Senior Bid Writer

apetito; Trowbridge; On-site; GBP 40,000 - 55,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading food supplier in the UK is seeking a Senior Bid Writer to manage and enhance the bid process across various sectors. You will lead the writing of persuasive narratives and manage stakeholder relationships. The ideal candidate will have proven experience in bid writing, strong project management skills, and exceptional storytelling abilities. This role offers a competitive salary and robust benefits, reflecting our commitment to employee well-being.

Benefits

Competitive salary

25 days holiday plus bank holidays

Discretionary annual bonus scheme

Employer matched pension contributions

Life assurance scheme

Subsidised canteen

Free parking

Access to employee benefits with discounts

Qualifications

• Proven experience as a Bid Writer or Proposal Manager in healthcare or education sectors.
• Exceptional ability to turn complex information into clear, persuasive content.
• Experience with contract drafting and review, particularly customer agreements.

Responsibilities

• Lead the end-to-end bid process, from opportunity identification through to submission.
• Craft narratives that highlight unique value using storytelling.
• Manage and support the Tender Coordinator ensure compliance.

Skills

Storytelling

Copywriting

Stakeholder engagement

Project management

Attention to detail

Information management

Commercial literacy

Job description

Overview

As Senior Bid Writer you will own and manage the end-to-end bid process, ensuring submissions are compelling, accurate, and aligned with our strategic objectives. This role combines strategic storytelling and copywriting, with top-tier stakeholder engagement, commercial awareness, and robust project management.

Working closely with colleagues across Healthcare, Education, and Care Homes, you will extract insights, shape clear value propositions, and develop persuasive narratives that bring our story to life. You’ll also be responsible for overseeing the Tender Co‑ordinator, ensuring that administrative support, data management, and process coordination run seamlessly.

This role is central to evolving our bid capability — both in maintaining our strong success rates and in building the knowledge base, systems, and bid library needed to scale. You will be responsible for strengthening our Bid Library, including case studies and boilerplate content, ensuring we are better prepared for future tenders.

In addition, you will support the review and drafting of contracts for new customers and renewals, working alongside finance to ensure compliance and accuracy. By providing clear guidance and expertise, you will also help equip the sales team with tools to streamline onboarding and strengthen the overall customer journey.

This is an excellent opportunity for an experienced bid professional looking to step up into a manager‑level role with visibility across multiple sectors and a chance to shape our approach to winning business.

Who we are

apetito is the UK’s leading food supplier to the health and social care sectors serving more than 1,300 care homes, health care and education settings.

Our meals are expertly crafted by our dieticians and chefs, and then frozen to lock in the goodness.

Wiltshire Farm Foods, our sister company, is the UK’s largest ready meal supplier cooking and delivering over 330 different delicious frozen ready meals across the UK.

Responsibilities

• Lead the end‑to‑end bid process, from opportunity identification through to submission and feedback.
• Craft clear, persuasive, and engaging narratives that highlight our unique value, using storytelling and evidence to resonate with evaluators.
• Manage and support the Tender Co‑ordinator, ensuring effective coordination, database development, and submission compliance.
• Build and maintain a comprehensive bid library of case studies, boilerplate content, win themes, and lessons learned.
• Engage with senior stakeholders across the business to capture insights, differentiators, and commercial positioning.
• Review and interpret commercial information provided by internal teams, presenting pricing and value clearly and competitively.
• Support the writing and review of customer contracts and renewals, ensuring compliance in collaboration with finance and providing expertise to the sales team to streamline onboarding.
• Oversee research and intelligence gathering, including market trends, procurement frameworks, and competitor insights.
• Apply strong project and time management skills to coordinate multiple submissions to tight deadlines.
• Conduct post‑bid reviews to embed lessons learned and drive continuous improvement.
• Ensure tender processes remain productive during quieter seasons by focusing on database building, content development, and knowledge sharing.

About you

Essential Experience:

• Proven experience as a Bid Writer or Proposal Manager, ideally within healthcare, education, care homes, or regulated B2B sectors.
• Exceptional storytelling and copywriting ability, with the skill to turn complex information into clear, persuasive content.
• Strong stakeholder engagement skills, with confidence in interviewing and collaborating across all levels of the organisation.
• Excellent project and time management, able to juggle multiple deadlines without compromising quality.
• High levels of attention to detail and accuracy under pressure.
• Experience in information management, research, and maintaining content databases.
• Commercial literacy to understand and present pricing models and value propositions.
• Ability to manage and develop team members (e.g. Tenders Administrator).
• Familiarity with contract drafting and review, particularly in relation to customer agreements and renewals.

Desirable Experience:

• Experience with NHS or local authority procurement processes.
• Experience with Department for Education Public Procurement.
• Knowledge of CQC regulations or compliance frameworks relevant to healthcare and care.
• Familiarity with bid management software.
• Professional accreditation such as APMP.

Company Benefits

• Competitive salary – accredited Living Wage employer
• 25 days holiday per year, plus bank holidays
• Option to purchase up to 5 additional days holiday per year
• Discretionary annual bonus scheme
• Pension scheme – employer matched contributions up to 4%
• Life assurance scheme worth at least 1x annual salary
• Subsidised canteen
• Free parking
• Free turkey or voucher at Christmas
• Access to employee benefits including Perkbox with salary sacrifice options and retail discounts

Our Values

As a family-owned business, we take great pride in being a company that makes a real difference and is dedicated to creating outstanding meals to be proud of.

We develop a range of products designed to enhance health and well‑being for all our customers.

We are driven by a passion for service and dedicated to feeding some of the UK’s most vulnerable people.

We proudly support British food and farming, focusing on using the best ethical and sustainable produce in alignment with our goal to reach Net Zero by 2040.

Our ethical standards are recognised by the ETI and we are an accredited Living Wage employer.

Learn more about apetito’s commitment to a more sustainable future.

We embrace inclusion, empowering individuals from diverse backgrounds.

Our commitment to making a real difference extends to customers, communities, and staff and we're on a mission to build an inclusive workplace where everyone reaches their full potential.