Bid Writer in Harwell

Main purpose of the job

To strengthen the capability of the Bid Team by combining high-quality bid writing with strategic input into win themes, solution design, and value proposition. This role will act as the bridge between sales, technical experts, and bid management, ensuring submissions are compelling, customer-focused, and strategically aligned.

Strategic input & solution shaping

• Work with sales leads, technical SMEs, and the Director of Bids to develop solution architectures that address customer challenges.
• Contribute to the definition of win themes, value propositions, and competitive differentiators.
• Ensure customer insight and strategic drivers are reflected in proposals.
• Draft clear, concise, and compelling responses that meet client requirements and showcase the ELS offer.
• Translate technical and delivery inputs from subject matter experts into persuasive, customer-focused narrative.
• Ensure consistency of tone, style, and messaging across all submissions.
• Embrace AI-assisted writing tools to generate first drafts, accelerate content creation and support consistency, while ensuring all outputs are human-reviewed, accurate, and tailored to the client’s need.
• Support the Director of Bids in driving bid strategy through storyboarding, content planning, and quality reviews.
• Work with the bid mechanics role to ensure compliance and timely submission.
• Liaise with internal teams and external partners to gather information and align contributions.
• Capture lessons learned and contribute to development of bid best practice, tools, and templates.
• Maintain and update the bid content library, ensuring materials are accurate and reflect current best practice.
• Share market intelligence and competitor insights to strengthen future bids.

Qualifications / experience

• Experience in bid writing or proposal development, ideally in training, consultancy, or professional services.
• Strong understanding of bid processes, procurement frameworks, and tendering.
• Demonstrable ability to shape win themes and customer-focused value propositions.
• Excellent written communication and editing skills, with examples available.
• Strong IT literacy, including MS Office and collaboration tools (MS Teams).
• Ability to obtain UK Security Clearance.
• Knowledge of solution design or solution architecture principles (particularly in L&D or consulting).
• Shipley training or equivalent in capture planning/proposal writing.
• Familiarity with scheduling/collaboration software (e.g., Monday).
• Experience in identifying and articulating risk and cost implications in public procurement (particularly within government contracts).

Skills and attributes

• Analytical thinker, able to turn technical detail into persuasive narrative.
• Excellent interpersonal skills: able to work with technical SMEs, sales, and leadership to co-create solutions.
• Resilient, adaptable, and comfortable working under pressure and to deadlines.
• Strong organisational skills, with the ability to prioritise and manage multiple bids.
• Creative, persuasive, and client-focused in approach.
• Team-oriented, energetic, and proactive.

Package

• Holidays: 22 days + 3 days paid shutdown at Christmas + public holidays.
• Pension: 5% employee / 3% employer.
• Other benefits: Healthcare Cash Plan, Reward Gateway Employee Discounts, Specsavers Vouchers, Cycle to Work Scheme.

Bid Team Structure – Explosive Learning Solutions

• Director of Bids (Strategic Lead / Gatekeeper): Owns bid strategy, governance, and win probability. Makes go/no-go decisions on opportunities. Oversees team performance and ensures alignment with company strategy. Final authority on risk, pricing strategy, and commercial positioning. Conducts early market engagement with clients and partners. Works with SMEs to shape customer insight and requirements. Provides intelligence on competitors and differentiators. Hands over qualified opportunities into the bid process.
• Bid Strategist & Writer (Solution Architect / Narrative Lead) (new role): Bridges sales, technical experts, and bid mechanics. Shapes win themes, value propositions, and solution design with SMEs. Can take over day-to-day qualification (does it fit, do we have the capability, is it worth pursuing?). Brings insights from sales, SMEs and technical staff to prepare a recommendation. Writes clear, compelling, and customer-focused content. Ensures narrative consistency across the submission. Supports storyboarding, content strategy, and quality reviews.
• Technical SMEs (Solution Architects / Content Contributors): Provide technical, delivery, and domain-specific expertise. Work with the Bid Strategist to frame solutions in customer-friendly terms. Input case studies, delivery models, and innovations. Validate feasibility and alignment with delivery capability.
• Bid Mechanics / Bid Coordinator (Process & Compliance): Manages bid timelines, compliance, and submission process. Tracks opportunities, manages portals, and ensures formatting/QA. Maintains bid library and templates. Coordinates contributions, ensuring deadlines and compliance are met. Coordinates the responses to clarification questions from the Contracting Authority. Coordinates the handover from bid to operations should a bid be won.
• Other Directors: If the Bid Director is away, the other 2 Directors can make the go/no-go call, based on the recommendation from the Bid Strategist and writer. Avoiding bottlenecks and ensuring governance is still robust.

This structure:

• Keeps the Director of Bids at the top for decision-making.
• Gives the Sales Lead responsibility for early positioning, though this might be done by a technical specialist depending on the client.
• Uses the Bid Strategist & Writer to bridge technical + sales into a winning story.
• Keeps SMEs as solution architects, feeding into strategy (not writing alone).
• Has the Bid Mechanics role ensure compliance, deadlines, and smooth delivery.

Cadence of work (bidding rhythm)

• Right now, we are looking for opportunities daily— which is good for awareness, but not efficient for decision-making. Best practice is a structured cadence:
• Daily: Bid Mechanics / Bid Support scan portals and frameworks. Collect opportunities into a tracker.
• Weekly (Bid Pipeline Review – 30 mins max): Bid Strategist & Writer + Sales Lead shortlist the opportunities worth considering. Present the shortlist with key info (customer, value, fit, risks, deadline). Recommendation prepared for Directors.
• Weekly Director Go/No-Go Meeting (same session or just after): Directors review recommendations. Formal go/no-go decisions made, with rationale recorded.
• Monthly: Bid team reviews pipeline, win/loss data, and resource planning. Continuous improvement (are we chasing the right things?).

Benefits of this model

• No dependency on a single Director.
• Transparency: everyone sees the same pipeline.
• Efficiency: opportunities are batched and reviewed in one session, rather than ad hoc interruptions.
• The Bid Strategist & Writer role becomes the “engine” that keeps things moving between sales and decision-makers.

What we Offer:

• Leave: 22 days annual leave + all UK public holidays.
• Pension: 5% employee / 3% employer contribution.
• Healthcare: Healthcare Cash Plan to support everyday medical expenses.
• Employee Perks: Access to Reward Gateway (retail & lifestyle discount platform).
• Vision Support: Specsavers eye care voucher.
• Cycle to Work Scheme.
• Development: Potential for long-term growth within the company.