Bids & Proposals Team Leader

Hill Dickinson LLP is a leading and award-winning international commercial law firm with offices in Birmingham, Hong Kong, Leeds, Limassol, Liverpool, London, Manchester, Monaco, Newcastle, Piraeus and Singapore. With more than 1000 people including 200 partners and legal directors, the firm delivers advice and strategic guidance spanning the full legal spectrum, from non-contentious advisory and transactional work, to all forms of commercial litigation.Hill Dickinson acts as a trusted adviser to a wide portfolio of clients across a wide range of specialist sectors: from transport and logistics and international trade, through to retail, insurance, marine, health, education, manufacturing, public sector and banking and financial services.Job role: Bids & Proposals Team LeaderHours: Monday to Friday, 09:00 - 17:00 (35 hours per week)Happy to talk flexible workingHill Dickinson are proud to be named as a Top Ten Employer for Working Families 2024 and so, we are happy to consider flexible working opportunities to help you balance your work and home life.Team: Client Development (Business Development & Marketing)Location: Liverpool / ManchesterBenefits: At Hill Dickinson we understand that incentives go far beyond a good salary, so we have created a comprehensive benefits package tailored around our people.Here are some examples of what is included with this role:27 days annual leaveAnnual bonus schemeBirthday privilege day and Christmas shutdownHoliday buy, sell and carryover scheme2 charity volunteering or pro bono daysOptional private medical insurance via BUPAAnnual fitness allowanceAnnual travel allowanceFlexible pension schemeISA saving scheme and independent financial adviceElectric or hybrid vehicle lease scheme Medicash EAP with access to counsellingEnhanced family leave policiesAccess to 10 days fully subsidised emergency or back-up care per yearLife assuranceGroup income protection Annual travel season ticket loanHybrid working and dress for your day policyBespoke training and development opportunitiesFinancial contribution towards home working equipmentRole OverviewIntroduction to the role:This is a newly created role at Hill Dickinson and will provide an experienced senior bid manager the opportunity to develop further their skills in leading a bid function within a c£170m turnover law firm.Reporting to the Head of Client Development, you will be leading a team of talented Bid Managers, the bid pipeline and ensuring that we have an accurate and easy to access bids and proposal content library. You will also lead as project manager and content writer on specific opportunities alongside our lawyers to deliver winning public and private sector tender responses.Introduction To The TeamOur bid team is responsible for securing new business through new and existing client wins. We collaborate with teams across the firm’s three divisions - health, business services and marine - to produce high-quality responses to opportunities of all sizes - this includes a range of activity including, large scale formal panel reviews, ad hoc RFPs, ITTs, ITQs and the development of bespoke capability statements.Operating in a fast-paced environment, we also collaborate with stakeholders from each of the firm’s global offices on a day-to-day basis.Key ResponsibilitiesSupport and help develop our talented and experienced people in the bid team (comprising up to three bid managers and an executive).Manage the bid pipeline to ensure that opportunities are planned for, assessed using our bid/no bid criteria and resourced appropriately, bringing in retained bid consultants if required.Champion the Hill Dickinson bids process and ensure it is applied in practice.Develop and maintain a library of content for tenders including capturing all relevant information to be utilised in future bids and proposals.Stakeholder management of lawyers to champion best practice and continually support adherence to industry-aligned processes.Coaching and mentoring stakeholders within the firm across all stages of the bid process to ensure best in class results are achieved. This includes both written responses and presentation stage activity.Project managing tender opportunities, including major panel frameworks and call-off opportunities.Generating written responses which consider government policy and topical issues in the firm’s chosen sectors.Identifying winning themes that convey an understanding of requirements and differentiate our offering to those of our competitors - including key values, innovation, and sustainability.Conducting scoping, clarification and debrief meetings with clients to capture insight and learning for the future.Researching and establishing procurement cycles and engaging with procurement professionals within client organisations to contribute to the bid opportunity pipeline.Reporting monthly on key metrics to the Executive and LLP Boards.Collaborating with the wider BD&M team, including our creative, CRM, client development and business partnering colleagues and Central Services division, including risk and compliance, finance and HR.What Are We Looking ForImportant criteria: Law firm or accountancy background.Team and pipeline management experience.Prior experience of public sector, ideally NHS frameworks. Bid project management and bid writing.Proven understanding of proposal best practice.Proven ability of writing concise responses based on highly technical information for public sector clients.Strong stakeholder management skills and experience of collaborating with individuals at all levels.An appetite to continually build knowledge of the service offering and wider sector.Strong organisational and planning skills.Exceptional project management skills.Excellent and engaging communication skills.Strong IT skills across the Microsoft Office suite.Ability to thrive under pressure and meet deadlines, working with a proactive approach under own initiative. Flexibility in approach and a willingness to work outside normal office hours.Willingness to travel (predominantly to Liverpool, Manchester and Leeds) with the purpose of developing and maintaining relationships with the team and other key stakeholders. We encourage hybrid working with 50% in a fortnight to be spent in the office. It would be beneficial for you to have the following: APMP (Association for Proposal Management Professional) Foundation Certification If you don't meet all of the criteria above but feel that you could add real value to Hill Dickinson, we encourage you to apply and if successful, we can help you develop along the way. Equality, Diversity and InclusionHill Dickinson is committed to providing fairness and equal opportunity for all regardless of age, gender, gender identity, ethnic origin, disability, sexual orientation, marital or transgender status, nationality, religion or belief.We understand that our power as a firm comes from empowering our people and that it is only by encouraging and enabling individuals to be themselves at work that we can truly benefit from their rich and varied strengths.Hill Dickinson is an equal opportunities employer. All applications received by the firm will be considered based on their merit alone and we welcome applications from all suitably qualified individuals regardless of background and from all routes to qualification, with both the SRA and CILEx.Disability SupportWe are a Disability Confident employer, which means if there is anything that we can do to make your visit easier, so you are able to perform at your best, please let us know. You can contact the HR team at hrteam@hilldickinson.com should you require any adjustments to the application or interview process.At Hill Dickinson, we welcome applications from individuals that are looking to return to the law as well as all routes to qualification, with both the SRA and CILEx.All successful candidates will be subject to our standard pre-employment screening, including a basic criminal record check via Disclosure and Barring Service. Any offer of employment made is conditional upon completion of all checks. Due to the high response levels we receive for some vacancies, we may expire any of them prior to the advertised closing date and advise you to submit your application as soon as possible.