Job at a glance
Supply Chain Bid Specialist Permanent | Up to £55,000 UK Citizenship Required | Hybrid | Cheltenham We’re partnering with a leading organisation operating across complex Defence and regulated programmes to appoint an experienced Supply Chain Bid Specialist. This is an excellent opportunity for a commercially minded supply chain professional to play a key role in shaping competitive, deliverable and strategically aligned supply chain solutions across bids and future opportunities.
Working closely with Business Development, Programme, Finance and Bid teams, you’ll help define supply chain strategies, engage the right suppliers and ensure the wider supply base is positioned to support both current delivery and future growth. The Opportunity As Supply Chain Bid Specialist, you’ll operate at the heart of bid and capture activity, using your supplier knowledge, commercial insight and stakeholder-management skills to help strengthen proposals and improve bid confidence.
You’ll be responsible for identifying, engaging and evaluating suppliers, developing strong commercial relationships and helping ensure each bid has access to the right capability, value and innovation. This is a highly collaborative, fast-paced role suited to someone who enjoys influencing strategy, negotiating for value and working across multiple stakeholders to support successful business growth.
Key Responsibilities You’ll play a key role in supporting successful bids and supply chain strategy by: Building and maintaining a strong network of suppliers aligned to current and future business needs. Partnering with Business Development and wider bid teams to shape supply chain strategies across opportunities. Identifying, engaging and down-selecting suppliers based on capability, value and innovation.
Acting as a central point of contact for supplier engagement throughout the bid process. Developing and maintaining strong, collaborative supplier relationships. Supporting the development and implementation of fit-for-purpose contracts in line with business requirements. Contributing to bid planning, reporting and governance activity. Ensuring key bid timelines, objectives and supplier actions are effectively managed.
Negotiating with suppliers to achieve strong commercial outcomes. Promoting social value and responsible sourcing across the supply chain. Supporting future growth by ensuring supplier capability is aligned to anticipated programme demand. About You You’ll have proven experience supporting bids, proposals or commercial activity within a supply chain or procurement environment. You will also have: Experience supporting bid or proposal activity, ideally within Defence, engineering or another regulated environment.
A strong track record of building and managing supplier relationships. Demonstrable negotiation experience with a focus on delivering commercial value. Good knowledge of procurement principles. A strong understanding of contract law. Excellent stakeholder-management and relationship-building skills. The ability to influence effectively across multiple teams and functions. Strong organisational skills with the ability to manage competing priorities and deadlines.
A proactive, commercially focused approach in fast-paced environments. Desirable Experience It would be advantageous if you also have: CIPS Level 5, or are currently working towards it. WorldCC or an equivalent commercial accreditation. Knowledge of international trade compliance, including ITAR, EAR or similar frameworks. We welcome applications from candidates who may not meet every preferred requirement but can demonstrate relevant experience, strong potential and a willingness to develop.
Security Clearance Due to the nature of the work, applicants must be UK nationals and must be able to gain and maintain SC-level UK Government security clearance. Why Apply? This is a fantastic opportunity to take on a commercially influential supply chain role supporting complex, high-profile progr