About the position
ENVIRONMENT:
A South African-based education and skills development entity is seeking a Bid Office Manager who is responsible for building, managing, and executing the Group's R1 billion+ funding pipeline. This is a critical Q1 hire under the GCOS Commercial Resource Plan and sits directly within the Group Shared Services function under the Commercial Executive. The role owns the end-to-end bid lifecycle - from funder intelligence and pipeline construction, through proposal development, to submission, compliance, and win-rate optimisation.
DUTIES
Bid Pipeline Construction & Funder Intelligence
- Build and maintain a live, CRM-based bid register covering funding opportunities across SETAs, government departments, DFIs, and corporate SD funders
- Monitor funder portals, gazette notices, EOI releases, and industry intelligence channels to identify bid opportunities ?90 days before application windows open
- Maintain a rolling 12-month bid calendar and present it to the CE at weekly pipeline review
- Flag emerging opportunities and at-risk submissions
- Build institutional relationships with procurement contacts and programme managers at key funders to gain early intelligence
- Track competitor bid activity and maintain a competitor intelligence file
Proposal Development & Submission Management
- Own the end-to-end proposal development process for each bid submission
- Coordinate technical input from Academy MDs, programme design from Operations Executive, financial schedules from Finance, and compliance documentation from SETA Coordinator
- Draft executive summaries, organisational capability sections, technical proposals, and implementation plans
- Build and maintain a company profile library, case study bank, learner outcomes database, accreditation register, facilitator CVs, and venue documentation
- Execute pre-submission compliance check against evaluator's scoring criteria
- Coordinate DocuSign-based approval workflows for CE and MD sign-off
- Submit bids on behalf of the Group through funder portals
- Confirm receipt, track evaluation timelines, and manage post-submission clarification requests
- Develop and enforce standardised bid templates for technical proposals, pricing schedules, and capability statements
- Ensure consistent structure across all submissions aligned to evaluator scoring frameworks
Bid Document Design & Presentation Excellence
- Own the visual quality, formatting, and presentation of all bid submissions
- Ensure proposals are professionally formatted, visually engaging, and easy to evaluate
- Maintain and continuously improve bid templates, formatting standards, and visual storytelling approaches
- Structure all submissions to align clearly with evaluation criteria
- Use formatting, headings, and visual cues to guide evaluators through responses
Pricing, Margin & Commercial Structuring
- Develop per-learner cost models, management fee structures, and contingency calculations in coordination with CE and Finance
- Ensure all proposals meet the Group's GPM (mandatory gate before submission)
- Maintain a pricing reference library of approved per-learner rates, programme fee benchmarks, and funder-specific pricing norms
- Provide deal-structuring input on blended finance bids
Post-Submission Management & Win/Loss Analysis
- Track all submitted bids from submission to award/rejection; maintain real-time status updates in CRM bid register
- Conduct structured win/loss debrief for every bid outcome, document evaluator feedback, score gaps, and improvement recommendations
- Report on bid pipeline health, submission volume, win rate, and forecast revenue at monthly Commercial Scorecard review and EXCO report
- Continuously improve the bid production system, developing templates, process improvements, and quality standards
DFI, Donor & Grant Application Management
- Support CE on DFI and donor funding applications (concept note development, technical proposal writing, budget preparation, due diligence document submission)
- Maintain compliance documentation for DFI funders (audit reports, B-BBEE certificates, QCTO accreditations, delivery track record reports, M&E frameworks, organisational capacity statements)
- Track DFI and grant application pipelines separately from SETA bids
- Manage longer lead-time applications (90-180 days) with appropriate milestone tracking
Internal Stakeholder Coordination
- Serve as single point of coordination between CE, Academy MDs, Finance, Delivery, and Legal for all bid-related activities
- Brief Academy MDs on upcoming bid opportunities; obtain technical input, delivery commitment, and capacity confirmation within defined timeframes
- Work with Marketing Manager on bid collateral quality (company profiles, design standards, case study content, branded submission formats)
- Define standards for bid-ready content (case studies, credentials, impact data)
- Ensure all marketing collateral is structured for reuse in proposals
- Implement formal bid quality assurance framework (technical review, commercial review, presentation review)
- Introduce bid scoring before submission (internal "mock evaluation")
REQUIREMENTS:
Education – Minimum
- Bachelor’s degree in Business, Commerce, Public Administration, Law, or a related field
Education – Preferred
- Postgraduate qualification in Procurement, Project Management, Development Finance, or Public Policy
- APMP certification (advantageous)
Experience – Minimum
- 5+ years in bid management, proposal writing, or funding/grants management
- Demonstrable track record of successful submissions
Derived Requirements
Experience & Knowledge
- Experience building and maintaining CRM-based bid registers
- Knowledge of SETA funding landscape (W&R SETA, SERVICES SETA, MICT SETA, FASSET, INSETA, etc.)
- Knowledge of government department funding (NSF, UIF/LAP, WC DEDAT, KZN EDTEA, GP GDID, DTIC)
- Knowledge of DFI funding (AfDB, IDC, NDB, EU)
- Experience monitoring funder portals, gazette notices, and EOI releases
- Competitor intelligence gathering and analysis experience
- Experience with DFI and donor grant applications (concept notes, due diligence)
- Knowledge of blended finance deal structuring
Skills & Abilities
- End-to-end proposal development and submission management
- Drafting executive summaries, technical proposals, and implementation plans
- Building and maintaining content libraries (case studies, CVs, accreditation registers)
- Compliance checking against evaluator scoring criteria
- DocuSign or similar approval workflow coordination
- Developing standardised bid templates
- Professional document formatting and visual design for proposals
- Creating charts, infographics, and structured layouts
- Developing per-learner cost models and management fee structures
- Margin/GPM analysis and confirmation
- Win/loss analysis and debrief facilitation
- Pipeline reporting and forecasting
- Internal stakeholder coordination across multiple departments
- Briefing senior leadership (Academy MDs, CE)
- Quality assurance framework implementation
- Mock evaluation / internal bid scoring
Personal & Behavioural
- Ability to work without authority to obtain technical input
- Comfortable managing multiple concurrent bids at different stages
- Ability to triage and prioritise when pipeline is congested
- Maintains high accuracy under tight deadlines
- Factual representation (no inflated claims, no copied content, no compliance misrepresentation)
Process & Systems
- Ability to build repeatable bid systems (living register, compliance checklist, content library)
- Ability to enforce mandatory internal review buffers (e.g., 5-day buffer)
- Ability to maintain a rolling 12-month bid calendar
- Ability to manage longer lead-time applications (90-180 days)
Collaboration & Stakeholder Management
- Ability to coordinate with CE, Academy MDs, Finance, Delivery, Legal, and Marketing Manager
- Ability to obtain delivery commitment and capacity confirmation from busy MDs
- Ability to work with Marketing on collateral quality and brand standards
CORE ATTRIBUTES
- Deadline Absolutism
- Technical Writing Excellence
- Process Architecture
- Commercial Intelligence
- Cross-functional Influence
- Resilience & Volume Capacity
- Attention to Detail
- Ethical Integrity
Desired Skills:
- Ability to Meet Deadlines
- Ethical Decision-Making
- Technical Writing
About The Employer:
A South African-based education and skills development entity.
