Bid and Funding Manager (JHB) at Datafin Recruitment

ENVIRONMENT:

• A South African-based education and skills development entity is seeking a Bid Office Manager who is responsible for building, managing, and executing the Group’s R1 billion+ funding pipeline.
• This is a critical Q1 hire under the GCOS Commercial Resource Plan and sits directly within the Group Shared Services function under the Commercial Executive.
• The role owns the end-to-end bid lifecycle – from funder intelligence and pipeline construction, through proposal development, to submission, compliance, and win-rate optimisation.

DUTIES

Bid Pipeline Construction & Funder Intelligence

• Build and maintain a live, CRM-based bid register covering funding opportunities across SETAs, government departments, DFIs, and corporate SD funders
• Monitor funder portals, gazette notices, EOI releases, and industry intelligence channels to identify bid opportunities ?90 days before application windows open
• Maintain a rolling 12-month bid calendar and present it to the CE at weekly pipeline review
• Flag emerging opportunities and at-risk submissions
• Build institutional relationships with procurement contacts and programme managers at key funders to gain early intelligence
• Track competitor bid activity and maintain a competitor intelligence file

Proposal Development & Submission Management

• Own the end-to-end proposal development process for each bid submission
• Coordinate technical input from Academy MDs, programme design from Operations Executive, financial schedules from Finance, and compliance documentation from SETA Coordinator
• Draft executive summaries, organisational capability sections, technical proposals, and implementation plans
• Build and maintain a company profile library, case study bank, learner outcomes database, accreditation register, facilitator CVs, and venue documentation
• Execute pre-submission compliance check against evaluator’s scoring criteria
• Coordinate DocuSign-based approval workflows for CE and MD sign-off
• Submit bids on behalf of the Group through funder portals
• Confirm receipt, track evaluation timelines, and manage post-submission clarification requests
• Develop and enforce standardised bid templates for technical proposals, pricing schedules, and capability statements
• Ensure consistent structure across all submissions aligned to evaluator scoring frameworks

Bid Document Design & Presentation Excellence

• Own the visual quality, formatting, and presentation of all bid submissions
• Ensure proposals are professionally formatted, visually engaging, and easy to evaluate
• Maintain and continuously improve bid templates, formatting standards, and visual storytelling approaches
• Structure all submissions to align clearly with evaluation criteria
• Use formatting, headings, and visual cues to guide evaluators through responses

Pricing, Margin & Commercial Structuring

• Develop per-learner cost models, management fee structures, and contingency calculations in coordination with CE and Finance
• Ensure all proposals meet the Group’s GPM (mandatory gate before submission)
• Maintain a pricing reference library of approved per-learner rates, programme fee benchmarks, and funder-specific pricing norms
• Provide deal-structuring input on blended finance bids

Post-Submission Management & Win/Loss Analysis

• Track all submitted bids from submission to award/rejection; maintain real-time status updates in CRM bid register
• Conduct structured win/loss debrief for every bid outcome, document evaluator feedback, score gaps, and improvement recommendations
• Report on bid pipeline health, submission volume, win rate, and forecast revenue at monthly Commercial Scorecard review and EXCO report
• Continuously improve the bid production system, developing templates, process improvements, and quality standards

DFI, Donor & Grant Application Management

• Support CE on DFI and donor funding applications (concept note development, technical proposal writing, budget preparation, due diligence document submission)
• Maintain compliance documentation for DFI funders (audit reports, B-BBEE certificates, QCTO accreditations, delivery track record reports, M&E frameworks, organisational capacity statements)
• Track DFI and grant application pipelines separately from SETA bids
• Manage longer lead-time applications (90-180 days) with appropriate milestone tracking

Internal Stakeholder Coordination

• Serve as single point of coordination between CE, Academy MDs, Finance, Delivery, and Legal for all bid-related activities
• Brief Academy MDs on upcoming bid opportunities; obtain technical input, delivery commitment, and capacity confirmation within defined timeframes
• Work with Marketing Manager on bid collateral quality (company profiles, design standards, case study content, branded submission formats)
• Define standards for bid-ready content (case studies, credentials, impact data)
• Ensure all marketing collateral is structured for reuse in proposals
• Implement formal bid quality assurance framework (technical review, commercial review, presentation review)
• Introduce bid scoring before submission (internal “mock evaluation”)

REQUIREMENTS:

Education – Minimum

• Bachelor’s degree in Business, Commerce, Public Administration, Law, or a related field

Education – Preferred

• Postgraduate qualification in Procurement, Project Management, Development Finance, or Public Policy
• APMP certification (advantageous)

Experience – Minimum

• 5+ years in bid management, proposal writing, or funding/grants management
• Demonstrable track record of successful submissions

Derived Requirements

Experience & Knowledge

• Experience building and maintaining CRM-based bid registers
• Knowledge of SETA funding landscape (W&R SETA, SERVICES SETA, MICT SETA, FASSET, INSETA, etc.)
• Knowledge of government department funding (NSF, UIF/LAP, WC DEDAT, KZN EDTEA, GP GDID, DTIC)
• Knowledge of DFI funding (AfDB, IDC, NDB, EU)
• Experience monitoring funder portals, gazette notices, and EOI releases
• Competitor intelligence gathering and analysis experience
• Experience with DFI and donor grant applications (concept notes, due diligence)
• Knowledge of blended finance deal structuring

Skills & Abilities

• End-to-end proposal development and submission management
• Drafting executive summaries, technical proposals, and implementation plans
• Building and maintaining content libraries (case studies, CVs, accreditation registers)
• Compliance checking against evaluator scoring criteria
• DocuSign or similar approval workflow coordination
• Developing standardised bid templates
• Professional document formatting and visual design for proposals
• Creating charts, infographics, and structured layouts
• Developing per-learner cost models and management fee structures
• Margin/GPM analysis and confirmation
• Win/loss analysis and debrief facilitation
• Pipeline reporting and forecasting
• Internal stakeholder coordination across multiple departments
• Briefing senior leadership (Academy MDs, CE)
• Quality assurance framework implementation
• Mock evaluation / internal bid scoring

Personal & Behavioural

• Ability to work without authority to obtain technical input
• Comfortable managing multiple concurrent bids at different stages
• Ability to triage and prioritise when pipeline is congested
• Maintains high accuracy under tight deadlines
• Factual representation (no inflated claims, no copied content, no compliance misrepresentation)

Process & Systems

• Ability to build repeatable bid systems (living register, compliance checklist, content library)
• Ability to enforce mandatory internal review buffers (e.g., 5-day buffer)
• Ability to maintain a rolling 12-month bid calendar
• Ability to manage longer lead-time applications (90-180 days)

Collaboration & Stakeholder Management

• Ability to coordinate with CE, Academy MDs, Finance, Delivery, Legal, and Marketing Manager
• Ability to obtain delivery commitment and capacity confirmation from busy MDs
• Ability to work with Marketing on collateral quality and brand standards

CORE ATTRIBUTES

• Deadline Absolutism
• Technical Writing Excellence
• Process Architecture
• Commercial Intelligence
• Cross-functional Influence
• Resilience & Volume Capacity
• Attention to Detail
• Ethical Integrity