Bid Manager/ Senior Bid Manager

In fast changing markets, customers worldwide rely on Thales. Thales is a business where brilliant people from all over the world come together to share ideas and inspire each other. In aerospace, transportation, defence, security and space, our architects design innovative solutions that make our tomorrow's possible.

Together we offer fantastic opportunities for committed employees to learn and develop their career with us. At Thales UK, we research, develop, and supply technology and services that impact the lives of millions of people each day to make life better, and keep us safer. We innovate across five major industries; Aerospace, Defence, Ground Transportation, Security and Space. Your health and well-being matters to us and that’s why we offer you the flexibility to do what’s important to you; whether that’s part time hours, job sharing, home working, or the ability to flex your start and finish times. Where possible, we support a working pattern that suits your lifestyle and helps you reach your ambitions.

Are you an inquisitive individual that likes to identify and deliver winning strategies? Do you want to work on mission-critical bids and projects with cutting-edge technology? Do you want to be part of a highly respected team that will support your learning and development? We currently have exciting opportunities for Bid Managers at all levels of experience in multiple locations across the UK.

What the roles have to offer:

• The opportunity to put your skills to use on complex engineering projects that make a real impact to our customers and their users across the globe

• The opportunity for development and progression at all levels of the organisation and the support to succeed wherever you want to take your career in the future

About the team

Day to day you will collaborate with multi-disciplinary teams and manage key internal and external stakeholders including Senior Management, Customers and Sub-contractors, but you will also be part of a much larger Bid and Project Management community which will support your professional development with coaching/mentoring, targeted training and professional certification as appropriate.

Our Opportunity

You will be the overall person in charge for all aspects of delivering a bid, or set of bids, and will be responsible for achieving project objectives to the satisfaction of both the customer and Thales.

Our projects are often highly complex, typically including large components of engineering design, in-house manufacture and the management of complex supply chains, so we are looking for talented individuals with a professional background in Bid Management in similar environments.

Our Bid Managers ensure that projects are “winnable” and “deliverable”, starting from the creation of the bid and resource plan, the coordination bid delivery with multi-disciplinary teams and ensuring alignment across all bid artefacts, up to the creation of a robust initial project baseline following the contract award.

About You

You have successfully delivered complex bids in industry contexts relevant to Thales. You will have experienced the full bid lifecycle with a proactive focus on risk and opportunities.

You quickly build strong relationships with key stakeholders. You stay calm and rational under pressure and you take accountability, on behalf of the team and the wider organisation, for meeting deadlines.

You bring structure to complex situations, have a keen eye for detail and the ability evaluate, interpret and act on complex information.

You are a strong communicator and you are able to lead and motivate teams throughout the delivery of a bid.

You may already have, or be working towards a relevant professional Bid Management or Project Management qualification appropriate to grade.

The successful candidate will need full Security Clearance (SC) -For more information and guidance please visit the UKSV website*

What We Can Offer

We’re committed to giving you opportunities to be your best. We believe in embracing the passion and potential of our people, and to achieve this we offer market-leading training, development and experiences, along with the opportunity to be mentored and coached by some of the smartest minds in the industry. We hire from within as our first priority, so you’ll have a myriad of opportunities within our diverse, global organisation.

Company Story

The future is full of challenges; each new change and technology will create situations no one has had to deal with before or even anticipated and it will happen at an even faster pace than today.

Our 3 priorities throughout the pandemic remain constant:

To continue to protect all our employees’ health and financial wellbeing.

To safeguard the business and continue to deliver for our customers as best we can.

And, to ensure that Thales is best placed to recover quickly.

Flexibility

Your health and well-being matters to us and that’s why we offer you the flexibility to do what’s important to you; whether that’s part time hours, job sharing, home working, or the ability to flex your start and finish times. Where possible, we support a working pattern that suits your lifestyle and helps you reach your ambitions.

Thales is an equal opportunities employer and diversity and inclusion are integral to the success of Thales

In line with Thales' Baseline Security requirements, candidates will be asked to provide evidence of identity, eligibility to work in the UK and employment and/or education history for up to three years. Some vacancies may require full Security Clearance which can require further evidence to be provided. For further details of the evidence required to apply for Baseline and Security Clearance please refer to the Defence Business Services National Security Vetting (DBS NSV) Agency.

At Thales we provide CAREERS and not only jobs. With Thales employing 80,000 employees in 68 countries our mobility policy enables thousands of employees each year to develop their careers at home and abroad, in their existing areas of expertise or by branching out into new fields. Together we believe that embracing flexibility is a smarter way of working.

Thales UK is committed to providing an inclusive and barrier-free recruitment process. We will provide reasonable adjustments and support to ensure neuro-diverse applicants or those with a disability or long-term condition can be their best during the recruitment process. To request an adjustment, if you need this job advert in an alternative format or if you have any questions about the recruitment process, please contact Resourcing Ops for mid to senior roles, or the Early Careers Team for graduate and apprentice roles.