We’re building the UK's next generation engineering powerhouse, providing critical technology that strengthens national security and resilience.
We specialise in turning advances in sensing, AI, and communications into operational capability for the edge, where connectivity may be degraded or denied. Our work focuses on accelerating the deployment of technology, improving decision-making for frontline teams, and protecting people and critical assets in demanding environments.
Headquartered in Bristol, Rowden employs around 160 people and operates over 20,000 square feet of engineering and manufacturing facilities. We have a growing international footprint and are one of Europe’s fastest-growing engineering businesses.
About the role
To power our continued growth, we’re looking for a Bid Manager to take ownership of our end-to-end bidding process. From pre-qualification through to contract signature, you’ll play a pivotal role in securing the opportunities that matter, ensuring every submission reflects our strengths, differentiators, and commitment to end-users. As part of our continued growth, you’ll get exposure to various customer groups across Defence, Emergency Response and National Security.
The role is not a traditional Bid Manager role. It requires someone who thrives in fast-paced, high-stakes environments, willing to contribute in areas beyond just bid management. You’ll need to navigate complex procurement landscapes, drive internal collaboration, and apply relentless focus to improving how we bid, ensuring we continue to grow, learn, and deliver impact.
While this role offers hybrid working options, it requires a minimum of 3 days per week on-site at our Bristol HQ.
Candidates must be eligible for SC clearance.
More information about security clearance is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/united-kingdom-security-vetting-clearance-levels
As Rowden’s Bid Manger, your core responsibilities will be to:
- Lead bid submissions from opportunity qualification to final submission, managing timelines, responsibilities, and outcomes.
- Develop and refine bid strategies, aligning closely with capture teams to define compelling win themes and customer messaging.
- Monitor and manage responses to UK government frameworks ensuring consistent and high quality submissions.
- Own and update our bid/content library, ensuring reusable material (e.g. case studies, CVs, rate cards, social value statements) is current and easily accessible.
- Facilitate go/no-go decisions, helping the business qualify opportunities quickly and with the right data.
- Drive continuous improvement, analysing win/loss data, gathering lessons learned, and evolving our bid approach.
- Keep up-to-date with industry trends and standards, incorporating new technologies into our bidding systems where needed
- Champion process and knowledge management, from maintaining a clear audit trail to archiving outdated materials.
We are looking for someone who is passionate about bid or project management. You’ll gain loads of experience in this role but before you do, you should have:
- Proven experience managing bids from opportunity assessment to submission, ideally in public sector tenders.
- Excellent project management skills, with the ability to handle multiple bids, balance priorities, and meet tight deadlines without compromising quality.
- Excellent communication and interpersonal skills, with the ability to collaborate and organise stakeholders both internally and externally.
- Strong copywriting and editing skills with a rigorous eye for detail.
- Familiarity with UK government procurement processes and frameworks is beneficial.
About you
The ideal candidate will show a strong balance of the following behavioural competencies that we believe are key to success in the role:
- Ownership & Accountability - Take full responsibility for the end-to-end bid process. Driving progress, anticipating challenges, and ensuring that deadlines and standards are met without needing constant oversight.
- Structured Communication - Conveys complex information clearly and persuasively, tailoring written and verbal communication to suit both technical and non-technical audiences. Brings clarity to ambiguity.
- Attention to Detail - Demonstrates a meticulous approach to reviewing and compiling bid documentation, ensuring accuracy, compliance, and consistency while working at pace.
- Adaptability & Resilience - Remains calm and focused in dynamic and time-sensitive environments, able to reprioritise quickly and respond positively to changing requirements, feedback, or constraints.
We are committed to building a flexible, inclusive, and enabling company. Our aim is to create a diverse team of talented people with unique skills, experience, and backgrounds, so please apply and come as you are!
We also recognise the importance of flexible working and support this wherever we can. We typically operate a flexible, hybrid-working model, with an average 3 days in the office each week (dependent on the role). We welcome the opportunity to discuss flexibility, part-time working requirements and/or workplace adjustments with all our applicants.
Rowden is a Disability Confident Committed company, and we actively encourage people with disabilities and health conditions to apply for our roles. Please let us know your requirements early on so that we can make sure you have everything you need up front to help make the recruitment process and experience as easy as possible.
Finally, if you feel that you don’t meet all the criteria included above but have transferable skills and relevant experience, we’d still love to hear from you!
What matters to us?
- Our focus is on the end user. We exist to deliver the best possible outcomes for the users of our systems.
- Pace matters. The problems we solve are urgent.
- Our diverse skills and backgrounds make us better. Our team prides itself on being inclusive and multidisciplinary.
- We are radically honest. Saying what we mean, even when it isn’t easy.
- We are pragmatists. We provide realistic, focused solutions that get to the point.
- We improve continuously. We are relentless in our drive to make things better.
