Are you a dynamic and proactive professional with a passion for leading strategic bids and driving business growth? At Buro Happold, we are seeking a Bid Associate to join our vibrant UK Bid Team.
In this pivotal role, you will manage high-stakes bids, implement best practices across the bid lifecycle, and create compelling marketing materials. If you thrive in a fast-paced environment, excel at coordinating complex projects, and have a knack for crafting winning proposals, we want to hear from you!
The UK Bid Team are located across our UK offices. Working closely with the other UK BD team members and reporting into the Director of UK Bid Management, this role will involve:
- Managing strategic bids led by our key Work Winning community who are based in our UK offices
- Managing, coaching, and mentoring a small team of bid co-ordinators, ensuring they have the right skillset to successfully co-ordinate bids
- Understanding the wider impacts of bidding on the business’s overall performance, supporting the management of the pipeline and mitigating risks
This role will form part of a wider BD team based across the Bath, London, Leeds, Manchester and Edinburgh offices, therefore willingness and ability to travel to these offices occasionally is required.
Here at Buro Happold, expect the exceptional.
From the projects you will work on to the clients we work with. From career-defining opportunities to an inclusive and diverse practice where we all contribute to a more equitable world. From our reputation to our relationships. Wherever your Buro Happold career takes you, it’ll be anything but ordinary.
Your next role
Join us and be surrounded by exceptional opportunities in an environment alive with innovation and possibility. Your new team has a willingness and curiosity to see possibility and potential in everything – from the most iconic projects to our everyday conversations.
This is an extraordinary opportunity to contribute to our fantastic Business Support team.
Buro Happold has a clear strategic plan, strong learning culture and entrepreneurial mindset that will allow you to thrive.
You’ll be part of something bigger than us all where sustainability, equity, social and performance outcomes matter. Buro Happold is committed to doing the right thing, even when that’s the hardest thing. This is a genuine opportunity to make impact - and leave real legacy.
Key duties
Team Development
- Providing coaching and mentoring support to your direct reports and the junior members of the wider bid team where necessary
- Recognising the skillset of the team and utilising that to the advantage of the business, applying the relevant resource to the appropriate bids based on requirements
- Participating in training and company update sessions to ensure you continue to develop as a line manager and provide your team with the best support
Bid Coordination
- Prioritising your time on strategic bid pursuits where possible, recognising the impact to the bid spend of having more senior resources working on lower value bids
- Ensuring all bids follow the Bid-No-Bid process before agreeing to support, providing input and research to support the decision. You will chair the Bid-No-Bid Board meeting alongside the Bid Manager, and Director of UK Bid Management
- Ensuring the full bid process is adhered to from end-to-end including informed Bid-No-Bid discussions, structured Bid Kick-Off meetings, timely Bid Reviews pre-submission, and Lessons Learnt feedback gathering post-submission
- Supporting on the development of bid strategy and identification of win themes
- Liaising with the Commercial and Legal Team (CLT) on a regular basis to ensure they are informed of all of our bidding activity, and stay informed of potential contractual / legislative or risk aspects
- Creating additional bespoke content for the submission, by interviewing the necessary technical team members to capture the right story
- Ensuring that all submissions are well written, compliant with what the client has asked for, and are in line with agreed themes and the Buro Happold brand and our corporate message. Challenge any content that falls short of meeting the expected standard and score.
- Collating, sharing and disseminating best practice and lessons learned from bid feedback.
- Monitoring bid feedback, analysing our win / loss results and identify potential areas for improvement
Your Skills And Experience
- Previous experience in Bid-oriented roles at Senior or Managerial level
- Strong copywriting and copy-editing skills
- Previous experience of coordinating and managing tight deadlines
- Prior office experience
- Line management and or mentoring / coaching experience
- Excellent computer and IT skills including; Outlook, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, SharePoint, Microsoft Teams and experience of using spreadsheets and databases
- Previous experience within an architectural practice, construction or engineering industries would be an advantage.
- Knowledge of, or skillset with Adobe Creative Suite (InDesign specifically) would be advantageous
- Certification in APMP (Association for Proposal Management Professionals) – either Foundation or Micro minimum
What We Offer You
Bring your knowledge and expertise to one of the world’s most respected consultancies.
- Hybrid working arrangements.
- Attractive salary and benefits package including life assurance and income protection.
- Holiday entitlement of 25 days per annum (exclusive of bank holidays) and flexible holiday arrangements.
- Generous company pension scheme.
- Flexible benefits including cycle scheme, dental insurance, optical cover, travel insurance, season ticket loans, and corporate discounts.
- Enhanced parenthood leave policies.
- 3pm finish on the last Friday of the month.
- A strong commitment to your continuous development. Whatever stage in your career, we have a learning and development programme that will enable and empower you.
- Entitlement to two memberships to professional bodies or subscriptions
- A commitment to your wellbeing through a comprehensive employee assistance programme and wellbeing activities A supportive and inclusive environment that will welcome you through social and outreach activities from the Young Employees Forum to mentoring.
- An international culture that wherever your career takes you at Buro Happold, you won’t be far from the exceptional.
Apply now and be where exceptional is everywhere.
A place for everyone
Buro Happold values individual's flexible approaches to working patterns as an important part of the way you work and achieve balance. We welcome applications from those who are seeking flexibility in their careers.
Our exceptional portfolio of projects is the result of the diversity of thought, identities, backgrounds and experiences that shape us. Appreciating each other’s differences is key, we want employees to feel they don’t have to mask elements of their identity to thrive.
We are working to change the lack of representation of marginalised groups in the built environment and are particularly keen to hear from anyone who feels they are underrepresented in the industry. We have much to learn from one another. Embracing difference allows us to develop the most innovative and elegant solutions.
Please let us know if there are any adjustments we could make to the application process to make it easier and more comfortable for you. Contact [email protected] so we can work with you to support you throughout your application.
