Proposal Manager

About Zutari

Zutari is a leading engineering and advisory firm specializing in buildings and infrastructure, operating across Africa and the Middle East for over 90 years. Our projects span schools, stadiums, dams, and bridges, all driven by our skilled people and robust systems supporting them.

Role Summary

The Proposal Manager provides essential operational, coordination, and administrative support to the Business Development Director. This role manages pipeline tracking, facilitates proposal coordination, performs client research, and supports bid processes to ensure the smooth running of sales activities. The role does not handle client relationships or generate new opportunities but ensures timely, high-quality proposal submissions, accurate reporting, and effective coordination between various stakeholders.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead and oversee full bid processes for designated opportunities, ensuring compliance and quality.
• Develop structured proposals from RFPs and Terms of Reference, including outlines, compliance checks, win themes, and value propositions.
• Coordinate contributions from technical, commercial, legal, and partner teams for proposal preparation.
• Maintain updated proposal materials such as tools, templates, CV databases, project sheets, case studies, and standardized bid content.
• Ensure all proposals comply with client requirements and submission deadlines.
• Manage and track the Resources Business Unit’s opportunity pipeline, applying qualification criteria for go/no-go decisions.
• Report on pipeline status including deadlines, risks, opportunity values, probabilities, and upcoming actions.
• Support shaping opportunities through research, positioning recommendations, and internal coordination.
• Maintain accurate data in Client Relationship Management (CRM) systems and tracking tools.
• Assist in client engagement planning, preparation, and follow-up activities.
• Gather market, client, competitor, and project intelligence to support business development decisions.
• Identify new opportunities and document them for review by the Business Development Director.
• Prepare briefing materials such as meeting agendas and follow-up trackers.
• Support technical business development by mapping client needs to Zutari’s solutions, preparing project references, capability statements, team structures, and CV selections.
• Engage technical teams to ensure proposal content accurately reflects delivery capabilities and assist in setting up technical teams for bids and early-stage opportunities.
• Support commercial strategy including coordinating pricing assumptions, exclusions, resources, and commercial data.
• Assist growth strategy implementation, business development priorities, commercial governance documentation, and process improvement initiatives.
• Participate in win/loss reviews and contribute to continuous improvement efforts.
• Act as liaison between business development and technical teams to facilitate timely information flow.
• Support resource mobilization for proposals and early bids, monitoring actions, responsibilities, deadlines, and dependencies.
• Collaborate with sales enablement, technical, commercial teams, and leadership as needed.

Candidate Requirements

• 5 to 10 years of professional experience in mining, oil, gas, or consulting sectors.
• Bachelor’s degree in Engineering or Quantity Surveying.
• Professional registration in the relevant discipline.
• Experience supporting Expressions of Interest (EOIs), Requests for Quotations (RFQs), and Requests for Proposals (RFPs).
• Familiarity with proposal preparation, document management, and bid coordination.
• Experience collaborating with multidisciplinary teams, including technical, commercial, and legal experts.
• Advantageous to have experience with CRM systems, tender portals, and proposal software.
• Experience in mining, oil, gas, or infrastructure-related industries is preferred.

Equal Opportunity Statement

We value a diverse workforce as fundamental to our business success. Recruitment decisions are based solely on skills, qualifications, and experience, promoting equal opportunity while actively working against unlawful discrimination. Preference will be given to candidates from designated groups within South Africa, supporting equity and diversity principles.