Proposal Writer/Bid Writer

Proposal Writer/Bid Writer

Position Description
At CGI, we are proud to provide services and solutions to our clients, solving some of the most complex IT challenges in the UK. In this role, you will play a pivotal part in our pre-sales journey, bringing our capability to life and helping us win new business. Here, you'll be encouraged to take ownership of your work, think creatively to unlock new propositions and thrive within a supportive community that enables you to grow your career with purpose.
CGI was recognised in the Sunday Times Best Places to Work List 2025 and has been named a UK 'Best Employer' by the Financial Times. We offer a competitive salary, excellent pension, private healthcare, plus a share scheme (3.5% + 3.5% matching) which makes you a CGI Partner not just an employee. We are committed to inclusivity, building a genuinely diverse community of tech talent and inspiring everyone to pursue careers in our sector, including our Armed Forces and are proud to hold a Gold Award in recognition of our support of the Armed Forces Corporate Covenant. Join us and you'll be part of an open, friendly community of experts. We'll train and support you in taking your career wherever you want it to go.
We are seeking a motivated and collaborative Proposal Writer to join our bid and proposal team focused in the Energy & Utilities sector. The successful candidate will play a key role in developing high-quality, compliant and compelling proposal responses that clearly communicate our capabilities, technical solutions and our value proposition to clients.
Aligned to the Shipley proposal management framework, this role will focus on producing clear, persuasive proposal content that supports all stages of the bid lifecycle, from storyboard development through to final response submission. The Proposal Writer will work closely with bid managers, solution architects, technical subject matter experts, commercial teams and wider stakeholders to ensure proposal outputs are customer-focused, compliant, easy to understand and aligned to win themes.
This role is suited to a self-starting team player who is comfortable engaging technical teams, asking the right questions and translating complex technical information into clear, well-structured proposal responses.
Key Responsibilities:
Proposal Writing and Content Development:

. Write, edit and refine proposal responses that are clear, compliant, persuasive and aligned to customer requirements.
. Translate complex technical solutions, delivery approaches and capability statements into accessible, client-focused content.
. Ensure proposal responses clearly articulate benefits, outcomes, differentiators and evidence of capability.
. Develop content that reflects agreed win themes, value propositions, solution messaging and evaluation criteria.
. Tailor existing content, case studies, credentials and standard responses to meet the specific needs of each tender.
. Maintain consistency of Our Voice and Our Look. Manage the tone, structure, terminology and messaging across proposal documents.
. Maintain word count without losing quality or the context of the response.

Shipley-Aligned Proposal Management Support:

. Apply Shipley best practices to support structured proposal development, including compliance, responsiveness, customer focus and persuasive writing.
. Support the development of proposal outlines, response plans, compliance matrices, content plans and review materials.
. Contribute to proposal strategy discussions, including win themes, discriminators, customer hot buttons and evidence requirements.
. Support colour team reviews by preparing content, incorporating feedback and improving response quality throughout the proposal lifecycle.
. Ensure proposal content answers the customer's question directly and demonstrates a clear understanding of their needs.

Storyboarding and Response Planning:

. Own and facilitate storyboard sessions for proposal response documents.
. Work with bid managers and subject matter experts to define the structure, key messages, proof points and evidence required for each response.
. Convert storyboard outputs into coherent proposal narratives and fully developed written responses.
. Challenge and refine storyboard content to ensure it is compelling, compliant and easy for evaluators to score.
. Ensure each response has a clear narrative flow, logical structure and strong alignment to evaluation criteria.

Stakeholder and Technical Team Engagement:

. Engage confidently with technical teams, solution architects, delivery leads and subject matter experts to elicit relevant capability, solution detail and supporting evidence.
. Ask targeted questions to uncover differentiators, delivery benefits, risks, assumptions and client value.
. Facilitate content development discussions and drive clarity where technical input is complex, incomplete, or highly detailed.
. Build strong working relationships across the bid team and wider business to support efficient proposal development.
. Work collaboratively with contributors to obtain, refine and validate proposal content within agreed deadlines.

Compliance and Tender Support:

. Support the wider bid team in delivering compliant tender responses.
. Review tender documentation to understand requirements, response instructions, evaluation criteria and mandatory content.
. Ensure written responses address all client questions and comply with formatting, structure, page count and submission requirements.
. Support the development and maintenance of compliance matrices and response trackers.
. Identify gaps, risks, inconsistencies, or areas requiring clarification in proposal content.
. Work with bid managers to ensure response documents are complete, accurate and ready for submission.

Quality, Review and Continuous Improvement:

. Edit and proofread proposal content for clarity, grammar, structure, consistency and impact.
. Incorporate review feedback effectively and improve proposal responses through iterative development.
. Support lessons learned activity and contribute to continuous improvement of proposal content, templates and processes.
. Maintain reusable proposal content and ensure it remains current, accurate and aligned to business capabilities.
. Promote best practice in proposal writing, storyboarding and structured response development.

Must-Have Skills and Experience:

. Proven experience in proposal writing, bid writing, technical writing, or business writing within a tender or proposal environment.
. Strong understanding of proposal development principles, preferably aligned to the Shipley proposal management framework.
. Excellent written communication skills, with the ability to produce clear, concise, persuasive and evaluator-friendly content.
. Ability to translate complex technical solutions into accessible proposal responses that are easy to digest and understand.
. Experience engaging technical subject matter experts to elicit information and shape it into compelling written content.
. Strong facilitation skills, including the ability to lead storyboard sessions and structure response narratives.
. Good understanding of tender compliance, response planning, evaluation criteria and bid submission requirements.
. Ability to work collaboratively as part of a wider bid team under tight deadlines.
. Strong attention to detail, with the ability to identify gaps, inconsistencies and areas for improvement.
. Self-motivated, proactive and able to take ownership of assigned proposal outputs.
. Strong organisational skills and the ability to manage multiple response sections, stakeholders and deadlines.
. Comfortable challenging content constructively to improve clarity, compliance and persuasiveness.
. Good working knowledge of AI toolsets (ChatGPT, Claude and CoPilot). With excellent skills with Microsoft Word, PowerPoint, SharePoint and Teams.

Personal Attributes

. Collaborative team player who works well with others across different disciplines and levels of seniority.
. Confident communicator who can engage technical, commercial and delivery stakeholders.
. Self-starting, motivated and able to work with limited supervision.
. Curious and questioning, with the ability to quickly understand new solutions, services and client requirements.
. Calm under pressure and able to maintain quality while working to fixed bid deadlines.
. Detail-oriented, structured and committed to producing high-quality proposal outputs.
. Positive, flexible and willing to support the wider bid team where required.

Desirable Skills

. Energy & Utility sector knowledge.
. Shipley training or practical experience working within a Shipley-aligned bid environment.
. Experience writing proposals for technology, digital, IT services, consulting, outsourcing, systems integration, or managed services.
. Experience supporting colour team reviews, including Pink, Red, Gold, or similar review stages.
. Experience developing case studies, capability statements, executive summaries and technical response content.
. Knowledge of public sector or regulated procurement processes.

Success Measures
The successful Proposal Writer will be expected to:

. Produce clear, compliant and compelling proposal responses.
. Improve the readability and quality of technical response content.
. Facilitate effective storyboarding and response planning.
. Support bid teams in meeting deadlines and tender requirements.
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