Bid Project Manager (With Ad Agency Background)

Role: Bid Project Manager (With Ad Agency Background)

Location:  Remote working until further notice

 

A Little Bit About the Role: 

This is an opportunity to join as a Bid Project Manager, leading end-to-end pitch delivery across new business bids, RFPs, client-facing campaign pitches, and cross-market opportunities.

Pitches are high-stakes, fast-moving, and rarely straightforward. You'll bring the structure, clarity, and coordination that turns ambitious briefs into compelling submissions, on time, every time. Your project management expertise will hold complex workstreams together across creative, strategy, and leadership teams, directly shaping the organisation’s ability to win and grow business.

The Bid Project Manager is the operational backbone of the organisation’s new business activity. You'll own the project management of pitches from brief to final submission — building plans, managing resources, aligning stakeholders, and keeping teams focused under pressure.

This is a blended role. You'll bring strong individual craft: rigorous process management, clear communication, and a sharp instinct for what pitches need to succeed. You'll also provide guidance and support to junior PMs or coordinators within the team, sharing expertise and helping build collective capability in a fast-paced environment.

Pitches vary in type and scale — from standalone new business opportunities to complex, multi-market bids — and no two are the same. You'll need to move between strategic oversight and granular detail, adapting your approach to what each pitch demands.

AT its core, this is still a Creative Agency PM, however the experience of being involved in Pitches is a major part.

WHAT YOU'LL DO

• Run end-to-end project management of pitches across new business, client-facing, and cross-market opportunities — from brief receipt through to final submission.
• Build and maintain detailed project plans, timelines, and resource schedules, ensuring all workstreams stay on track and stakeholders remain aligned.
• Coordinate cross-functional teams — creative, strategy, production, and senior leadership — facilitating clear communication, accountability, and decision-making at every stage.
• Identify risks, dependencies, and blockers early; escalate where needed and propose practical solutions to maintain momentum.
• Manage pitch budgets at project level, including cost estimation, purchase orders, invoicing, and reconciliation; source and negotiate with freelancers and production partners where required.
• Guide and support junior PMs or coordinators on pitch projects, sharing process knowledge and helping develop their skills.
• Maintain and continuously improve pitch management tools, templates, and workflows to build team efficiency and shared institutional knowledge.
• Serve as the primary project management point of contact for senior internal stakeholders throughout each pitch lifecycle, providing regular, clear status updates.
• Collaborate with teams across markets on cross-market pitches, navigating different time zones, team structures, and deliverable requirements.
• Apply generative AI tools and agentic thinking to streamline pitch workflows, improve documentation, and enhance overall team output.

What You'll Bring

• Demonstrable project management experience in an agency, in-house studio, or new business environment, with a track record of delivering complex, multi-stakeholder projects on time and to brief.
• Experience owning pitch processes end-to-end, with a clear understanding of what drives pitch success.
• Proficiency with project management platforms such as Monday.com, Asana, or Smartsheet, and fluency in Google Workspace and/or Microsoft 365.
• Experience managing project-level production budgets, including cost estimation, supplier negotiation, and financial reconciliation.
• Strong communication and stakeholder management skills — able to engage senior leaders and keep cross-functional teams aligned day-to-day.
• Experience guiding or mentoring junior team members, with a collaborative and constructive approach to team development.
• Ability to manage multiple concurrent pitches, shifting between big-picture planning and detailed execution as needed.
• Sufficient familiarity with creative and production workflows to anticipate team needs and manage dependencies effectively.
• Advanced use of Gen AI tools to improve workflow efficiency and output quality, including experience designing AI-assisted workflows for a team.
• Agentic thinking: a systematic, goal-oriented approach to breaking down complex, multi-step projects and driving them forward.
• Strong understanding of AI capabilities and limitations, with a rigorous approach to human oversight and quality control.
• Professional proficiency in English. Additional language skills relevant to the African continent are welcome.

Qualifications: Formal degrees are welcome but not required. Equivalent experience counts. Experience can be gained through work, study, volunteering, or self-directed learning.

 

Req ID: 18310

#LI-SJ1 #MID # REMOTE #BTG+