Senior Bid Writer

Serco Limited; Greater London; On-site; GBP 40,000 - 70,000

Job description

Senior Bid Writer

Hybrid - London, Solihull, or Hook

Full Time, Permanent

Competitive salary plus benefits

Are you an experienced bid writer looking to shape compelling proposals in the public sector? Serco is seeking a highly skilled Senior Bid Writer to join our UK&E Growth team, supporting the development of high-quality, persuasive bid submissions. You'll collaborate closely with Bid Managers, Subject Matter Experts, and operational teams to extract and articulate winning solutions, crafting engaging content that meets customer requirements and aligns with evaluation criteria. Your role will involve storyboarding, ensuring adherence to bid strategies, and refining messaging to enhance Serco's competitive edge. In addition to writing compelling responses, you will play a critical role in maintaining language quality, incorporating win themes, and supporting the continuous improvement of bid processes. You will also mentor junior team members, contributing to the overall development of our bid writing capability.

Sitting in our centralised Bid Management function, you will be part of a team where self-development and continuous improvement is at the heart of what we do. You'll be working with a team of highly experienced bid managers, and have access to lots of tools, courses, and support to help you on your professional journey.

If you're looking to grow your career in bid management while contributing to work that makes a real difference, we'd love to hear from you.

Key Responsibilities:

• Deliver high-quality bid writing services for a range of opportunities, ensuring clear, compelling, and customer-focused responses.
• Support the bid team in developing and maintaining storyboards, ensuring alignment with the bid strategy.
• Work closely with Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) and internal teams to extract key insights and articulate complex solutions effectively.
• Write and refine responses that are concise, visually engaging, and fully aligned with customer requirements, evaluation criteria, and bid guidelines.
• Conduct research to strengthen bid responses with relevant data, case studies, and supporting evidence.
• Ensure win themes, USPs, and key sales messages are seamlessly integrated to enhance the overall impact of submissions.
• Maintain consistency in language, tone, and terminology across all written content.
• Support bid collateral management and facilitate knowledge sharing within the bid team.
• Mentor and guide junior team members, supporting their development in bid writing best practices.
• Drive continuous improvement in bid quality, ensuring attention to detail and adherence to submission standards.

What You'll need:

• Proven experience in bid writing, ideally within a complex, multi-sector bidding environment.
• Background in journalism, linguistics, TEFL, or a related field would be advantageous, with exceptional writing skills (fluency, accuracy, and message clarity).
• Strong understanding of procurement processes and experience managing multiple bid deliverables.
• Highly proficient in MS Office, with experience in tools such as Adobe Creative Cloud, Project, and Visio; skills in template creation and document formatting are advantageous.
• Ability to quickly grasp and interpret complex information, applying creative thinking to craft compelling narratives.
• Strong stakeholder management and influencing skills, with the confidence to engage with senior colleagues and subject matter experts.
• Leadership, coaching or mentoring experience, with the ability to support the development of junior team members.
• Organised, methodical, and process-driven, with excellent attention to detail.
• Ability to manage multiple tasks, meet deadlines, and perform under pressure.
• Adaptable, flexible, and resilient, with a proactive and collaborative approach.
• Security clearance may be required at SC level, with the potential need for Developed Vetting clearance in some roles.
• Willingness to travel as required, including occasional overnight stays.

What we offer:

• 25 days annual leave plus bank holidays.
• Annual leave purchase scheme.
• Up to 6% contributory pension scheme.
• Flexible working options.
• A Serco benefits portal offering a wide range of discounts for major high street brands in Retail, Leisure & Hospitality.
• A range of benefits to support the health and wellbeing of you and your family such as Employee Assistance Programme, Health Cash Plans, free flu jabs and more.
• A wealth of career development training to suit your future aspirations. These range from role specific training, leadership coaching, formal study and much more to support you to build your career with Serco.
• A safe and supportive culture.
• A company passionate about diversity and inclusion.

About Serco
At Serco, not only is the nature of the work we do important, everyone has an important role to play, from caring for vulnerable people to managing complex public services. We are a team of 50,000 people responsible for delivering essential public services around the world in areas including defence, transport, justice, immigration, healthcare and citizen services. We are innovators, committed to redesigning and improving public services for the benefit of everyone.

By joining Serco you will have unlimited access to our Global Employee Networks - SercoInspire (Gender), SercoEmbrace (Multicultural), SercoUnlimited (Disability) and In@Serco (LGBT & Networks). Serco Employee Networks, led by colleagues who are passionate about diversity, inclusion and belonging.

Apply
Please click on the apply button to complete your application. Occasionally we receive a large volume of applications for our roles and when that happens we sometimes bring the closing date forward, so please apply promptly to avoid disappointment.

At Serco, we see people first and foremost for their performance and potential. We are committed to building a diverse and inclusive organisation that supports the needs of all. As such we will make reasonable adjustments at interview through to employment for our candidates and strongly encourage applications from a diverse candidate pool. We are open to discussions around flexibility and flexible working. We operate a hybrid work structure in many of our business areas. We are proudly Disability Confident Leader employers and holder of the Gold Inclusive Employer Standard. Disabled applicants who meet the minimum criteria for the job will be given the opportunity to demonstrate their abilities at an interview. For help with your application please contact 0345 010 4000.

At Serco we support fair access to employment for those with unspent criminal convictions through the 'Ban the Box' pledge (some may be exempt due to the nature of the role and the security clearance required). Please contact our recruitment team directly on 0345 010 4000 to discuss.