Head of Bid Management | Defence & Aerospace

Madrid or Amsterdam based, hybrid working

We’re partnering with a growing defence technology business to appoint a Head of Bid Management. This is an opportunity to shape the company’s approach to competitive tenders, develop a specialist team and lead proposals for strategically important programmes.

You’ll take ownership of the full bid lifecycle, bringing together technical expertise and commercial judgement to deliver persuasive, compliant proposals. Working closely with senior leadership and teams across engineering, business development, finance and legal, you’ll establish the structure and standards needed to support an expanding opportunity pipeline.

The role

- Lead complex bids from opportunity qualification and bid/no-bid decisions through submission, customer clarifications and negotiation support.
- Develop bid strategies that clearly connect customer priorities with the organisation’s technical capabilities and commercial strengths.
- Build, manage and coach a bid team, with scope to expand the function as the business grows.
- Coordinate contributions across technical, commercial and operational teams, setting clear responsibilities and deadlines.
- Oversee proposal quality, ensuring technical content, pricing, contractual terms and supporting documents form a consistent submission.
- Manage competing priorities across multiple tenders, allocating resources and escalating risks early.
- Prepare clear recommendations and supporting information for internal approvals.
- Introduce practical templates, review processes and reporting tools that improve consistency and efficiency.
- Track bid expenditure, delivery performance and win rates to guide improvements.
- Use customer feedback,



competitor insight and tender outcomes to strengthen future proposals.
- Oversee external proposal support and the associated budget.

What we’re looking for

- Substantial experience in bid or proposal management, commercial operations or business development, typically gained over 10 years.
- A background in defence, aerospace or a comparable regulated technical sector.
- A track record of leading complex, high-value tenders involving multiple stakeholders.
- Strong knowledge of government procurement and formal tender processes, including RFPs, RFQs and RFIs.
- Experience developing and leading bid or proposal teams.
- The ability to turn complex technical information into clear, credible customer benefits.
- Sound commercial judgement across pricing, contractual obligations, risk and bid investment.
- Confidence coordinating senior stakeholders and delivering against demanding deadlines.
- Excellent written and spoken English; additional European languages would be beneficial.
- A degree in engineering, business or a related discipline, with postgraduate qualifications welcomed.
- Willingness to travel when required.

Experience with autonomous systems, advanced aerospace platforms or other mission-critical technologies would be advantageous, as would exposure to government customers, defence organisations or prime contractors.

Who will thrive here

You’re comfortable taking ownership, challenging assumptions and bringing clarity to complex opportunities. You balance strong governance with a practical approach, maintain high standards under pressure and know how to align teams around a shared deadline.

This role will suit someone who enjoys building and improving a function, with the ambition to make bid management a meaningful driver of commercial growth.

Interested? Apply or get in touch for a confidential conversation.

📌 Bid Director (Madrid)
🏢 Strativ Group
📍 Madrid