Head of Bids and Frameworks

We are looking for a Head of Bids and Frameworks to grow our central government sector. In this role, you will be responsible for ensuring that we gain and maintain listings on major frameworks, and that we have the skills and structure to win strategic bids. You will form part of the Public Sector Senior Leadership Team. You'll report to the Director of Public Sector and will have the opportunity to contribute to Public Sector strategy. Collectively, this team is responsible for a portfolio of £25m+, with an expectation of significant, well-managed growth in future. It is expected that you will be directly involved in the management and success of major (£5m+) bids, and will also provide governance and oversight to others within the organisation temporarily performing bid management roles. Additional bid roles may be required in future, and the business case, recruitment and management of those would form part of your role. Success in this role will be measured against the bid win rate, revenue supported and positive employee experience of the bid/presales pipelines.You will be responsible for Frameworks:

• Monitor and understand the structure and requirements of UK government procurement frameworks.
• Work towards securing positions on new frameworks and ensure legal and commercial compliance with existing ones
• Foster relationships with key stakeholders within public sector procurement to stay informed of changes and upcoming opportunities.
Pipeline:
• Work with account and delivery colleagues, and your own relationships to maintain awareness of upcoming tenders
• Develop knowledge of tenders, buyers and competitors to support triaging of bids
• Monitor internal bid resource availability to ensure that we prioritise strategic bids, and maintain a manageable level of workload in our sales and delivery teams
• Provide accurate reporting on pipeline status
Bids:
• Oversee the bid management process, arranging the right team with necessary resources and skills for each bid.
• Develop and maintain robust pricing models, ensuring all bids meet compliance standards and are competitively positioned.
• Coordinate with technical and financial teams to ensure bids are technically sound and financially viable.
• Implement best practices in bid writing and presentation to enhance the quality of submissions.
• Conduct post-bid reviews to gather insights and improve future strategies.
Process and improvement:
• Implement and enhance knowledge management processes to efficiently capture and utilise insights from successful bids and completed projects.
• Streamline operations to speed up the handling of standard bid components, reducing repetitive work.
• Develop training programs for those contributing to presales, ensuring updates on the latest bidding techniques and compliance requirements.
• Utilise technology for automation to enhance efficiency and accuracy in bid preparation.
• Establish a centralised database for all bid-related documents and templates to ensure consistency and accessibility.
  
  You are a strategic thinker with a deep understanding of the UK public sector procurement landscape, particularly in relation to government frameworks and large-scale bids. With a proven track record of winning substantial (£5m+) bids and securing positions on key frameworks, you possess both the expertise and team skills needed to drive success in a fast-paced, high-stakes environment.
• You have significant prior experience in professional services sales, where bids involve significant tailoring of the offer. Whilst you may also have led product sales bids, this has not been your recent/majority focus.
• You have a good understanding of best-practice approaches, tools and processes for bids, and the leadership skills to help drive their adoption.
• You are organised and have a strong eye for detail. You have experience in moving at pace, without sacrificing quality. Whilst able to work creatively, you will also ensure that we remain compliant to client's requirements
• You are collaborative and your default approach is to work as a team, openly sharing information, resources and comms. You are comfortable in a culture which values and rewards collective success over personal attribution and that takes a "One Team" approach to everything we do.
• You take a can-do approach and don't mind getting your hands dirty and leaning into issues and opportunities that you identify. You don't need a perfect environment to thrive and where there are problems, you take a positive approach to making them better.
  
  Softwire is one of the UK's leading digital technology consultancies, offering services in software engineering, design, innovation, cloud, mobile and data.
Softwire was founded on one simple idea: if we can create the best possible culture and working environment then everything else will fall into place. And it seems to be working - we were recently voted number 1 company to work for in the UK at the Best Company awards, and we are a successful and growing supplier to the UK public sector with a great track record creating high quality services that cater for everyone. We've worked across government, in Trade (UKEF), Healthcare (OHID), Climate Change (DESNZ), National Security, Elections, and Grants (DLUHC). We deliver full-lifecycle projects from Discovery, through Alpha, Beta, and long-term support. We have a mature and successful offering with strong relationships across several departments and successful £multi-million engagements delivering high quality outcomes for citizens and government. We plan to expand both our capabilities and our scale, and we are looking for someone to support this growth, and provide the structure to enable us to scale. We are currently on the Digital Outcomes and Specialists (DOS) framework, GCloud, TS3 (via a partner), and the DALAS framework (HMRC). We plan to expand to other frameworks in the future. We focus on creating a great culture and working environment and we are looking for people who share our core beliefs about what makes a great place to work:
• That if a job is worth doing, it's worth doing properly.
• That work should be both fulfilling and fun.
• That kindness matters and should be extended to employees and clients alike.
• That by being trusting and trustworthy as an organisation and as individuals we can dispense with tedious bureaucracy and rules.
When you work with Softwire, you're not only becoming part of a team with in-depth skills and delivery expertise - you'll be working in a high-trust environment alongside skilled, kind, fun people who are passionate about creating amazing services and experiences that solve real problems., Softwire operates transparent pay scales and a profit share scheme based on role and overall company performance.


• Highly competitive base salary based on experience in a similar role and ranges based on experience.
• You can expect to receive a substantial profit share based on company performance.
• Pension: Additional 5% of salary.
• 25 days annual leave (with the option to buy up-to 10 more days).
• Time off for company-wide morale events, time off for charitable activities.
• Free annual eye test, income protection, cycle to work, electric vehicle lease schemes, and payroll charity donations.
Flexibility We are a flexible employer who understands that being committed to a job is not the same as sacrificing everything for it: a holiday is a holiday; if you need flexibility for life stuff that's not a problem; and we don't expect (or want) long hours - we believe in a good work/life balance. See here
• The Role
• Responsibilities
• About you
• About Softwire
• The package