Department/Division:Marketing & Fundraising

Job Title:Bid Writer

Location:Based at Deaf Cultural Centre (occasional national travel)

Grade:8

Accountable to :Head of Marketing & Fundraising

Overall Purpose of the Job

  • To write effective, concise and compelling tenders that fully meet the needs identified in the tender specification, while under timeline pressure.
  • To obtain accurate, high quality information from all bid stakeholders.
  • To create trust and grant applications as requested (secondary activity).
  • To undertake the creation and distribution of all PQQs and ITTs.
  • To lead on all aspects of the project management for bids, from analysis through to project planning, draft and final production and delivery.
  • To hold responsibility for the implementation and maintenance of a structured and compliant bid process.
  • To work to a set of key performance indicators including financial targets.
  • To manage multiple proposals simultaneously, often with tight response times.
  • To be an excellent communicator, demonstrating high attention to detail and excellent editing and proofing skills.

Principal Accountabilities

  • To take an innovative and creative approach to service development and bid writing.
  • To undertake project research/user consultations to ensure good understanding of need and project impact.
  • To Liaise with Senior Management and Service Managers as required to develop proposals ensuring bids have a strategic fit with the organisation and are operationally deliverable.
  • To liaise with potential partners and broker appropriate partnerships and submit consortium funding bids.
  • To keep up-to-date with best practice in developments regarding new sources of income.
  • To understand prospective commissioners’ aims with a view to maximising sustainable opportunities, with a particular focus on the public sector.
  • To research current political and social developments which may have a bearing on service development and funding for the future.
  • To track the progress and maintain accurate records of funding applications. Provide management information to assist understanding of achievement against service development income targets and strategic objectives.
  • To attend relevant funding events as appropriate.
  • To undertake consultation exercises as required to inform service design and funding proposals.
  • To undertake presentations to groups to enhance awareness of the needs of the people we support and the other communities that BID works with.
  • Develop a broad network of professional and non-professional contacts and partners and build good relationships.
  • Represent the organisation and its objectives at meetings and in links with external agencies, advocating the merits of the organisation in a positive manner at all times.
  • To be self-sufficient with administration tasks, utilising I.T. accordingly.
  • To possess high attention to detail and the ability to adopt a structured, highly organised approach to work.
  • To promote quality standards throughout BID in line with IIP and any other relevant standards.
  • To work in accordance with organisational policies and practices, including Health and Safety and Equal Opportunities.
  • To improve skills and knowledge by participating in personal development as appropriate and attend appropriate training courses and other events as requested by the Director.
  • To be able to travel freely nationally, maintaining flexibility in terms of both working approach and location.

Person Specification Form

Department/Division:Marketing & Fundraising

Job Title:Bid Writer

Location:Deaf Cultural Centre

Method of assessment: ‘AF’ = application form, ‘I’ = interview, ‘T’ = test, ‘P’ = presentation and ‘E’ = exercise

Knowledge
Essential / Desirable
AF/I / Strong experience in public sector tender and procurement process with proven bid team involvement. / AF/I / Of recording and monitoring statistical information
AF/I / Of disability issues / AF/I / Of deafness and sensory impairment
AF/I / Of equal opportunities / AF/I / An awareness of deaf issues and the needs of deaf people and other disabilities eg sub groups
AF/I / Comprehensive understanding of the care sector. / AF/I
Skills
Essential / Desirable
AF/I/E / High attention to detail with excellent editing and proofing ability
AF/I
E / High quality report writing based on excellent literacy skills and an extensive vocabulary. / AF/I / Journalist, Marketing or PR experience.
AF/I / Good grasp of technology and IT, with particular regard to online tender portals.
AF/I / Ability to set up and establish projects
AF/I / Ability to take ownership and be accountable for achieving all deliverables.
AF/I / Effective management skills.
Experience
Essential / Desirable
AF/I / Of community development work
AF/I / Of facilitation/group work
AF/I / Of developing and managing projects
AF/I / Of partnership working with statutory and voluntary organizations at a senior level
AF/I / Of working with user representatives
AF/I / Of submitting tenders offline and online.
AF/I / A good track record of attracting funding/successful bid and trust and grant applications.
Personal Qualities
Essential / Desirable
I / Excellent interpersonal skills
I / Self-motivated, driven individual with strong desire to succeed.
I / To have a flexible attitude with the ability to prioritise own workload, working to deadlines and managing competing priorities.
I / Ability to work both as part of a team and alone
I / Able to network and build good relationships
Ability work under pressure to meet tight deliverable dates.
I / P / Excellent communications skills and the ability to present to audiences of varied levels and professionals
Qualifications
Essential / Desirable
AF / British Sign Language
AF/I / English language qualification. PR experience. / AF / Journalistic, PR or marketing qualification.
Circumstances
Essential / Desirable
AF/I / Able to work flexible hours, including evenings and weekends, as dictated by the needs of the job
AF/I / Able to travel freely within the UK region and maintain flexibility in terms of working location
REWARD STRATEGY

BID Services (BID) operates within the voluntary sector and we are mindful that it is not appropriate for our reward strategy to be financially driven, we however recognise the importance of making use of a range of non-financial reward initiatives to motivate employees to perform and to keep them engaged.

Our Reward Strategy is to work towards adopting a total reward scheme that creates a high level of employee engagement, recognising that pay is not the only motivator and acknowledging the importance of both tangible and non-tangible rewards. It embraces the company culture, and is aimed at giving all employees a voice in the organization; such a scheme is important in attracting, retaining and motivating a diverse, high caliber workforce.

The benefits of achieving a total reward scheme are:

Better business performance & productivity
Improved retention
Easier recruitment of quality employees
Enhanced reputation as an employer of choice

A total reward scheme encompasses the following

WORKPLACE CULTURE

BID have a strong workplace culture that is driven by our core values : Innovation, Professional, Quality, Caring. We embrace equality and diversity, in fact over 39% of our employees have a disability. We work within a culture of respect, diversity and inclusion.

BID promote an engaging culture with mechanisms in place that allow employees to be able to raise matters of concern and be involved as much as possible in decisions that affect the way work is done e.g.

Regular Supervision Sessions
Team Meetings
Working Groups
Employee Surveys
Representation at ICE meetings
(Information and Consultation of Employment)

Employees are encouraged to participate in fundraising and community events that make a difference to service users that we support. We celebrate our successes at staff conferences and through other corporate events.

We recognize the advantages of effective team working and that some employees thrive on fulfilling a challenging role and having a high degree of autonomy at work. Health and wellness and achieving work life balance is equally important, and therefore we have flexible working systems in place.

Our culture encourages career development with training learning and development opportunities that support personal growth.

PAY

As a voluntary organization in the current economic climate BID have to be realistic about levels of pay to sustain the quality delivery of local authority contracts that often have little or no increase in monetary value.

BID have a narrow-banded grading system whereby pay is determined by length of service. We determine remuneration levels from appropriate ‘pay market’ information to ensure that our rates of pay remain competitive and our strong commitment to equal opportunities means that employees will be paid equally regardless of their gender.

Our salaries for employees are reviewed in April each year and when budgets allow a cost of living increase is awarded. Competence related pay is adopted when employees can be re-graded based upon achieving professional qualifications or being able to demonstrate that they are working at a higher competent level

CAREER PROGRESSION

BID are an Investor in People investing generously in training, learning and development and offer a wide range of regular in-house training and access to external training to develop skills and career.

There are in-house management development programmes and sponsorship to purse formal professional qualifications. We recognize the benefits of such investment to develop knowledge, skills and abilities so that everyone can reach their full potential with the organization benefiting from increased competitive advantage within the market place.

Following an equal opportunities ethos there are many internal development and progression opportunities advertised internally so that employees can gain new skills in a different job role.

Through professional supervision practices, line managers review progress and are constantly looking for ways to move people in in their careers. Supervision allows for regular performance management with open communication that enables employees to receive praise, recognition and respect for achievements, further contributing to engagement, motivation, autonomy, trust and development.

There are a range of informal recognition schemes in place that acknowledge employee’s dedication and contributions.

BENEFITS

There are a number of benefits available to employees, these include schemes that pay more favourable rates than dictated by statutory guidelines:

Pension Schemes
Auto-enrollment for employees commencing after 1/8/14
Occupational Sick Pay
Occupational Maternity, Adoption & Paternity Pay
for employees commencing before 1/4/13
Child Care Vouchers
Interest Free Loans for Parking Permits

Employees can enjoy flexible working arrangements so they can balance work demands with their lives outside of work to achieve a degree of work life balance:

Right to request flexible working policy
Homeworking
Flexible Time Off in Lieu Scheme
Health Care Scheme
Paid Time Off

BID provide generous annual leave entitlements: that rewards employees for their length of service with the organisation, and with the majority of posts 8 bank holidays are additional to contractual annual leave.

Reflecting our caring culture there are generous entitlements of paid special leave to cover unexpected eventualities in times of crisis.

Bid Writer Job Description – May 2016