Bid Manager (Institutional)

Didcot, England, United Kingdom

8/22/2024

Astroscale is seeking to employ a motivated Bid Manager at our UK office based in the Harwell Space Cluster. This is an exciting and unique opportunity to join a dynamic company seeking to make a positive contribution to the growing problem of orbital debris that endangers humanity’s continued use of space.

The successful candidate will report to the Head of Business Development and Product Strategy within the BD team, will develop bids and secure funding for Astroscale UK, and will support in a number of BD-related areas including proposal production and capture management for institutional bids.

Astroscale's work environment is fast-paced and dynamic, with plenty of opportunities to learn and contribute. This role would suit someone with past experience in bids or sales, ideally in the spacecraft sector or in complex engineering services or products, who wishes to grow responsibility in the space BD area.

Responsibilities

Bid capture management

• Take responsibility for managing and coordinating entire bids, or parts of bids as required, through the bid process from call opening all the way to bid submission (leading or supporting negotiation as needed).
• Control overall production of the bid volumes to ensure delivery on schedule.
• Draw on other relevant teams in Astroscale (as needed for larger bids), including: projects, engineering, procurement & contractual, finance, business analysis teams.
• Ensure bid execution according to bid PA/QA philosophy; conduct bid/no bid reviews and later stage bid reviews (e.g. gold / red team) as appropriate, conduct win-theme analysis.
• Control bid finances, working with finance team and with external partners on multi-partner / consortium-style to assign / control finances.
• Coordinating partner inputs (scope, finances), with procurement team as needed, for multi-partner / consortium-style bids.
• Support account management efforts with UKSA (UK Space Agency) or ESA (European Space Agency) as directed.
• Support working on developing a relationship with ESTEC and ESOC entities, specifically around IOS (In-orbit Servicing) activities.
  
  

BD team support

• Keep track of bid opportunities including sources such as ESA, EU, UKSA and make propositions as to what future projects fit which opportunities.
• Maintain a database of future projects suitable for different bid types and opportunities, and work with the business team to support prioritisation of projects and R&D, feeding into service and capability strategy.
• Support to policy-style engagements that BD team is involved in.
• Support business analysis team to evolve customer and competitor analyses.
• Support BD team with development of inputs to ESA ministerial and working with other teams, programme financial estimation.
• Support BD team in development of member state pitch forms, working with business analysis team as needed.
  
  

Essential Skills

• Minimum 2 – 4 years’ experience working in bid management in the space industry, with a preference for those with experience of the full lifecycle of UKSA or ESA bids e.g. ARTES, GSTP, ITTs, UKSA SST programme, or sales experience of products or services.
• Excellent understanding of UKSA ecosystem, UKSA member states or other member state discussions and negotiations.
• Significant experience working with UKSA or ESA on space programmes.
• An excellent “sales / marketing style” in bid production which can be used to convey the selling points of the business, and to construct competitive but deliverable bids and commercial proposals.
• Strong commercial awareness.
• Self-motivated, proactive, and willing to take initiative.
• Excellent interpersonal, organizational, and written/verbal communication skills including to both technical and non-technical audiences.
• Strong understanding of the space industry and ecosystem.
• Experience of ESA bid financials including PSS generation.
• Passionate about space with knowledge of the space environment and space debris.
  
  

Desirable skills

• Postgraduate degree (in engineering where possible).
• Experience of bidding into the following technical domains: in-orbit servicing, active debris removal, space situational awareness. Space segment bid capacity desirable, ground segment bid capacity also useful but not essential.
• Experience of working on bids of various different sizes, from 1 to 2 pager propositions for expressions of interest, to small R&D bids, to larger mission / service proposals of hundreds of pages.
• Experience of delivering / compiling key volumes for bids: technical, commercial, financial, implementation, management, contractual, risk.
• Understanding of project management of space programmes, or some past experience in this area.
• Experience of working in a satellite business development or satellite sales environment.
  
  

Benefits

• Competitive base salary
• Opportunity to work with a highly talented, diverse & dynamic international team with cutting edge technology
• Flexible working around core hours in a friendly and supportive environment
• Hybrid working available (dependent on individual role requirements)
• Optional 9/75 working pattern
• 25 days holiday (increasing yearly up to a maximum of 28 days) + 8 days Bank Holiday
• Life insurance and long-term sick pay
• Private healthcare (taxable benefit)
• Relocation allowance
• Visa sponsorship for employees considered
• New state of the art office and cleanroom facility
• Regular social events 
  
  

Location

Astroscale UK (Harwell) with potential for international conferences and Astroscale subsidiary visits.

About Astroscale

We aim to deliver cutting edge technologies that will become part of routine commercial space operations by 2030.

Astroscale is the first private company with a vision to secure the safe and sustainable development of space for the benefit of future generations, and the only company dedicated to in-orbit servicing across all orbits. Founded in 2013, we are developing innovative and scalable solutions across the spectrum of in-orbit servicing missions, including End of Life services, Active Debris Removal, In-situ Space Situational Awareness and Life Extension Services, to create sustainable space systems and mitigate against the hazardous build-up of debris in space.

Astroscale is an Equal Opportunities employer and embraces a diverse workforce. All qualified applicants, including minorities, women and individuals with disabilities are encouraged to apply.