Bid Team Manager

Bid Team Manager at Compass Group UK & Ireland

Job Title: Bid Team Manager

Location: Mobile Working

Department: The Creative Lab

The Creative Lab is a high‑performing specialist team focused on the creation and production of high‑value bids, tenders and presentations across all sectors within Compass UK&I. It is made up of Proposal Managers, Writers, Designers, Project Managers and Content Developers. You will be responsible for bid outputs of over £500m per annum. Reporting into existing Bid Team Managers, you will lead your team in the management and production of work‑winning documents.

The key objective is to build, maintain and manage in‑house resource to maximise our ability to retain existing business and win new business. You will support and produce creative, strategic, solution‑based bid documents, ensuring a compliant, compelling bid that communicates the agreed win strategies and win themes.

• Lead and manage a team of Proposal Managers, Bid Writers and Bid Designers, inspiring collaboration and delivering exceptional bid submissions.
• Mentor and influence team members to drive continual improvement and high performance.
• Allocate Creative Lab resources efficiently to meet the Net Growth strategy.
• Provide ongoing training and development, advising on best practices.
• Establish close working relationships with sales teams, retention teams and CRM teams to understand future workflows and demand peaks.
• Manage the Creative Lab inbox, work allocation and workflow to ensure manageable workloads.
• Drive the internal process of booking jobs, resourcing, allocating work and maintaining a pipeline of bid activity.
• Champion content improvement and knowledge management, linking back to the content library.
• Plan resources for realistic medium‑term resource decisions in Sales Operations.
• Support the creation of proposals and presentations, including win strategy development, persuasive delivery structures and bid brand guidelines.
• Track bid progress through the Compliance Matrix and communicate updates to the team.
• Support Sales and Retention Lead in win strategy, solution design and tender clarification logs.
• Support kick‑off workshops ensuring win themes are captured and competitor analysis performed.
• Support bid writers in creating responses and the design process using Adobe Creative Suite.
• Brief Design Managers on conceptual development, art working and printing.
• Conduct post‑pitch debriefs with Bid Leaders to collate new content submitted.

• Recognised bid expert with proven knowledge and leadership.
• 5+ years using a bid management methodology such as Shipley, Tom Sant or Bid Perfect.
• Creative strategic thinker eager to develop and implement novel solutions.
• Excellent interpersonal skills to coach, challenge and influence senior stakeholders.
• Ability to understand a new marketplace or industry quickly.

• Bid management training (Shipley, Tom Sant or Bid Perfect).
• Bachelor’s degree or equivalent experience.
• 5 years+ experience working in deadline‑driven environments.
• Strong organisational skills to direct multiple projects and deadlines.

• Head of Bid Management
• Bid Team Managers
• Proposal Managers, Bid Writers and Bid Designers
• Sales Directors and Strategic Partners
• Growth Directors
• Net Growth Community

• Contributory pension scheme
• Career Pathways and My Learning programmes
• Digital GP and wider healthcare benefits
• Exclusive travel discounts with TUI, Expedia,  and many more
• Foodshop discounts with Tesco, Sainsbury's, Morrisons and many more
• Up to 44% off cinema tickets
• Cash rewards for spending across brands
• Free wellness, mindfulness and exercise classes
• Discount sharing to friends and family

Compass Group helps feed people, fuel progress and forge connections across 6,000 venues. Join us to grow your career with the industry leader, and experience competitive pay, great perks and unrivalled opportunities for learning and development at one of the UK’s biggest businesses.

Job Reference: com/1012/351800//SU #Central Functions