Commercial Bid Manager at WaterAid

Want to use your skills in developing high quality commercial proposals to play a vital role in making clean water, decent toilets and good hygiene normal for everyone everywhere?

Join WaterAid as our Commercial Bid Manager to change normal for millions of people so they can unlock their potential, break free from poverty and change their lives for good. On top of that you’ll be joining a 2020 Great Place to Work® award-winning organisation.

The WaterAid Institutional Funding and Partnerships Team has been tasked with leading WaterAid UK’s ambitious new strategy to grow the size of its programmes through restricted income. It is expected that this growth will primarily come from institutional partnerships with some of the world’s leading bilateral and multilateral development agencies, including FCDO, USAID and SIDA.

As the Commercial Bid Manager in the Bid Management Team, you will work with key stakeholders to support the development of high-quality bids for opportunities with institutional and non-institutional donors that act like institutions (e.g. trusts and foundations). You will lead on WaterAid’s approach to many aspects of tendering for commercial contracts, e.g. negotiating agreements, payment mechanisms, financial risk plans, etc. You will contribute to developing organisation-wide commercial policy, creating templates and resources to support practice.

This is an 18-month fixed term full-time position, although requests for flexible working will be considered. It is expected that the role will involve up to 4-8 weeks travel each year (when circumstances permit), and will include some varied and unsocial hours. The post holder should be located in the UK or any WaterAid programme countries with a reasonable overlap in working hours with the UK.

In this role, you will work with Country Programmes on developing high quality proposals, supporting project costing and other commercial aspects for complex, high-value, and/or high-risk opportunities.

You’ll also:
* Lead on commercial negotiations with partners and donors
* Develop organisation-wide financial and commercial approaches
* Work with Country Programmes to support embedding of costing approaches
* Lead training and capacity strengthening activities related to commercial proposal development

To be successful:

• The ideal candidate will be an experienced bid manager with a commercial background, or significant experience bidding for commercial contracts, ideally for development projects in low income countries.
• They will have demonstrative experience working with Private sector partners, with a thorough understanding of different approaches to pricing and cost recovery.
• Excellent business acumen and ability to negotiate and influence are crucial, and a sound understanding of bid management best practices is desirable.

Salary: UK salary of £43,400 – £48,950 for UK based candidates subject to experience with excellent benefits. Salaries and benefits for different locations will vary in line with WaterAid’s country salary scales. WaterAid benefits vary depending on the country of the successful candidates.

For UK-based posts this includes

• 36 days holiday (including Bank Holidays)
• Option to buy an extra 5 days annual leave
• We offer a generous pension plan with employer contribution of up to 10%
• Wide range of flexible and agile-working arrangements
• Season Ticket Loan
• Free annual eye tests
• Pay as You Give charitable giving scheme
• Enhanced Maternity and Adoption/Surrogacy pay, Shared Parental Leave and Paternity Leave
• Sabbaticals
• Volunteer Day

How to Apply
To see the full job pack, please click ‘Apply‘. Please apply by submitting your CV and a cover letter into the same document in either Word Document or PDF format. Applications will close 23:59 on 31/05/2021. Availability for interview is required w/c 07/06/2021.

Additional Information
WaterAid is currently located at Canary Wharf, London and this will be your location and contract base if you live in the UK. Due to current restrictions on office capacity the majority of our staff are working from home. All aspects of this including how we are supporting homeworking and the office transition will be discussed at the interview stage with you.

We are unable to provide sponsorship or relocation for this post. In order to apply for this post, you must be able to demonstrate your eligibility to work in the country to which you wish to work.

WaterAid is committed to ensuring that wherever we work in the world there is no tolerance for the abuse of power, privilege or trust. WaterAid reinforces a culture of zero tolerance towards any form of inappropriate behaviour, abuse, harassment, or exploitation of any kind. The safeguarding of our beneficiaries, staff, volunteers and anyone working on our behalf, is our top priority and we take our responsibilities extremely seriously. All staff and volunteers are required to share in this commitment through our Global Code of Conduct. We will conduct the most appropriate pre-employment references and checks to ensure high standards are maintained.

WaterAid is an equal opportunities, disability-confident employer and committed to achieving the highest standards of diversity, fairness and equality. Should you have a disability and require any additional support, please contact us at careers@wateraid.org.