Opportunity Brief: Head of Bids & Commercial

Ford & Stanley Executive Search (Part of the Ford & Stanley Group) are a leading Executive search firm to the UK, North American and European Engineering, Technology, Sustainability & Heavy Manufacturing industries.

Our search directors, search consultants and research teams specialise in all horizontal functions of our clients organisation with expertise spanning engineering, commercial, procurement, HR, IT, finance, HSQE, sales, projects, operations and c-suite.

We are trusted by over 100 leading organisations when they seek to make a leadership appointment, be that a permanent appointment or an interim solution.

We have been retained and appointed by our client on a retained search for a  proactive and commercially astute Head of Bids & Commercial who can not only take ownership of the bids process but also build close working relationships with the relevant department heads to accurately forecast revenue and manage project budgets.

Below you will find an 'opportunity brief' developed from notes taken during the scoping meeting (Situational Discovery) held between the Managing Consultant & Business Manager of Ford & Stanley Executive Search and the Managing Director of the business in question. This brief is designed to give candidates a deeper insight into the opportunity inherent within the role, the challenges the role presents and provide access to the detail that sits behind the job specification.

Client Opportunity Statements:

“As we elevate the business and take the next step on our growth trajectory, we are focused on developing and professionalising our bids and commercial function by appointing a pragmatic and executively mature Head of Bids & Commercial.”

“A successful candidate will take full ownership of our bids process, driving incremental improvements and taking overall accountability for the function's success. In tandem, I expect this individual to be my “right hand” and provide clear, concise and accurate forecasts of both revenue and margin of each project.”

“We very much view this role as the catalyst in allowing the business to grow, invest and continue our journey of professionalisation and continuous improvement, this role will be the glue that holds the organisation together and underpin the future success of our business.”

Challenges expected within the first 12 months include:

The role of Head of Bids & Commercial is an incredibly diverse position that involves wearing many hats and spinning many plates. The successful individual will need to manage this diversity and ensure they don't lose sight of the key accountabilities inherent in this role.
The company is an incredibly fast-paced and agile business.  Upon joining the business, the successful candidate will need to adjust their ways of working to fit the dynamic and ensure they excel in their role.
Building personal relationships will be at the core of this role, it is expected some internal stakeholders will be more resistant to change than others and the incoming Head of Bids & Commercial will need to quickly learn how to adapt to different personalities.
Key deliverables within the first 12 months include:

Take ownership & accountability of the bids process, defining key milestones and looking at ways to improve the process.
Demonstrate that close working relationships have been developed with key internal and external stakeholders.
To ensure that the forecast remains within an agreed margin of the actual once quantified. 
Essential Hard Skills (Skills & Experience)

Commutable distance to Derby and comfortable being on-site full-time. 
Proven ability in managing the end-to-end bids process within high-integrity industries including Rail, Automotive, Aerospace and Defence.
Demonstrated experience in managing budgets, margins, forecasting and overall commercials.
Strong excel capability, confident in its navigation and use of formulas/vlookups/pivot tables (PowerBI knowledge desirable but not essential)
Project management capability and the ability to build strong relationships with internal stakeholders and key external stakeholders.
Essential Soft Skills (Attributes & Behaviours)

Commercially astute, and confident in managing budgets and forecasts.
Naturally hands-on, no job is too big or too small.
Proactive, will push to get to things done.
Relationship driven, values internal relationships and takes time to earn trust.
Problem solver will look for ways to create a solution.
Working Arrangements & Location:

Based out of their Derby facility, candidates are expected to be on-site full-time.

Our Client's Interview Process:

1st Stage Interview: Face-to-face in Derby with Managing Director
2nd Final Stage interview: Face-to-face in their Derby facility with the Managing Director and opportunity to meet some of the function leaders, this will also include a full site tour.
Ford & Stanley Interview Process:

1st Stage - Candidate Discovery: An open, conversational and consultative discussion where interested candidates are assessed on their suitability for the role in the context of the above and challenged on how the opportunity lines up with their career aspirations, motivations, financial expectations and personal circumstances.
2nd Stage - The 'shortlist': Candidates are asked to reflect on the candidate discovery discussion, take time to reflect on the opportunity and undertake subsequent research on the client business reporting back on their thoughts, questions and providing additional specific information on their suitability (if applicable). Final checks of role, package and logistical alignments made.
Good to know:

This role reports directly into the Managing Director.
The business provide maintenance services around the UK, passenger and freight sector, material supply services, wheel lathe products and services and engineering services.
The business has a number of key and long-term projects; some of which are 5/6 years in length and £3.5m in value. They have seen exceptional growth in the rail freight market and after doubling this over the last 2 years, strong growth is expected to continue.
The business has a close-knit, family feel, where everyone is on the same mission of “winning”.
Ultimately, this role has come to market as a result of one of the founding members of the business choosing to retire and as such, leaving responsibilities that need to be picked up.
As it stands, there is no direct line management required with this role which is purposefully designed to allow the individual to be autonomous and effective.
It's vital that the incoming Head of Bids & Commercial understands the landscape that the business is operating in and that the most advanced processes may not always be the most suitable (or applicable) to the business.
The business is looking to invest in its bids and commercial function, focused on achieving more control over the bid process and the revenue/margin across each project/contract.
This role will pull together key information from function leads to build the bid and ultimately own the process end-to-end.
The Head of Bids and Commercial will aim to achieve more accurate forecasting of project/contract revenue and margin, by leading monthly budget review meetings with function leads, reviewing spend and working on practical solutions to overcome any discrepancies.
This individual will be good at creating 'routine' and ensuring that key tasks/meetings within the business are always completed in a timely manner.
It's vital that this individual is proactive and will take the initiative to ensure that key responsibilities are upheld throughout the business.
The business has a bid and commercial management process in place currently, but the Managing Director recognises there are opportunities for improvement, ownership of this improvement will sit with the Head of Bids & Commercial. It is important these improvements are bespoke to the business dynamic and realistic to the organisations size.
The business has a well-networked Sales Consultant on a retained basis that supports the business in populating their pipeline, this role will qualify, track and forecast these opportunities.
It's important to note that the business is expecting to go through a significant period of growth over the next 12 months and needs to establish key processes to enable this.
The company are heavily reliant on Excel and manual processes, the incoming candidate will have to be comfortable working in this environment and comfortable dealing with large amounts of commercial data.
There are three main areas to the role:

Ownership of Bids function:

This individual will be accountable for the entirety of the Bids process and involved in tandem with the Sales/Business Development function from 'day 1'.
They will be responsible for looking at the Bids process as a whole and identifying where they can make subtle changes to improve functionality.
Important to note that whilst there are improvements to be made within the bids process, this is not a 'broken' function.
Ownership of the Commercial function:

The incoming Head of Bids & Commercial will be responsible for having full oversight of Forecasting, Margins, tracking cost and forecasting cost along with working alongside relevant stakeholders to manage any knock-on effect.
Of pivotal importance to this role is the timely upkeep of a centralised 'document' that contains margins and forecast of all live and bidded projects.
In addition to ensuring that the document is kept up to date this individual will be responsible for working closely with Sales, Ops, Engineering and other stakeholders to ensure that the business has a thorough understanding of the impact (And adjustments needed if any) that are needed in an environment where project spend and timelines can be fluid.
The company always nominate a particular individual to lead with a customer (Chosen based on their relationship with the customer) and it will be the responsibility of this individual to either ensure that they get the latest update direct from the customer or that they work with the allotted point of contact to achieve the same result.
PMO Responsibilities:

This individual will be responsible for working closely with all PLM's within the business at each point a project goes live to understand the budget, materials and hours needed. They will collate it into a presentable fashion into the client and ensure that internal stakeholders adhere to it throughout the duration of the project. (It's important to note that historically this has been behind closed doors and that this process will be new to some PLM's).
A large part of this responsibilities will be being able to forecast cost and potential upside (or downside) to project margins.
This individual will then align themselves closely to the PLM's throughout the duration of the project to ensure they are aware of any changes to financial landscape within the project.
Budget:

Low: £60,(Apply online only) Mid: £65,(Apply online only) High: £67,(Apply online only)

Supporting benefits

25 days Holiday + 8 Bank holidays
Nest pension scheme
Free Parking
Executive Search Delivery Team:

Tom Norton - Business Manager (Client Recommendations/Advisory, Offer Negotiations, Headhunting, Networking)
Billy Jackson - Managing Consultant (Shortlisting, Offer Negotiations, Headhunting, Networking, Research, Search, Longlisting, Interviews, Data & Market Intel)
Ralitsa Kuzeva - Executive Assistant (Diary Management, Coordination, Candidate Experience)
About Ford & Stanley Executive Search:

Ford & Stanley Talent Services Group are in the business of people and performance. Our mission is to create one million better workdays through facilitating great recruitment, leadership and occupational mental fitness. We support our clients in their most challenging business areas - recruiting, developing and retaining the best talent from shop floor to boardroom.

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Ford & Stanley Talent Services Group Ltd is a Disability Confident employer that is committed to a policy of equal opportunities for all opportunity seekers. We shall adhere to such a policy at all times and will review on an on-going basis all aspects of recruitment to avoid unlawful or undesirable discrimination. We will treat everyone equally irrespective sex, sexual orientation, gender reassignment, marital or civil partnership status, age, disability, colour, race, nationality, ethnic or national origin, religion or belief or political beliefs and we place an obligation upon all staff to respect and act in accordance with the policy.

Services advertised by Ford & Stanley are that of an employment consultancy business