Principal/Lead Bid Owner, Capture Manager, Bid Director, Proposal Director, or Pre-Sales/Pursuit Lead

hackajob is collaborating with Kainos to connect them with exceptional professionals for this role.

We are building a world-class Business Development capability to support Kainos' continued growth. Our Public Sector business is central to that ambition: we help government and public sector organisations address complex challenges and improve services through AI, data and modern digital technology, including for clients like Home Office, Defra, HMCTS, Department for Transport and FCDO.

As a Principal Bid Owner in the Pre-Sales team, you will play a leading role in improving how Kainos is positioned to win large, complex and strategically important Public Sector deals. This is an end-to-end pursuit leadership role, not solely a bid-writing role; you will turn client insight, solution thinking, commercial context and competitive positioning into a clear value proposition, compelling win strategy and world-class bid response. You will be accountable for the articulation and coherence of the solution in the response, including understanding proposed technical and delivery approaches and working with specialists to strengthen them.

You will work collaboratively with Sales Leads, Bid Managers, Solution Consultants, delivery specialists, commercial colleagues, partners and other subject matter experts. You will provide direction, guidance and judgement across the pursuit, while remaining accountable for the coherence, quality and client relevance of the overall bid response.

You will be responsible for the narrative execution of the strategic pursuit in a winning bid response, by:

Pursuit leadership

• Shaping the proposition; using client, market and opportunity insight to understand the client's needs, priorities, intended outcomes, context and procurement drivers, and create a relevant, differentiated value proposition

• Articulating the win strategy; turning customer insight, competitive positioning and Kainos' strengths into clear, consistently applied win themes, differentiators and messages

• Owning the articulation of a winning bid solution; ensuring the solution, delivery approach, evidence and client benefits form a coherent proposition

• Understanding and strengthening the proposed approach; working collaboratively with technical and delivery specialists to explore assumptions, identify gaps, assess risk and ensure the approach is credible and persuasive

• Connecting capability to client need; bringing together Kainos, partner and consortium capabilities to address client challenges and ensuring the pursuit team resolves material gaps

• Providing pursuit leadership and constructive challenge; setting quality expectations, challenging weak or generic thinking, resolving inconsistencies and enabling timely decisions across a multi-disciplinary team

Response development

• Leading storyboarding and response development; facilitating workshops to define the response structure, key messages and question-level approach before drafting

• Holding the pen for the overall response; writing, editing and integrating complex technical, delivery, commercial and operational input into clear, client-specific and persuasive content

• Engaging subject matter experts effectively; using structured interviews, workshops and knowledge elicitation to secure required insight and evidence while using specialist time efficiently

• Owning end-to-end narrative quality; ensuring the final submission is coherent, differentiated, evidence-based, aligned to evaluation criteria and consistent with the agreed solution and win strategy

• Ensuring compliance and assurance; confirming the response meets formal client requirements and completes appropriate Kainos reviews and assurance

• Working with the Bid Manager and wider pursuit team to support effective planning, governance, reviews and timely submission

Continuous Improvement

• Improving pursuit practice; applying lessons, market insight, feedback and AI-enabled approaches to improve bid quality, productivity and consistency across teams

• Developing others; coaching colleagues in proposition development, storyboarding, persuasive writing and response quality, and sharing good practice across pursuit teams

MINIMUM (ESSENTIAL) REQUIREMENTS:

• Evidence of success in senior pursuit, pre-sales or bid leadership roles, including accountability for strategically important, high-value and complex opportunities

• Demonstrable experience of holding the pen on complex bid responses; writing, editing and integrating technical, delivery, commercial and operational inputs to create coherent, differentiated and world-class content

• Proven ability to exercise sound judgement, prioritise what matters most and make effective decisions in complex pursuits where information may be incomplete or changing

• Established credibility with senior sales, delivery, technical, commercial and partner stakeholders, with examples of aligning different interests and securing decisions without formal authority

• Broad understanding of modern digital-service delivery and the commercial factors that determine whether a proposition is credible, deliverable, competitive and viable

• Strong knowledge of the UK Public Sector digital and technology market, including client priorities, procurement and evaluation practices, Government Digital Service standards and common routes to market

• Evidence of communicating complex ideas with clarity and authority, demonstrated through successful proposals, executive-level recommendations or other high-stakes written and verbal communication

• A track record of raising performance beyond individual pursuits by developing people, improving methods and embedding learning across teams

DESIRABLE:

• Experience gained from more than one relevant perspective, for example sales, consulting, solutioning, delivery or commercial leadership

• Professional accreditation in bid, proposal or capture management

• Practical experience using generative AI or automation to improve pursuit insight, quality or productivity, with appropriate controls for accuracy, confidentiality and responsible use