Head of Bids

Location: Stuttgart, Germany

We Say HI*

Head of Bids & PMO, Country Business Unit 'SIX' (f/m/d)

Thales in Germany is part of an internationally leading technology group in the defence and security, aerospace as well as cyber security and digital identity markets.

In Ditzingen, you will encounter security solutions for monitoring and safeguarding borders and border controls, protection of civil and military facilities and tactical communication. This is the right place for you if you want to join us in developing and producing tactical radio equipment for networked operations guidance during military missions. Join the Thales expert team for radio communication systems, cybersecurity and cryptography, for encryption components and hardware security modules and electronic key management systems.

Your mission as Head of Bids & PMO:

• Lead and deliver competitive bids end-to-end, ensuring on-time, high-quality submissions aligned with strategy, budget, and growth objectives in close coordination with Sales, Account Management, and Business Lines
• Own bid governance and performance, including bid gates and milestones, budget control, status reporting, and executive-level communication with internal and external stakeholders
• Organize and steer proposal teams (Bid Managers, Proposal resources), appointing and coaching key roles to achieve delivery targets and continuous improvement
• Drive PMO excellence by defining standards, templates, KPIs, and best practices; ensure process adherence, performance optimization, and transformation of the Bids & PMO function
• Ensure a seamless transition from bid to project execution, contributing to project launch readiness, risk reduction, knowledge transfer, and team capability development

We are looking forward to:

• Degree in Engineering with strong commercial acumen, or a business degree with a solid technical background, combined with at least 10 years of professional experience, including a minimum of 5 years in a management role within a comparable industry
• Proven track record in project and bid management, with strong business acumen, bottom-line focus, and the ability to successfully close complex deals
• Mandatory experience in governmental and Defence/Security environments
• Excellent leadership, change management, and hands-on people management skills, paired with team dedication, empathy, and the ability to operate effectively across national and international organizations
• Outstanding communication and influencing skills, with fluency in both German and English (written and spoken) for professional interaction, presentations, and contractual documentation

The Group invests more than €4 billion per year in Research & Development in key areas, particularly for critical environments, such as Artificial Intelligence, cybersecurity, quantum and cloud technologies.

In 2024, the Group generated sales of €20.6 billion.

For our more than 83,000 employees in 68 countries we open up visionary perspectives, realise individual career paths and enable creative freedom. This is achieved with courage, versatility and the firm intention to make the demanding challenges of our time safer and more inclusive. With our sustainable value-focused management we support diversity actively.

Say HI* – Your journey to us

At times of change our international teams are ready to meet the complexity of today with the industry-leading technologies of tomorrow. Will you be part of it? Your Talent Acquisition contact Andre Fuhrmann is looking forward to your online application on our Career portal.

Andre Fuhrmann – Talent Acquisition Partner

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• Human Intelligence