify recurring process, governance or delivery issues.
- Support implementation of agreed improvement actions.

Person Specification

Experience and Qualifications - Essential

- Experience managing bids, opportunities, programmes or complex projects.
- Demonstrable experience coordinating multi-workstream delivery against fixed deadlines.
- Strong project-planning, risk, issue and dependency-management capability.
- Experience preparing governance, qualification or decision materials.
- Strong stakeholder-management and communication skills.
- Excellent organisation, attention to detail and ability to manage competing priorities.
- Experience operating in a complex matrix environment.

Desirable

- Experience in public-sector procurement, commissioned services or regulated markets.
- Knowledge of PQQ, SQ, tender, dialogue or BAFO processes.
- Experience of mobilisation or implementation planning.
- Relevant project, programme, commercial or bid-management qualification.
- Experience using CRM, project-management or bid-management systems.

Key Performance Indicators

- Pursuit delivery against agreed plans, milestones and submission deadlines.
- Compliance with qualification, stage-gate and approval requirements.
- Quality and timeliness of cross-functional workstream inputs.
- Visibility and resolution of risks, issues and dependencies.
- Submission compliance, completeness and readiness.
- Successful handover of awarded opportunities into mobilisation.
- Stakeholder confidence in pursuit leadership and coordination.
- Implementation of lessons learned and delivery improvements.