Proposal Specialist in Milton Keynes

About Us

Since 1989, SHI International Corp. has helped organizations change the world through technology. We’ve grown every year since, and today we’re proud to be a $16 billion global provider of IT solutions and services. Over 17,000 organizations worldwide rely on SHI’s concierge approach to help them solve what’s next. But the heartbeat of SHI is our employees – all 7,000 of them.

• Our commitment to diversity, as the largest minority- and woman-owned enterprise in the U.S.
• Continuous professional growth and leadership opportunities.
• Health, wellness, and financial benefits to offer peace of mind to you and your family.
• World-class facilities and the technology you need to thrive - in our offices or yours.

Job Summary

SHI Corporation UK Limited (SHI UK) has an opportunity for a Proposal Specialist based in the UK, reporting to the European Head of Bid Management and working from our Milton Keynes headquarters. This role will support, manage and coordinate bid and proposal activity across the UK and European markets, with occasional involvement in Asia-Pacific opportunities, helping sales teams pursue high-quality, compliant and compelling customer submissions. Aligned with recognised bid and proposal management industry best practice, this role is suitable for a developing Proposal Specialist with a few years’ experience in bid, proposal or tender management. The role will support and manage the end-to-end bid lifecycle for UK and European opportunities, with support for Asia-Pacific bid activity. It will involve working closely with sales, solution, commercial and subject matter experts to produce compliant, customer-focused and well-structured responses. Experience within an IT reseller, technology services or managed services environment is sought. This experience will help you build your understanding of customer requirements, vendor and partner engagement, commercial models, solution terminology and the pace of technology tenders. You will bring strong organisation, writing and stakeholder coordination skills, with the opportunity to develop your skills in win strategy, bid qualification, proposal quality, commercial awareness and APMP best practice.

Role Description

• Support and manage the bid lifecycle for UK and European opportunities, with occasional support for Asia-Pacific bid activity, from qualification and planning through to submission, clarification responses, presentation support and lessons learned.
• Coordinate bid planning activity including timelines, responsibilities, response structure, requirements checklists, review checkpoints and submission requirements.
• Work with sales, solutions, contracts, finance, operations, service delivery and subject matter experts to gather inputs, track actions and maintain momentum throughout the bid process.
• Contribute to opportunity qualification and bid/no-bid discussions by helping assess customer requirements, strategic fit, risk, resource needs, profitability and SHI’s ability to deliver.
• Help develop customer focused win themes and response messaging that clearly explain SHI’s IT reseller, technology solutions, partner ecosystem and service delivery strengths.
• Review, edit and improve proposal content to ensure responses are compliant, accurate, consistent, well-structured and written in a clear, professional style suitable for UK, European and international customers.
• Use company information resources, including the existing proposal content platform, to access standard responses, case studies and evidence for bids, while identifying and giving feedback to improve content quality, consistency and relevance across future submissions.

This list is not exhaustive and you may be asked to take on additional responsibilities as reasonably requested by your manager.

Behaviours and Competencies

• Strong project management and organisation skills, with the ability to manage competing priorities and fixed deadlines.
• Strong stakeholder management skills, including the confidence to engage with sales teams and subject matter experts.
• Strong writing, editing and proofreading capability, with evidence of producing accurate, compliant, well-structured and customer focused proposal content.
• Good commercial awareness, with the ability to understand risk, pricing, profitability and contract requirements.
• Ability to coordinate virtual bid teams across different functions, countries and time zones.
• Calm, resilient and solutions focused approach when working under pressure.
• Strong attention to detail and commitment to compliance and quality.
• Continuous improvement mindset, with the ability to identify process efficiencies, improve content reuse and raise proposal standards.
• Confident using Microsoft Office, Microsoft Teams and SharePoint to manage bid activity; experience using proposal content libraries or bid management tools is advantageous.

Skill Level Requirements

• Minimum two years’ experience in bid management, proposal management or bid coordination, ideally within an IT reseller, technology services or managed services environment.
• Experience supporting or managing bids involving several stakeholders, requirements and approval stages.
• Understanding UK and European procurement processes, tender requirements and evaluation criteria.
• APMP Foundation certification, or willingness to work towards APMP certification, is desirable.
• Private sector bid experience is preferred, with public sector tender experience also an advantage.
• Excellent written and verbal English, with additional European language capability beneficial for European opportunities.

Other Requirements

• Some experience of regional or international bid activity across more than one country or region.
• Knowledge of IT reseller, technology solutions, managed services, cloud, workplace, lifecycle or infrastructure propositions.
• Experience supporting bid qualification discussions.
• Experience helping contributors follow bid process and proposal quality best practice.

Salary

The estimated annual pay range for this position is £45,000 - £55,000. The compensation for this position is dependent on job-related knowledge, skills, experience, and market location and, therefore, will vary from individual to individual.

Equal Employment Opportunity

SHI UK is an equal opportunity employer and does not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, gender, sexual orientation, national origin, age, disability, or any other legally protected status. We encourage applications from all qualified candidates and we are dedicated to providing a fair and accessible recruitment process. #LI-MB3 Equal Employment Opportunity - M/F/Disability/Protected Veteran Status