Principal Bid Lead in Basingstoke

Annual salary: up to £85,000.00.

Location: Remote.

Contract Type: Permanent / Full Time.

Salary: Paying up to £85,000 depending on experience, plus £4,800 car allowance and great company benefits.

At Mears we’re proud to positively influence people, places, and communities through the delivery of high-quality housing and public services. We’re now seeking an experienced Principal Bid Lead to take full ownership of significant public sector bids, shaping strategies, driving high-performing teams, and securing sustainable, sector-leading outcomes.

This is a pivotal and visible role within our Group Development function, suited to a confident, commercially astute leader who thrives on pace, complexity and winning.

As Principal Bid Lead, you will be responsible for the full end-to-end bidding lifecycle, from pre-procurement strategy and early market engagement, through tender development and dialogue stages, all the way to contract signing and mobilisation handover.

Working with internal experts, senior leadership, external partners and clients, you’ll ensure our proposals are innovative, competitive, commercially aligned and reflective of customer need. You’ll set the tone, define the strategy, coordinate delivery and exercise the governance required to succeed on large-scale, multi-million-pound opportunities.

• Lead pre-tender planning, market intelligence, SWOT analysis and competitor insight to maximise win probability.
• Develop compelling bid strategies that balance client requirements, commercial drivers and operational capability.
• Be the voice of the customer throughout the bid process to ensure a sustainable and winning solution is submitted.
• Build strong internal coalitions, motivating virtual teams (commercial, operational, finance, mobilisation, legal, marketing and others) to deliver high-quality proposals to strict timelines.
• Own the quality submission and solution development, challenging thinking and driving innovation.
• Lead dialogue/negotiation sessions with clients to refine proposals and influence outcomes.
• Manage bid governance, internal sign-off and risk, working closely with legal and commercial specialists.
• Maintain proactive engagement with clients, third-party partners and sector stakeholders.
• Manage bid budgets, resourcing and return on investment.
• Oversee contract close-out and ensure a smooth handover to mobilisation.
• Analyse bid performance and lessons learned to continually raise standards.
• Contribute to broader sector strategy and Group Development priorities.

• A proven track record of winning complex >£10m per annum public sector contracts (ideally within central government or similar environments).
• Led bids from pre-procurement through to contract award and mobilisation.
• Confident, energetic and self-driven, with the ability to lead under pressure and to tight deadlines.
• Exceptional influencing and communication skills, capable of engaging and presenting at senior levels.
• Excels at problem-solving, challenging assumptions and shaping innovative solutions.
• Understands commercial drivers and can align pricing, quality and operational models.
• Possesses high levels of organisation, attention to detail and analytical capability.
• Excels in collaboration — inspiring teams, partners and stakeholders to deliver.

All our roles require candidates to have the entitlement to work within the UK, Mears does not currently offer visa sponsorship.

To drive a Mears vehicle, you must be aged over 21, have held your licence over 3 months and have less than 9 points.

Candidates should be aware that all our roles are subject to relevant Background, Identity & Security checks before commencement of employment.

If you need any help with your application process, we are here to support you. We will be accessible every step of the way.

At Mears Group, we are committed to fostering a diverse and inclusive environment where everyone can thrive, we are a Disability Confident employer, valuing individuality and ensuring equal opportunities for all.

We proudly support the Armed Forces Covenant and are honoured to have achieved the Gold Award in the Defence Employer Recognition Scheme (ERS) to coincide with this, we hold an Endorser Award for the Career Transition Partnership, recognising our commitment to veterans transitioning into civilian careers.

In our continued effort to promote social mobility, we invite applicants to voluntarily share their background information during the application stages to help us better understand the diverse experiences of our candidates. This is to ensure we are committed to improving social mobility. We use the Social Mobility Index to assess and enhance opportunities for individuals from diverse backgrounds. These questions are optional and will not impact your ability to apply.