Senior Bid Manager at Altron Bytes Systems Integration

Job Description

The Senior Bid Manager will assemble a bid team with the relevant service/product/business knowledge required to prepare a winning bid, whilst taking ownership of the end-to-end bid process. The Senior Bid Manager is typically responsible for managing an opportunity from qualification through to bid submission. Together with the bid team, the Senior Bid Manager will facilitate and contribute towards value proposition/strategy development, solution development, commercial considerations, partner identification, and risk management.

The role requires the ability to work under pressure and to challenging deadlines.

Proven capability in delivering winning, multi-million-rand product and/or complex services opportunities. Ideally has a background in solutions and services and experience of bid campaign management from opportunity assessment through to proposal delivery, and will provide valuable input into opportunity qualification, win strategies, commercial discussions, and solution design.

Must be comfortable working at CEO/Director Level (internal and external customers). Will be conversant with the competitive marketplace. Sound commercial understanding, P&L, and risk management skills. Have the ability to manage complex, multi-workstream opportunities. Solid understanding and implementation of internal governance procedures.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES:

• Introduction and implementation of all necessary bid procedures, governance, and processes
• Assisting to develop a successful strategy for winning a bid, including pinpointing the unique selling points (key differentiators) of the organization and understanding the clients' specific requirements
• Managing bids, including management of the bid process, coordination of the bid team, and proposals with regards to technical, pricing, solution, and commercial content, and ensuring the completeness and correctness of response according to client requirements
• Managing all aspects of proposal preparation, ensuring quality, compelling bids are submitted in a timely manner. Reviewing all client requirements to ensure that they are met in the proposal and collaborating with a wide variety of involved parties to include all necessary information within the proposals
• Arranging and facilitating bid qualification through the understanding of tendering rules, project feasibility; and risk identification and mitigation from a pricing, legal, and technical perspective
• Efficiently and effectively managing the deployment of bid resources when they are needed
• Managing the performance of administrators by means of goal setting, performance monitoring, mentorship, and leadership
• Deciding on timeliness and responsibilities and effectively managing the bid process/activities and associated bid resources according to set deadlines
• Coordinating and facilitating bid strategy and storyboarding sessions to ensure that the right strategy is in place to present the best opportunity to win the bid
• Facilitating price strategy

CORE RESPONSIBILITIES:

• Assist in the management of bid pre-qualifications prior to the BNB
• In collaboration with the deal owner, identify: resources required to respond to the tender; areas of concern into contractual issues; risks to the company; partner/supplier issues; value add to the existing requirements; win themes; compliance to the delegation of authority as applicable; ensure that the response is in compliance with bid process and all applicable Altron TMT policies and procedures
• Assist in compiling a presentation addressing all the relevant information required to make a decision at the BNB and SAR
• Schedule and attend the BNB and SAR, inviting all relevant reviewers as per the Delegation of Authority and ASI MD requirements
• Schedule and chair a bid kick-off meeting to assign and agree responsibilities and timelines into bid management
• Manage the proposal schedule in such a way that the response is delivered on time to the client
• Electronically file all approvals, conditions, etc. and save all bid documents and bid emails on the bid office designated back-up/replication site
• Provide weekly proposals submitted status reports to Bid Office Manager
• Responsible to ensure a quality response document in terms of grammar and meeting client requirements
• Build a proposal schedule identifying all actions (Annotated Outline) that need to take place up to the proposal closure stage
• Ensure that the financial team and deal owner address all financial issues - acting as a link between the deal owner and financial team
• Manage the bid process in accordance with the ISO procedures
• Ensure that legal and deal owner address all legal issues - acting as a link between the deal owner and legal
• Responsible for identifying requirements so that the bid team can deliver on the RFx requirements
• Manage the resources, including virtual resources, to deliver a response that will address the client requirements
• Manage the response team in such a way that it enhances team spirit and team collaboration (to get the best out of every team member)
• To ensure that all the allocated and contracted development activities (Individual Development Plan) between manager and employee are successfully completed within the Altron policy and procedure framework

COMMUNICATIONS & WORKING RELATIONSHIPS:

Internal:

• Sales
• Presales
• Pricing
• Executive Management
• Legal
• Human Resources
• Marketing
• Risk and Compliance

Reasons for Interaction:

• Key stakeholder engagement during the bid process
• Escalation
• Risk mitigation
• Approvals and authorizations
• Relationship building

External:

• Customer
• Subcontractors
• Partners
• Vendors

Reasons for Interaction:

• Key stakeholder engagement during the bid process
• Escalation
• Risk mitigation
• Approvals and authorizations
• Relationship building
• Bid Correspondence

QUALIFICATIONS, EXPERIENCE, & SKILLS:

Educational Qualifications:

• Matric essential
• A Bachelor's Degree in Business Management, Marketing, Sales Management or similar would be advantageous
• Mastery in Microsoft Word (tables, formatting, fonts, graphics, etc.)
• Advanced in Microsoft PowerPoint (tables, formatting, fonts, graphics, etc.)

Professional Qualifications:

• Preferably APMP Foundation or Practitioner
• Preferably Degree level qualification or equivalent work experience

Years of Experience:

• Minimum of 10 years' experience in the bid office environment, managing large value, complex, multi-workstream proposals across the Public, Private, Commercial, and Financial Sectors

Other requirements:

• Excellent written and verbal communication skills
• Creative and innovative thinking
• Problem-solving skills
• An interest in the sector in which your employer operates, coupled with a willingness to keep up to date with industry trends, regulations, and legislation
• Commercial thinking

Behavioral Competencies:

• Team Working skills
• Attention to detail
• Relationship-building and influencing skills