Supply Chain Business Development Manager in Ipswich

About The Company: OCS UK & Ireland is a leading facilities management company with 50,000+ colleagues and a turnover in excess of £2bn. We deliver innovative, award-winning services within facilities management, hard services, cleaning, security and catering. Our mission is to make people and places the best they can be for our colleagues, customers and the communities we serve. Our commitment to doing business the right way is rooted in our TRUE values - Trust, Respect, Unity, and Empowerment.

About The Role

Days of Working: Monday to Friday

Role Overview: Reporting to the Head of Procurement Transformation, the Supply Chain Business Development Manager will lead a small specialist function that standardises bid pricing operations, supplier engagement and mobilisation. This role is critical for reducing pricing risk, improving bid quality and avoiding margin leakage post-award. This role sits in a fast-paced environment and requires someone that can support new business opportunities by rapidly producing bid costs and supplying evidence of how suppliers are vetted, selected, performance managed and meet ESG and compliance criteria.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead bid kick-off meetings for the supply chain workstream with relevant stakeholders.
• Decide the sourcing route for each bid and establish a tiered system for obtaining pricing fast, utilising rate-cards, established PSL and tendering.
• Oversee bid pricing delivery, managing timelines, submissions, exclusions, risk and quality.
• Identify and deliver commercial value opportunities linked to bids and mobilisation, including cost reduction, cost avoidance, and rebate income improvement, working closely with the Category Management team to agree commercial levers.
• Drive adoption of PSL and frameworks within bid solutions, escalating exceptions and ensuring non PSL selections are commercially justified.
• Establish a central repository of supplier rate cards and a pre-vetted preferred supplier list with pre-agreed bid response times.
• Produce and make accessible accurate bid pricing files covering each service line across Hard Services, Soft Services and Indirect (where required).
• Establish minimum viable input for asset data and scope to ensure most accurate pricing can be obtained.
• Set SLA for the supply chain workstream, including escalation routes where inputs are incomplete.
• Work with Operations and Mobilisation teams to validate scope and asset inputs.
• Manage the pricing quality assurance checks prior to bid submission.
• Oversee supplier re-pricing or pricing confirmations following site surveys, updated asset information or scope changes.
• Drive supplier engagement for live opportunities and pipeline.
• Build reusable templates utilising Coupa S2C where appropriate.

Qualitative Bid Support:

• Maintain a centralised bid library of evidence-based, client ready bid responses with case studies and metrics.
• Support bid writers in bid responses covering supplier due diligence, selection, onboarding controls, supplier performance, health & safety, accreditations, adherence to ESG, social value, modern slavery and subcontractor management.
• Manage supplier clarifications and ensure commercial consistency throughout the bid process.
• Track win/loss feedback and feed improvements back to PSL.
• Track and report performance metrics for the bid support service including speed, quality, rework post-award changes stakeholder feedback and achieved cost savings.

People Management

• Lead and develop a small team creating clear roles, priorities and ways of working.
• Set team objectives aligned to bid SLAs and quality standards.
• Manage team performance and address capability gaps quickly and efficiently.
• Allocate resources across concurrent bids, escalating any capacity constraints early.
• Build a collaborative culture with Bid Director, Cost Team, Operations, Mobilisation, Finance and Category Management Teams, ensuring effective stakeholder management throughout the bid process.

General

• Avoid conflict of interests between personal interests and the interests of the UK & Ireland group.
• Exercise independent judgment, reasonable care, skill, and diligence when carrying out their duties.
• Act in good faith and promote the long-term success of each company within the UK & Ireland group for the benefit of all members and wider stakeholders.
• Adhere to and promote the UK & Ireland group’s policies on equality & diversity, information security, health and safety and data protection in the performance of their duties and the management of the departmental functions reporting into them.
• Support and promote the UK & Ireland group’s sustainability plans and policies, including the Carbon Management Plan, and carry out duties in a resource effective way, recognizing the shared responsibility of minimizing negative environmental impacts wherever possible.

Qualifications & Skills

Necessary:

• Proven experience managing and developing a small team in a deadline-driven environment.
• Bid pricing and mobilisation experience in an FM or similar environment with a track record of delivering bid costs under pressure.
• Strong commercial capability.
• Strong supplier management and stakeholder engagement.
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills.
• Operational discipline, including audit trails, version control and clear governance.
• Ability to challenge stakeholders constructively and secure risk acceptance where asset data or timelines are inadequate.
• Proficient in Microsoft Tools (PowerPoint, Word and Intermediate Level Excel).
• Comfortable working with data and dashboards.
• Ability to prioritise and manage multiple projects simultaneously.
• High level of integrity and dependability.
• Proactive, detail-oriented and solution focused.
• Critical thinking and problem-solving skills.

Desirable:

• Experience using Source to Contract Solutions such as Coupa.
• Experience working in FM industry.
• An understanding of how PPM schedules, asset registers and compliance records are typically organized.
• Familiarity with framework agreements, call-off terms and client flow-down terms.

Core Expectations

• Build trust and collaborative relationships with key stakeholders and suppliers and remove blockers quickly.
• Be commercially astute and outcome-focused balancing speed, delivery, accuracy, and risk.
• Operate calmly and decisively under pressure.
• Set clear direction and priorities for your team.
• Having gravitas and the ability to communicate with clarity and confidence.
• Highly structured and detail-oriented.
• Accountable and reliable, keeping stakeholders informed.
• A data-led decision-maker using metrics and lessons learned to improve bid performance.
• Show flexibility in working arrangements to ensure that a high level of service is delivered.
• Self-motivated and able to work effectively in a fast-paced environment.
• Have a positive and focused attitude when dealing with all colleagues.
• Support and embed the UK & Ireland group’s corporate values.
• Can-do attitude and promotion of supportive culture.
• Adapts quickly to changing priorities and shifting workloads.

How to Apply

If you are interested in joining a business that encourages professional development, career progression and the chance to work with inspirational people then please click apply and register your interest! You can also sign up to our job alerts when registering which will notify you when other suitable vacancies are available.

We are an equal opportunities employer and rely on a diverse workforce with a broad range of knowledge, skills, and backgrounds to deliver our goals. We offer an inclusive and welcoming environment and actively encourage applications from all individuals regardless of race, gender, nationality, religion, sexual orientation, disability, or age.