Head of Proposals

Main Purpose of the role
The Head of Proposals is a strategic leadership role with the overall responsibility for the planning, overseeing and coordinating the commercial bidding processes that involve multiple stakeholders within the EMEA business.

The role oversees the end-to-end bid process from opportunity qualification, developing win strategies, managing resources, coordinate all internal and external stakeholders to ensure at all times commercial proposals are of a high quality, are on time and are in compliance with customers' requirements.

This role manages the Proposals and Applications teams with support from the Project Management function in regional locations, to deliver accurate and value adding customer solutions which are aligned with Ishida's operational and strategic goals. It also leads the compliance to provide strong governance, risk management, and performance reporting throughout the sales lifecycle from pre-RFP through to final order negotiation.

Primary Responsibilities

The Head of Proposals is accountable for:

• Providing leadership and development of the Proposals and Applications teams, including line management of two Team Leaders.
• Planning and delivering technically accurate and commercially viable high quality winning proposals
• Developing bid strategies that align with the Company goals and client requirements
• Ensuring all proposals include for accurate costing mechanisms with minimum technical and commercial risks
• Ensuring that all bid documentation is maintained, of high quality, appropriately documented and stored in line with Company's guidelines.
• Governance and consistency in the application of applicable tools, delegation of authorities and processes throughout.
• Ensuring effective communication, collaboration and alignment in the bid lifeccyle process between sales, engineering, operations, procurement, finance, legal and project teams.
• Driving standardisation, consistency and continuous improvement across proposals, applications in order to enhance efficiency and effectiveness.
• Supporting strategic decision-making with accurate project and proposal metrics.
• Reporting on annually adjusted KPI's that include but not limited to year on year order growth, increase in order win/loss ratios, reduction in on time to delivery, team utilisation, reduction in post award rectification costs and maintaining as min as sold margin.
• Coordinate with sales on proposal prioritisation, bid/no bid and bid delivery forecasts.
• Facilitate rigorous bid review and when appropriate board approval meetings
• ISO 9001 compliance of applicable workflow processes and tools

What skills are we looking for?

The ideal candidate must have the capability to fully deliver the core responsibilities of the role, including Managing and developing supply partners throughout the EMEA region to provide quality solutions to suit local expectation, encourage culture of innovative design to maximise Ishida product content and solution competitiveness, manage technical risk with proposals and bespoke individual product sales, HNC/HND in Engineering or a related discipline, with an Engineering Degree or higher considered desirable. Additional qualifications such as ISO 9001 Auditor, leadership and management certifications, or project management credentials (Prince2, PMP) would further strengthen their suitability. They will demonstrate strong leadership and line management abilities, excellent communication and organisation, commercial awareness with a focus on margin management, experience managing cross-functional teams, and sound project finance knowledge. Proficiency in Microsoft Office, Teams, and project tools is expected, along with at least five years' experience in turnkey project or proposals management and the behaviours of a strategic thinker who is results-driven, customer-focused, analytical, and detail-oriented.

The successful candidate must have proven experience leading technical and/or commercial engineering teams, including formal line-management responsibilities and oversight of budgets and performance reporting. They will be capable of working collaboratively in cross-functional environments, maintaining strong interpersonal relationships, and demonstrating excellent coaching, communication, and customer-facing skills. The successful candidate will thrive under pressure, act with professionalism and strategic insight, and consistently deliver high-quality solutions that align with business goals.

In addition, it would be desirable for candidates to bring experience with CRM or proposal software, Lean or Continuous Improvement certifications, and international project experience preferably within the EMEA region. A resilient mindset, willingness to travel within the EMEA region, and possession of a full UK driving licence would also be advantageous, further supporting the candidate's ability to represent the business effectively across diverse markets.

Applications should be submitted by the close of 14 December 2025

Are you interested in this opportunity?

If you would like an informal conversation about the role before applying, please contact Guy Dix discuss with your manager and then apply using the link in the email.