Bid Manager

Location: Tubize, Belgium

Thales people architect solutions at the heart of the defence-security continuum. Interoperable and secure information and telecommunications systems for defence, security, and civil operators, are based upon innovative use of radiocommunications, networks, and cybersecurity. We are ground breaking new digital technologies such as 4G/5G mobile communications, cryptography, cloud computing and big data for use in physical protection systems, and critical information systems.

Thales Belgium SA, Belgium competence center of Thales, is a company located on 2 sites, one in Tubize (near Brussels) and the other one in Herstal (near Liège). Thales Belgium, which employs more than 280 collaborators, is specialized in the design, development and supply of critical information systems for customers in the sectors of Defense, Security (including Cyber) and Aerospace.

**Mission**:
You will be part of a team responsible for capturing business opportunities and turn them into profitable contracts for the company.

In relation with Sales and Engineering teams, you conduct the bid and you are accountable to deliver, on time and within budget, a financial and technical proposal maximising the chance to capture businesses with direct impacts on the company operation and business segment strategy. This context requires a smart mix of leadership, discipline and creativity.

As manager for the bid, you are the single point of contact for every contributing part of the company: support function (HR, Finance, Legal, Purchase), Engineering & Project teams, as well as senior managers, whether locally or globally within the group.

You are also accountable to hand over the contract to operation team, in particular the Project Managers and technical teams.

Your mission starts when an opportunity is qualified for bidding by the Sales teams until the contract is started and on-track with operation teams.

**Main Responsibilities**:

- In general, lead and conduct internal processes related to the bid phase.
- In particular, prepare the Bid/Proposal and contribute to the negotiation with the customer:

- Prepare the Bid Plan, implement it,
- Define the initial project baseline based on a viable solution and a clear project structure, providing the best winning response to the customer requirements, consistent with the business segment strategy,
- Contribute to the negotiations with the Customers and the Main partners and Suppliers
- Build, challenge and validate the bid contents based on the stakeholders’ inputs and commitments
- Assess the risks and opportunities of the future project based on the stakeholders’ inputs, challenge and validate the way these risks will be mitigated and/or accounted for
- Be accountable for bid pricing / costs in order to secure the deal
- Based on the initial project baseline, define major milestones for delivery and acceptance, consolidate the costs and other financial parameters, and validate the whole project baseline for the bid.
- Ensure successful transition to the project team : contribute to prepare, organise and validate the project launch.
- In all contacts with potential customer, present an excellent Customer Service attitude.

**Profile**:
**_ Educational Background_**
- Civil or industrial engineer, Business School Master Degree, MBA or equivalent by experience
- Languages: French, Dutch and English (professional use required for the 3 languages)

**_ Skills_**
- Basic experience in bid management
- Transverse leadership, extremely organised, Learn quickly
- Customer driven and quality oriented
- Finance literate, business acumen
- Experience in public market is a plus
- Experience within international groups is a plus
- Knowledge one or several target markets of the company is a strong asset

**_ Required abilities_**
- Stress resistant, autonomy, sense of initiative
- Ability to manage multiple resources and yet meet the deadlines
- Versatility and flexibility
- Interdisciplinary and creative, end-to-end commitment, focused and persistent
- Team player, listening and communication skills
- Interested?_
- Diversity Statement_
We actively support a working pattern that suits your lifestyle and helps you reach your ambitions. That means that equal opportunities, inclusion and an informal culture are integral to our success. It also means that your well-being and happiness matter to us That’s why we offer you the flexibility to do what’s important to you; whether that’s part time hours, job sharing, remote working, or the ability to flex your start and finish times.