Senior Bid Manager

Senior Bid Manager

Hybrid - London, Solihull or Hook  

Full Time, Permanent

Competitive salary plus benefits 

Are you a driven bid professional looking to make an impact in the public sector? Serco is seeking a highly experienced Senior Bid Manager to lead and manage complex, high-value bids within our central Bid Management team. This role is pivotal in securing new business with Public Sector bodies, requiring strategic oversight of diverse bids across multiple sectors. You will navigate complex supply chains, high-risk service models, and transactional opportunities, ensuring compelling, competitive submissions. As a senior member of the bid management team, you will also drive continuous improvement in bid processes, tools, and policies while directly managing a team of 3-5 Bid Managers.

Sitting in our centralised Bid Management function, you will be part of a team where self-development and continuous improvement is at the heart of what we do.  You'll be working within a team of highly experienced bid managers, and have access to lots of tools, courses, and support to help you on your continued professional journey.

If you're looking to advance your career in bid management while contributing to work that makes a real difference, we'd love to hear from you.

Key Responsibilities:

• Line management of 3-5 Bid Managers, including coaching, mentoring, and developing Bid Managers/ Associate Bid Managers, fostering a high-performance culture.
• Lead complex, high-value bids, ensuring full compliance with customer requirements and internal governance.
• Develop and execute robust bid plans, managing critical path activities, dependencies, and issue resolution.
• Collaborate with Sales, Commercial, and Solution Leads to align bid strategies with business objectives.
• Oversee bid-related interactions, including dialogue sessions, clarification responses, and portal management.
• Manage bid team meetings, action tracking, workload distribution, and governance scheduling.
• Ensure compelling, compliant submissions, leading the review process (pink, red, gold reviews) and supporting Bid Writers.
• Drive completion of the RADO (Risks, Assumptions, Dependencies, and Opportunities) for each bid.
• Ensure bids align with Serco Management System requirements and best practices.
• Facilitate smooth transition post-bid award, embedding a clear understanding of the contract within operational teams.
• Conduct post-bid reviews, implementing insights to enhance future bid success.
• Enhance bid processes, tools, and training, driving best practices across the Bid Management team.

What You'll need:

• Proven experience in large value, high complex bidding environments, either as a Senior Bid Manager or in another key role within a bid team, demonstrating the ability to deliver successful outcomes for customers, the company, and employees.
• Strong leadership and management skills, with the ability to oversee and coordinate multi-disciplinary teams working towards a common goal.
• Commercial and financial acumen, enabling effective communication and challenge around risk, reward, pricing, and financial metrics.
• A high-performance mindset with a goal-oriented approach and creative problem-solving capabilities.
• Ability to operate autonomously in a fast-paced, changing environment, demonstrating resilience under pressure and tight deadlines.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, including active listening and the ability to clearly articulate customer requirements across all management levels.
• Proficiency in Microsoft Excel, PowerPoint, Project, and Word at an intermediate/advanced level. Knowledge of generative AI, Power BI, and CRM systems is desirable.
• Experience with structured methodologies such as APMP, Prince2, Shipley, or Miller Heiman is advantageous but not essential.

Why Serco?
At Serco, you're joining a global community committed to delivering essential services that make a real difference. With projects across sectors like Defence, Justice, Healthcare, and Transport, we offer impactful work that directly benefits public and private sectors. We're dedicated to your growth, providing career development through training, mentorship, and certifications in a supportive, collaborative environment. As a hybrid role, this position also offers the flexibility you need for work-life balance, while providing hands-on experience at various sites across the UK. Serco fosters an inclusive culture where diverse perspectives thrive, and every team member feels valued. Known for quality and excellence, we continuously strive to improve, and our projects allow you to contribute meaningfully to the communities we serve. Join Serco to build a rewarding career with a team that values your contributions and makes a difference together.

What we offer:

• Company car / £4200 cash equivalent allowance.
• Bonus - up to 20%.
• Private medical insurance - individual.
• 25 days annual leave plus bank holidays.
• Annual leave purchase scheme.
• Up to 6% contributory pension scheme
• Flexible working options.
• A Serco benefits portal offering a wide range of discounts for major high street brands in Retail, Leisure & Hospitality.
• A range of benefits to support the health and wellbeing of you and your family such as Employee Assistance Programme, Health Cash Plans, free flu jabs and more.
• A wealth of career development training to suit your future aspirations. These range from role specific training, leadership coaching, formal study and much more to support you to build your career with Serco.
• A safe and supportive culture.
• A company passionate about diversity and inclusion.

About Serco
At Serco, not only is the nature of the work we do important, everyone has an important role to play, from caring for vulnerable people to managing complex public services.  We are a team of 50,000 people responsible for delivering essential public services around the world in areas including defence, transport, justice, immigration, healthcare and citizen services. We are innovators, committed to redesigning and improving public services for the benefit of everyone.

By joining Serco you will have unlimited access to our Global Employee Networks - SercoInspire (Gender), SercoEmbrace (Multicultural), SercoUnlimited (Disability) and In@Serco (LGBT & Networks). Serco Employee Networks, led by colleagues who are passionate about diversity, inclusion and belonging. 

Apply
Please click on the apply button to complete your application. Occasionally we receive a large volume of applications for our roles and when that happens we sometimes bring the closing date forward, so please apply promptly to avoid disappointment. 

At Serco, we see people first and foremost for their performance and potential. We are committed to building a diverse and inclusive organisation that supports the needs of all. As such we will make reasonable adjustments at interview through to employment for our candidates and strongly encourage applications from a diverse candidate pool. We are open to discussions around flexibility and flexible working. We operate a hybrid work structure in many of our business areas. We are proudly Disability Confident Leader employers and holder of the Gold Inclusive Employer Standard. Disabled applicants who meet the minimum criteria for the job will be given the opportunity to demonstrate their abilities at an interview.  For help with your application please contact 0345 010 4000.
 

At Serco we support fair access to employment for those with unspent criminal convictions through the 'Ban the Box' pledge (some may be exempt due to the nature of the role and the security clearance required). Please contact our recruitment team directly on 0345 010 4000 to discuss.