Head of Strategic Proposals

Are you a seasoned leader with a passion for strategic bidding and a commitment to excellence? Join our dynamic team as the Head of Strategic Bid Services, where you'll have a unique opportunity to lead our bid Service, drive our national framework bidding success, and influence the growth of our business. This pivotal role will see you bring strategic foresight, creative leadership, and industry expertise to maintain our 100% win rate on national frameworks as well as contribute to our national hybrid bid model. The successful candidate will ideally have strong bid knowledge gained within the construction sector.

At Willmott Dixon we support our people to work in a hybrid way from both an office and home and in this role you are expected to work 2 days per week from our London office based near St Paul's cathedral and travel to other locations on a national basis as needed.

Key Responsibilities:

Strategic Leadership in Bidding

• Drive Success in National Framework Bidding: Lead our National Bid Service to uphold a 100% win rate, identifying future framework pipelines aligned with our values and growth strategy.
• Strategic Bid Decisions: Present and secure consensus for "Bid/No Bid" decisions with our Growth Board, ensuring alignment with our long-term market positioning.
• Ensure Market Access: Build access to critical frameworks for both short- and long-term sectors, enabling direct awards and strategic mini-competitions that prevent market exclusion.
• Pre-Bid Influence: Set winning strategies and oversight campaigns six to twelve months ahead, laying the groundwork for high-impact bids.
• Live Bid Leadership: Oversee up to 4 major national and strategic frameworks per year, ensuring adherence to bidding best practices and providing strategic direction across all phases.
• Build the Winning Team: Bring together and manage top contributors to create a high-performance bid team tailored to each opportunity.
• Evolve the Service: Continuously adapt our bidding service to align with market demands, ensuring our approaches and processes remain industry-leading.

• Quarterly Leadership Forum: Lead the Bid Leadership Forum to foster collaboration, share insights, and spark innovative solutions with our Regional Heads of Proposals.
• Knowledge Service Support: Work closely with our Knowledge Service team to enhance content quality on our award-winning platform.

Indicators of Success:

• Team Engagement: Cultivate a thriving, motivated team of bid professionals.
• Framework Success: Maintain a 100% win rate in National Frameworks.
• Innovation & Collaboration: Drive successful implementation of Bid Leadership Forum initiatives, fostering a strong, collaborative work-winning community.

Essential and Desirable Criteria

Essential skills you will bring:

• Experience in a similar strategic bid leadership role within the construction industry or related sector

• Proficiency in resource/time management platforms, strong organisational and analytical abilities. with APMP certification and InDesign knowledge as a plus.
• A strategic mindset with humility, creativity, resilience, and an inspiring leadership style that motivates and engages your team.

Desirable skills you will bring:

• Bachelor's degree in a relevant field is preferred.
• APMP certification and In Design knowledge

This role is an exciting opportunity to make a meaningful impact on Willmott Dixon's national growth strategy so apply today to lead our National Bid Services to new heights.

Additional Information

At Willmott Dixon we provide an inclusive and flexible working environment for people to thrive in and we are happy to support agile working wherever possible.

We are a proud member of the Disability Confident Scheme.

With over 170 years of rich history, Willmott Dixon's purpose is beyond profit; delivering brilliant buildings, transforming lives, strengthening communities and enhancing the environment so our world is fit for future generations. Ensuring that we add lasting value to the neighbourhoods we work in; our values, people, innovation, partnerships and focus on sustainability has allowed us to build a successful and solid privately owned business where our people can thrive.

Construction is changing and we are at the forefront of that change. Pioneering new ways to build, innovating the way construction is viewed and establishing ourselves as one of the top employers in any industry. It truly is an amazing company in one of the most exciting industries with a vast array of professional career paths. Adding to that our numerous people awards, we understand everyone has a unique potential and ability to make a difference and succeed; if you want your skills developed and talent recognised, why not join our business!

Willmott Dixon was awarded No 1 in the Best "Big" Companies (2022) to work for and already holds the Times Top 50 Employers for Women 2022. We are the first major contractor and developer to win a King's Award for Enterprise in the category of sustainable development.