Bid Manager
Bolton, Lancashire
MERITUS are recruiting for a Bid Manager specialising within the manufacturing industry to join our client within the defence industry. The company hiring, are one of the defining, world-leaders within defence and has frequently featured in the top 25 places to work over the last decade. BID MANAGER - INSIDE IR35 - £33 PER HOUR - BOLTON - 12 MONTHS - UNDERGO SC CLEARANCE - SINGLE STAGE INTERVIEW PROCESS We're currently supporting a prestigious defence engineering organisation in the search for a Bid Manager to join their forward-thinking and high-performing manufacturing team. This is a brilliant opportunity for a commercially savvy and detail-driven professional to shape cost proposals for complex, high-value engineering programmes. You'll play a key role in producing competitive, fully costed manufacturing proposals - ensuring alignment with business strategy, financial governance, and operational capability. What You'll Be Doing: Leading the development of manufacturing bids in collaboration with cross-functional teams. Generating detailed cost models in Excel for materials, direct/indirect labour, and other manufacturing-associated costs. Producing high-quality bid presentations and cost brochures in PowerPoint for review and approval by senior stakeholders. Interpreting bid directives and ensuring proposals align with manufacturing industrial policy and business goals. Analysing data to produce accurate, evidence-backed 3-point estimates. Reviewing risks, assumptions, and compliance to ensure commercially sound and competitive submissions. Collaborating with stakeholders across Engineering, Procurement, Finance, and Programmes to ensure bid readiness throughout the lifecycle. Championing continuous improvement by capturing lessons learned and feeding into the evolution of bid strategy and cost methodology. Supporting the identification of new business opportunities and contributing to win strategies. What We're Looking For: Strong experience in managing or coordinating bids within an engineering or production environment. Solid understanding of manufacturing processes - from procurement through to delivery. Proficient in developing cost models and working with commercial data. Clear communicator, confident presenting to senior stakeholders and cross-functional teams. Skilled in data analysis and logical reasoning, with an eye for detail. Comfortable working to tight deadlines and managing multiple bids simultaneously. Proactive, enthusiastic, and able to work independently or as part of a collaborative team. Knowledge of bid governance and evidence-based cost estimation is highly desirable. Experience with PowerPoint and Excel is essential; SAP knowledge would be a plus.