Version 1 04 April 2022
Job Description guidance
Role title Proposal Manager
Role reports to Senior Bid Manager
Direct reports None
Indirect reports None
Level Level 5
Job family Commercial
Sub family Bids & Proposals
Product Group None
Department Partnership for Education
Location Malaysia (Kuala Lumpur) or India (Delhi / Bangalore)
Effective date 1 May 2025
Purpose of the role
Manage the production of high-quality and compelling proposals in a timely manner to support Cambridge-
based sales teams to win new business and maximise the value from existing clients, delivering growth for
Partnership for Education (Partnership) and a great experience and outcome for Cambridge clients and the
societies that they represent.
Key accountabilities
1. Manage all proposal production processes for Partnership for Education. This includes:
• Work collaboratively with relevant teams within Partnership and wider Cambridge University Press &
Assessment to determine and secure resources needed to provide relevant technical, commercial,
and other specialist inputs.
• Work with the Head of Education Reform, Senior Education Advisor and Business Development
Executive for the Asia–Pacific region on business development activities, , CRM use and activity
capture.
• Lead on the implementation of internal processes to produce all relevant submission document by
the relevant submission deadline.
• Collate any supplementary documentation for proposal submissions.
• Manage translation of these documentation if necessary
2. Oversee, and contribute to, content production for all proposals
• Lead on the drafting and quality assurance of all non-technical elements of the proposals to ensure
they are high quality and compliant with the terms of reference.
• Review and edit proposal inputs from a variety of stakeholders, typically involving contributions
from the Commercial team, Education Content & Solutions, internal and external partners
(including potential partners) and shared services.
Author: Click or tap here to enter text.
• Deliver consistent, high quality, best practice outputs by leveraging standardised, best practice
procedures and templates for response to formal applications. Undertake regular reviews of
outputs to drive continuous improvement.
3. Evaluate new business opportunities from a proposalmanagement and strategy perspective to
advise on feasibility of pursuit.
• Elements to be evaluated include deadlines, documentation to be readied for submission, scope,
commercials and in what capacity we develop the proposal.
4. Maintain a bank of standard information to be used routinely for the production of proposals
• Produce new, and amend existing, boilerplate information
• Liaise internally to retrieve, create, and update documents and information
• Standardise CVs, bios and photos
Key relationships (internal and external)
All teams within Partnership.
Within Cambridge University Press & Assessment:
• Technical teams:
o International Education: Assessment, Curriculum, Operations Team, Cambridge Maths
o English: Impact team
o English
o CEM
• Shared services:
o International Network
o ARD
o Finance
o Tax
o HR
o Compliance
o Legal
Within the University of Cambridge:
• Faculty of Education
Role impact (people, policy, financial)
Budgets Income (that role is responsible for delivering or makes direct contribution to
delivery of)
(over which you hold
direct or indirect NA
management Direct costs (budgets set and controlled by post holder)
[Type here]2
responsibility. Please N/A
exclude headcount)
Indirect costs (post holder authorises spending on budget, delegated by
budget holder)
N/A
People None but the role holder will be expected to work with a broad range of
experts across Partnership, wider Cambridge family and externally
(The number and
levels of colleagues you
manage)
Other numbers N/A
(any financial data that
puts the role into context)
What is the major impact of this role on the business?
This role plays a critical part to support the UK-based Commercial organisation in the conversion of
opportunities by delivering high quality, timely proposals that can win new opportunities for Partnership which
is key to enabling The Partnership for Education to achieve its growth and aspirations and ultimately support
the mission to transform societies through education.
Decisions and Recommendations
• Contribute to which expert roles are needed to support each project opportunity
Essential knowledge
• Expert knowledge and experience of the local / regional regulatory requirements
• Experience in proposal production
• Able to work under pressure and to demanding deadlines in order to deliver multiple projects with
conflicting deadlines (i.e. strong time management and prioritisation skills)
• Strong written English language skills
• Strong communication skills
Essential skill(s) & experience
• Degree qualified or relevant related experience
• Able to communicate and influence at a senior level, internally and externally
• Able to work on own initiative in all areas of the job
• Good at solving problems
• Excellent interpersonal skills
• Attention to detail
• Strong IT skills
• Proven ability in planning, producing and delivering compliant proposals within a complex business
environment
• Track record of driving opportunity conversion
• Experienced at writing technical and academic proposals
• Experience in scheduling and chairing proposal kick-off meetings, leading storyboarding sessions for
proposal evaluation, facilitating key review meetings / final document review, co-ordinating proposal
governance / sign off, document production, and delivery of the completed proposal
• Understanding of international education systems
• Knowledge of one local language would be desirable
[Type here]3
Key competencies (organisational values)
• Cultural awareness
• Diplomacy
• Results oriented
• Builds trust
• Acts with integrity
• Inspires others
• Innovative
• Collaborative
• Team player
• Proactive with “can do” attitude
• Creative approach to problem solving
[Type here]4
