Proposal Manager (Power Sector)

Job description / Role

With the demand in power sector growing we are looking to appoint a Proposal Manager at our Abu Dhabi office.

Reports to: Senior Proposal Manager

The role of the Proposal Manager is to attend to a range of responsibilities for the delivery of responsive and compliant Proposals that are aligned to industry best practice, and that win.

The role requires the Proposal Manager to lead the proposal effort in conjunction with key stakeholders through the Parsons Brinckerhoff Ltd. - Abu Dhabi. The Proposal Manager must be capable of leading a multi-disciplinary team of contributors through the proposal process to deliver successful bids. Assertiveness, diplomacy and confidence are key attributes for success.

The Proposal Manager reports to the Senior Proposal Manager and operates from the PB office in Abu Dhabi. The Proposal Manager works closely with the BD Team in Abu Dhabi and in the UK.

Key Responsibilities:
- Define and assemble the core Proposal Project Team, coordinating all personnel needs with the designated Business Development Manager.
- Study, analyse, identify and report on the critical requirements and implications of received Requests for Proposals (RFP), Bids and Scopes of Work (SoW) and other solicitations (Solicitations).
- Ensure adherence to the PBs bid process and policy in line with best practice
- Understand and communicate clearly the client expectations and the needs of each PB stakeholder group to the Proposal Team
- Lead the proposal development and ensure that the proposal development process is followed
- Identify and submits to timelines, deadlines and decision points, identifying and proposing schedule milestones, briefing the management team regularly on deadlines to ensure that proposals are produced in a timely manner for submission
- Manages the proposal outline including any page limits
- Provide focal coordination to ensure structured response processes, procedures and cohesive staff-work relating to the submission of new business Bids and Proposals drawing in such support in expertise and capacity as may be required of other departments and specialists as may be necessary to produce a competitive submission
- Coordinate, collect and ensure approval for questions on DRFPs, RFPs and amendments and submits them to the client
- Co-ordinate costing calculations to determine prices for entering into the financial section of Proposals and Bids and for management approval. Utilize a systemised and agreed common checklist / aid and show particular care to identify potential hidden, additional or unexpected costs. Completes this in close liaison with the Financial Controller
- Leads stand up meetings at defined intervals for the specific project (daily if necessary)
- Present an overview of the Evaluation Criteria, agreed win themes, differentiators and ghosts
- Ensure that bid qualification is thorough and complete and compliant with the tender document or invitation, including format for presentation and deadline for submission.
- Review and amend proposals from a best practice perspective to ensure that language is consistent throughout and current thinking and methodologies applied in place of redundant alternatives
- Schedules and facilitates kick-off meeting with the Business Development Manager.
- Works with the Business Development Manager to produce an effective Executive Summary
- Attend to presentation, formatting and eventual end-state packaging with the Proposal Coordinator. Deliver by hand and/or electronically submit completed bids and proposals to ensure absolute compliance with submission deadlines
- Prepare to carry out, and if necessary participate in review team duties on proposals or elements thereof as a quality control measure.
- Seek to improve, simplify and update business processes and procedures relevant to the bid process or other commercial processes and agree revisions and their dissemination with the Business Development Manager.
- Conduct final sanity check on proposal documents
- Escalates issues to management to enable timelines to be met and significant obstacles to be overcome
- In close consultation with the Management Team and others, coordinate and compile the mandatory proposals and business reports that are to be submitted to corporate level through the Directors and/or or their designate(s)
- Manage post-proposal activities such as clarification reports, internal lessons learned and debrief meetings in coordination with the Business Development Manager.

Requirements

- Degree qualified in any discipline, however, Business is preferred
- Minimum 3-5 years Proposal or Proposal Management experience in a services environment
- Foundation Level Accreditation with APMP and/or Practitioner Level preferred
- Ability to satisfactorily complete a criminal record check at all times
- Time Management - Be able to manage one's own time and the time of others to meet deadlines.
- Coordination - Have flexibility to adjust actions in response to changes in priorities
- Decision Making - Be aware of the impact of decisions on the team and be able to make decisions based on limited information
- Problem Solving - Being aware of and understanding the implications of new information for both current and future proposals
- Critical Thinking - Using logic and reasoning to identify the strengths and weaknesses of alternative solutions, conclusions or approaches to problems
- Complex Problem Solving - Identifying complex problems and reviewing related information to develop and evaluate options and implement solutions
- Proactive - Seek out and identify important data that can be used in proposals or stored for use in future proposals
- Writing - able to write bespoke solutions using a range of data gathering techniques, and or word-smith written sections provided by others

About the Company

WSP is one of the world's leading engineering professional services consulting firms. We are dedicated to our local communities and propelled by international brainpower. We are technical experts and strategic advisors including engineers, technicians, scientists, architects, planners, surveyors and environmental specialists, as well as other design, program and construction management professionals. We design lasting solutions in the Property & Buildings, Transportation & Infrastructure, Environment, Industry, Resources (including Mining and Oil & Gas) and Power & Energy sectors as well as project delivery and strategic consulting services. With 36,000 talented people in more than 500 offices across 40 countries, we engineer projects that will help societies grow for lifetimes to come.