Bid Manager
Sales & Business Development
harwell, didcot ox11, uk
Aim high, go beyond!
At Open Cosmos we are solving the world’s biggest challenges from space, providing businesses, governments and researchers access to more readily available information than ever before - ready for the challenge? Then read on…
Working in our Chief Revenue Office (CRO)
Our CRO division drives the commercial growth of Open Cosmos. The team works across business development, marketing, and customer success to connect with partners worldwide, understand their needs, and turn opportunities into space missions. Their work expands our reach and ensures we deliver meaningful impact for customers and end users.
The Growth team acts as the powerhouse of the company, ensuring the immediate needs of the customers are swiftly met and the future ones are translated into a product roadmap and deliverable projects.
Each member of the team combines a mix of programmatic, system engineering, and commercial skills with specific strengths.
What will you be doing?
As Bid Manager, you’ll play a key role in ensuring that Open Cosmos’s future mission opportunities are properly addressed through effective coordination, collaboration, and delivery.
You’ll work closely with our Mission Concept Engineers and Business Development (BD) teams to manage complex proposals, while also supporting team reporting, workload assessment, forecasting, and opportunity pipeline analytics. Your role will have two major functions: proposal management and bid operations.
Proposal Management:
Coordinate the full proposal process from go/no-go through submission — ensuring quality, compliance, and on-time delivery
Set up proposal templates and manage updates to shared documentation (company profiles, WPDs, CVs, and literature)
Lead large and complex bids in collaboration with Mission Concept Engineers (MCE) and internal stakeholders across engineering, finance, and commercial teams
Liaise with external partners and suppliers to coordinate joint proposals and consortium responses
Support the definition of bid strategy with MCE and BDs, including win themes, partner alignment, and pricing structure
Bid Operations:
Produce analytics and summaries of the company’s opportunity pipeline to support team and leadership decision-making
Track and report workload forecasts, ensuring visibility of resources and priorities
Maintain structured bid monitoring systems and digital tools for tracking opportunities, submissions, and outcomes
Contribute to the improvement of proposal processes and documentation efficiency
What You’ll bring
You’ll combine structured project management with creative problem-solving — balancing technical understanding with commercial awareness.
You’ll have:
Proven ability to manage complex, multi-stakeholder bids or proposals
Understanding of ESA/EU/national space or high-technology procurement frameworks
Excellent organisational, analytical, and communication skills
The ability to manage large documentation sets with precision and consistency
Confidence working cross-functionally and aligning diverse teams to deadlines
This role will be based in any of our locations.
To apply, you must have the legal right to work in this location.
When applying, please submit your CV in English.
Why Open Cosmos?
Work at the cutting edge of space technology with customers around the globe
A mission-driven company making space accessible to help solve real-world challenges
A diverse, ambitious, and supportive team
Equal opportunity employer
At Open Cosmos, we are dedicated to fostering a workplace built on respect, dignity, and belonging. As an equal opportunity employer, we actively challenge bias to ensure every candidate and employee feels truly welcome. We celebrate diversity in all its forms and are committed to maintaining an inclusive environment where everyone has the opportunity to thrive.