Senior BD Manager

Senior Manager - Business Development & Bid Management

About the role

As a Senior Manager - Business Development & Bid Management, you will make an impact by driving strategic pursuits, leading complex bid opportunities, and enabling business growth across key industry sectors. You will be a valued member of the Business Development organization, partnering with sales, delivery, consulting, commercial, and service-line teams to develop compelling client solutions, strengthen pursuit outcomes, and create meaningful business opportunities.

This role offers the opportunity to influence strategic deals, guide high-performing teams, and contribute directly to revenue growth and market expansion.

In this role, you will:

• Lead end-to-end bid and pursuit management for medium to large-scale RFP, RFI, and proactive sales opportunities.
• Drive complex pursuits by orchestrating cross-functional stakeholders to deliver competitive proposals, compelling value propositions, and winning solutions.
• Partner with solution, commercial, and pricing teams to shape pursuit strategies, win themes, and differentiated client outcomes.
• Support business growth through market intelligence, competitor analysis, deal analytics, win-loss assessments, prospect research, and demand generation initiatives.
• Build strong executive relationships while leading client engagements, strategic visits, sales enablement activities, and mentoring business development professionals.

Work model

We believe hybrid work is the way forward as we strive to provide flexibility wherever possible. Based on this role's business requirements, this is a hybrid position requiring attendance at a Cognizant office or client location as needed.

The working arrangements for this role are accurate as of the date of posting. This may change based on the project you're engaged in, as well as business and client requirements. Rest assured; we will always be clear about role expectations.

What you need to have to be considered

• 7-15 years of experience in Business Development, Pursuit Management, Bid Management, Presales, or Sales Support functions.
• Proven experience leading end-to-end bid and pursuit management activities for large and complex opportunities.
• Strong understanding of solution development, proposal management, pricing, and commercial constructs.
• Experience conducting market research, customer research, competitor intelligence, demand generation, and sales enablement activities.
• Ability to create compelling client-facing proposals, executive presentations, pursuit collateral, and business development assets.
• Strong stakeholder management skills with experience working with senior leaders and cross-functional teams.
• Experience leading teams, mentoring talent, and driving collaboration in matrixed organizations.
• Excellent communication, analytical, presentation, and relationship management capabilities.

These will help you stand out

• Industry experience across Manufacturing, Logistics, Automotive, Energy, and Utilities sectors.
• Experience supporting business development and presales initiatives within the UK & Ireland (UKI) market.
• Exposure to executive client engagement programs and strategic client visit planning.
• Experience developing reusable pursuit assets, case studies, and knowledge-management frameworks.
• Strong understanding of pipeline analytics, pursuit performance metrics, and win-loss analysis.
• Ability to balance strategic thinking with hands-on pursuit execution across multiple opportunities.

We're excited to meet people who share our mission and can make an impact in a variety of ways. Don't hesitate to apply, even if you only meet the minimum requirements listed. Think about your transferable experiences and unique skills that make you stand out as someone who can bring new and exciting things to this role