Bid Manager

Bid Project Manager

About Us

London Fire Solutions (LFS) is a leading passive fire protection and fire door manufacturing contractor, trusted by major housing providers and public-sector clients. Since 2011, we have grown into a nationally recognised business operating across London, the South Coast and the Midlands.

From our 21,000 sq ft manufacturing facility in Gillingham, we produce fully certified fire doors and deliver large-scale installation, maintenance and compliance projects.

With a strong order book, sustained growth and ambitious expansion plans through 2030, this is an opportunity to join LFS at an important stage in its development and play a central role in how we pursue, manage and secure new contracts.

The Role

We are looking for an experienced Bid Manager / Bid Project Manager to take ownership of the internal management and delivery of LFS tenders.

This is not primarily a traditional bid-writing position.

LFS uses AI-enabled bid-writing tools and established bid content to support the development of tender responses. We therefore need someone whose greatest strength is managing the bid as a business-critical project — coordinating people, information, deadlines, reviews and approvals across the organisation.

You will take ownership of each tender from qualification through to final submission, establishing a clear project plan, allocating responsibilities, setting internal deadlines and ensuring every contributor delivers what is required.

You will work closely with Commercial, Operations, Engineering, Technical, Compliance, Finance, HR, Business Development and senior management. You must be comfortable challenging colleagues when information is late, incomplete or insufficient and escalating issues where necessary to protect the submission deadline.

The successful candidate will be highly organised, commercially aware, confident and persistent. You will know how to create momentum around a tender and ensure that everyone understands what they are responsible for delivering and by when.

You do not need to be the most accomplished copywriter in the business. You do need to be the person who makes sure the entire business delivers its best possible bid.

Key Responsibilities

Bid Project Management

Take overall ownership of each tender from initial opportunity assessment through to submission and post-tender review.

Create a structured bid project plan for every significant opportunity.

Break tender requirements into individual workstreams, actions, owners and deadlines.

Establish internal deadlines sufficiently ahead of the buyer’s submission deadline to allow proper review and approval.

Maintain a live bid action tracker showing responsibilities, outstanding information, dependencies, risks and completion status.

Chair bid kick-off meetings and regular progress meetings for major submissions.

Maintain clear visibility of progress and immediately identify activities that could place the submission at risk.

Escalate missed deadlines, inadequate responses and unresolved issues appropriately.

Coordinate formal review stages before submission, including commercial, technical, compliance and senior management approvals.

Ensure final submissions are complete, compliant and submitted ahead of the procurement deadline wherever practicable.

Internal Stakeholder Management

A major part of this role is ensuring that the wider LFS business contributes effectively to tenders.

You will:

Build strong working relationships across Commercial, Engineering, Operations, Technical, Compliance, Finance, HR and Business Development.

Clearly communicate what information is required from each stakeholder and why it matters.

Agree realistic but firm contribution deadlines.

Follow up proactively rather than waiting for information to arrive.

Challenge incomplete, generic or insufficient contributions.

Hold contributors accountable for agreed actions and deadlines.

Escalate issues constructively where actions remain outstanding.

Translate complex tender requirements into clear actions for internal teams.

Ensure technical specialists can concentrate on providing subject-matter expertise rather than having to understand the entire procurement process.

Create an internal culture where tenders are treated as important company projects rather than administrative exercises owned solely by the Bid Manager.

Tender Coordination and Compliance

Review tender documentation and identify all mandatory requirements, evaluation questions, submission instructions, deadlines and dependencies.

Develop tender compliance matrices and submission checklists.

Manage clarification questions and coordinate responses internally.

Coordinate commercial, technical and quality submissions.

Manage tender portals, PQQs, SQs, framework submissions and associated documentation.

Ensure certificates, policies, case studies, financial information and supporting evidence are current and available.

Maintain version control across bid documentation.

Complete final compliance checks before submission.

Maintain accurate records of submitted tenders and supporting information.

AI-Enabled Bid Development

LFS uses AI and digital tools as part of its bid-development process.

The Bid Manager will be expected to:

Use LFS’s AI bid-writing solutions to support first drafts, response structures, compliance checking and content development.

Provide AI systems with accurate source information and appropriate instructions.

Coordinate subject-matter expert input before and after AI-generated drafting.

Critically review AI-generated content rather than accepting outputs without validation.

Ensure every material statement in a submission is accurate, evidenced and approved.

Identify information or evidence gaps that prevent stronger tender responses.

Maintain human accountability for the quality and accuracy of the final submission.

Continuously improve the way AI and automation are used within the bidding process.

The objective is not to replace internal expertise with AI. It is to use technology to reduce the administrative burden of drafting so that the Bid Manager can concentrate on project management, evidence, stakeholder engagement and submission quality.

Bid Quality

Although this is not primarily a writing role, the Bid Manager remains accountable for the overall quality of the submission.

You will:

Ensure responses answer the question being asked and address the evaluation criteria.

Coordinate the development of appropriate win themes and differentiators.

Make sure operational and technical claims are supported by evidence.

Challenge generic statements and unsupported claims.

Ensure terminology and messaging remain consistent across the submission.

Use AI tools, existing content and specialist contributors to produce clear, professional responses.

Coordinate internal review and improvement before final submission.

Pipeline and Business Development Support

Work closely with the Business Development Manager to maintain visibility of upcoming tenders and frameworks.

Support bid/no-bid assessments.

Identify upcoming resource requirements.

Maintain visibility of submission deadlines and internal workload.

Provide management with regular updates on live bids, upcoming opportunities, risks and required decisions.

Capture tender outcomes and evaluator feedback.

Coordinate lessons-learned reviews following major submissions.

Ensure learning from previous bids is incorporated into future submissions.

Bid Evidence and Knowledge Management

Maintain an organised central library of tender evidence.

Coordinate updates to case studies, policies, certifications, accreditations and standard corporate information.

Identify recurring evidence gaps and allocate actions to the appropriate business owner.

Maintain approved reusable content for common tender requirements.

Ensure outdated information is removed or updated.

Capture strong evidence from completed LFS projects for future bids.

Person Specification

Essential

We are particularly interested in how you work with people, not simply how well you write.

You will need:

Strong project management and organisational skills.

Experience managing complex activities involving multiple internal contributors.

The confidence to hold colleagues and senior stakeholders accountable for agreed actions.

Excellent interpersonal skills and the ability to build productive relationships across different functions.

The ability to be persistent and assertive without damaging working relationships.

Confidence challenging incomplete or inadequate information.

Strong deadline management and follow-through.

The ability to identify risks early and escalate them appropriately.

A structured and methodical approach to managing projects.

Experience managing bids, tenders, proposals or another deadline-driven commercial process.

Good understanding of formal tender and procurement processes.

Strong attention to detail and compliance.

Commercial awareness.

The ability to understand technical information and coordinate subject-matter experts, without necessarily being the technical expert yourself.

The ability to communicate clearly and professionally in writing.

Confidence using technology and AI-enabled tools.

The ability to manage several live priorities simultaneously.

A proactive attitude and strong sense of personal ownership.

The resilience to operate effectively when deadlines are tight and priorities change.

The Type of Person We Are Looking For

The right person is likely to be someone who naturally asks:

What needs to happen?

Who owns it?

When will it be delivered?

What could prevent us meeting the deadline?

Has it been completed?

You will be comfortable walking into a meeting with senior colleagues and making outstanding actions clear.

If a Commercial Manager has committed to providing pricing on Tuesday, you will follow up on Tuesday.

If Engineering has provided information that does not properly answer the tender requirement, you will challenge it.

If a critical approval is slipping, you will escalate it.

You will not simply accept that information has not arrived and attempt to compensate by rewriting the submission yourself.

Your job is to make the bid process work across the whole business.

Desirable

Experience within construction, passive fire protection, fire safety, compliance or another technical contracting environment.

Experience managing public-sector bids and regulated procurement processes.

Familiarity with frameworks, SQs/PQQs and tender portals.

Experience using AutoGen AI or similar AI solutions within proposal or bid development.

Experience using project-management systems, task-management tools or workflow platforms.

Experience using CRM systems such as HubSpot.

Experience introducing or improving structured bid governance processes.

Understanding of social value requirements, including National TOMs.

Experience working within a growing organisation where priorities can change quickly.

What Success Looks Like

Success in this role will not simply be measured by how many tender responses you personally write.

We will expect to see:

Bids operating to clear project plans.

Actions having named owners and deadlines.

Internal contributors providing information when required.

Risks being identified and resolved early.

Fewer last-minute submission crises.

Proper commercial, technical and management review before submission.

Stronger and better-evidenced tender responses.

Reliable submission ahead of buyer deadlines wherever possible.

Improved tender knowledge and evidence retained after every submission.

Better use of AI and technology throughout the bid process.

Greater accountability across LFS for winning work.

Ultimately, the Bid Manager should become the central project lead for every major tender, bringing together the right people, evidence, technology and decisions required to give LFS the strongest possible chance of winning.

Why Join LFS?

Join a fast-growing, forward-thinking business with a clear long-term strategy.

Work from our modern head office and manufacturing facility in Gillingham.

Take ownership of a strategically important business process.

Help shape and professionalise LFS’s approach to bid management.

Work with modern AI-enabled bid-development tools.

Play a central role in securing major contracts and supporting the continued growth of the business.

Benefit from a competitive salary, strong benefits package and opportunities for career development.

Job Type: Full-time, Permanent

Pay: £50,000–£65,000 per year, depending on experience

Benefits

Company pension

Cycle to work scheme

Employee discount

Health & wellbeing programme

Life insurance

Work Location: In-person / Hybrid