Bid Manager in UK

IRIS Software Group is a leading global provider of mission critical software and services and one of UK’s largest privately held software companies.

We help organisations to make better business decisions by developing integrated software solutions to minimise admin, make business processes more efficient and give more time to do what’s valued.

We started 45 years ago with accountancy software and have evolved to be trusted by more than 100,000 customers in 135 countries around the world.

We invest heavily in development using the latest processes and technologies, driven by our Indian and Romanian Product Development Centres to build the next generation of cloud-based accountancy, HR and education solutions.

Our global and domestic payroll and HR solutions are used nearly five million employees.

Almost one million UK employees are managed by our HR solutions, and one in eight UK employees are paid through IRIS payroll solutions.

We are the largest third-party online tax filer with UK Government, and we are used by 54 of the top 100 US and 91 of the top 100 UK accountancy firms.

We also serve over 13,000 schools and academies, and almost five million UK families use our apps to connect to their child’s school.

In the last year, we have been awarded Technology Company of the Year in the UK Tech Awards; Employer of the Year in the Thames Valley Tech Awards; and the Americas Prime Award from the K2 Enterprise Awards.

IRIS Education has been named Company of the Year at the UK National MAT Awards 2023, and crowned Company of the Year (more than 12m) in the Bett Awards 2023.

Purpose of the Job:

The role of Bid Manager is a pivotal position within IRIS, where you will play a crucial part in our Bid Team.

Your responsibilities will span the entire bid lifecycle, covering both new opportunities and existing bids.

This role is integral to IRIS, as it entails close collaboration with various departments to oversee every facet of the bid process.

This includes client communication through formal channels, as well as the management of tender responses and their subsequent stages.

As a Bid Manager, you will be an integral part of a tight-knit team, collectively championing best practices and ensuring the highest quality in our formal bid responses.

Prior experience within a bid team is required.

Your role will encompass comprehensive support for all aspects of the overarching bid process, taking the lead in managing bids and frameworks from inception to completion and relationship management of internal and external stakeholders.

Responsibilities:

As Bid Manager in this team, your responsibilities will be as follows:

Identifying, monitoring, and communicating potential bid opportunities to the team.

Coordinating proposal kick-off and review meetings, including action item identification, tracking, and ensuring team members meet deadlines and requirements.

Facilitating the proposal production process by collaborating with contributors from various departments.

Creation of high-quality written answers to tender questions

Review of content written by others and improving - compliant into compelling

Maintaining and updating the bid content library with new, refreshed, or expanded content from recent bids.

Creative approach to writing and presentation of bid

Clear understanding and interpretation of questions within tender documents and able to achieve maximum scores

Deliver meaningful win/learn reviews, documenting feedback to appropriate business areas

Customising templates and documents to align with customer criteria.

Generating bid responses using pre-existing content from the bid library.

Collaborating with stakeholders, including sales, pre-sales, legal, product, and professional services, to gather bid input within specified timeframes.

100% of bids delivered on time, where a bid/no bid decision has been made.

Competencies:

• Strong written and verbal communication skills
• Exceptional organisational and project management abilities
• Sharp attention to detail and analytical thinking
• Team-oriented with a track record of meeting challenging deadlines

Ability to manage people to work towards deadlines

• Flexible, adept at multitasking, and skilled in prioritisation under pressure
• Self-motivated, ensuring the delivery of quality service both internally and externally
• Adaptable, capable of working independently or collaboratively within a team
• Highly organised and attentive to detail
• Effective problem-solving skills and clear, concise communication

Proven team player with the ability to work under strict deadlines.

Self-motivated to deliver a quality service both internally and externally