Job Description
Hybrid- Austin, TX
Thales is hiring an experience Bid Manager will lead capture, bid, and proposal activities for Identity and Access Management (IAM) opportunities, with a primary focus on Customer Identity and Access Management (CIAM) offers in the Americas region. This role is responsible for shaping pursuit strategy, coordinating cross-functional contributors, ensuring governance and compliance, and delivering clear, compelling, and competitive proposals in support of Thales’s growth objectives.
Thales is investing heavily in its Identity and Access Management (IAM) portfolio, with the OneWelcome Identity Platform as its flagship Customer Identity and Access Management (CIAM) offer. As solutions become more strategic, larger, and more complex, the IAM Bid Management Team plays a critical role in accelerating go-to-market execution and supporting major opportunities across the Americas.
Key Areas of Responsibility
Bid Strategy Development:
Collaborate with sales, marketing, partner management, product management, solution architecture, professional services, legal, finance, quote-to-cash, deal desk, and technical teams to develop pursuit strategies aligned with business goals and solution capabilities.
Analyze customer needs, market trends, and competitive dynamics to define win themes, value propositions, and differentiators.
Support bid/no-bid assessments, capture planning, and pursuit strategy development across the opportunity lifecycle.
Proposal Preparation:
Lead the end-to-end proposal development process, ensuring timely, complete, and compliant submissions.
Coordinate cross-functional teams to gather required inputs, including technical content, pricing, legal terms, compliance requirements, references, and case studies.
Write, edit, and oversee proposal content that clearly communicates Thales’s strengths, solutions, and customer value.
Budgeting and Pricing:
Partner with product management, professional services, finance, quote-to-cash, deal desk, and other stakeholders to support accurate and competitive pricing strategies.
Analyze cost structures, pricing models, and commercial assumptions to support financially viable proposals.
Ensure pricing and commercial inputs are aligned with deal strategy, approval requirements, and internal governance.
Risk Management:
Identify pursuit, commercial, delivery, and contractual risks and support mitigation planning.
Ensure bids comply with legal, regulatory, contractual, and internal governance requirements.
Escalate issues appropriately and maintain clear assumptions, dependencies, and decision points throughout the process.
Stakeholder Management:
Engage with customers, partners, and internal stakeholders to understand requirements, expectations, and decision criteria.
Build and maintain strong working relationships across the organization to keep pursuits aligned and moving forward.
Facilitate collaboration among stakeholders across regions, functions, and time zones as needed.
Quality Assurance:
Review and edit proposal content for accuracy, consistency, completeness, and alignment with customer requirements and bid strategy.
Ensure response quality, messaging discipline, and compliance with RFP instructions and internal standards.
Support proposal reviews and readiness checks before submission.
Presentation and Negotiation:
Prepare and support customer presentations, executive reviews, and pursuit updates.
Help articulate Thales’s value proposition and address customer questions, concerns, and objections.
Support negotiation preparation and contribute to the definition of commercial and contractual positions.
Bid Tracking and Reporting:
Maintain a Loopio database of past bids, questions and answers, reusable content, product updates, proposals, and outcomes.
Track lessons learned, identify improvement opportunities, and contribute to the continuous improvement of templates, content, and bid processes.
Leverage AI-enabled tools to improve drafting efficiency, content reuse, and proposal analysis, while ensuring accuracy, confidentiality, and human validation.
Create and maintain a professional bid template to be used consistently across bids.
Minimum Requirements
Bachelor’s degree in business, science, engineering, communications, or a related field equivalent work experience
5+ years of experience in bid management, proposal management, capture management, or related commercial roles
Strong analytical and problem-solving skills, with the ability to understand customer needs and translate them into effective pursuit strategies
Excellent written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to present complex information clearly and persuasively
Excellent interpersonal skills and the ability to build and maintain strong relationships with prospects, partners, and internal stakeholders at all levels
Strong project management skills with the ability to manage multiple opportunities simultaneously
Proficiency in bid management tools, Salesforce, and Microsoft Office Suite
Ability to work in a fast-paced, dynamic environment and deliver high-quality responses under tight deadlines
Strong attention to detail and a commitment to quality
Ability to work collaboratively in cross-functional teams
Fluency in Spanish is a plus
Applicants must be legally authorized to work in the United States for any employer at the time of hire. This position is not eligible for visa sponsorship or for assuming sponsorship of an employment visa now or in the future.
If you’re excited about working with Thales, but not meeting the requirements for this position, we encourage you to join our Talent Community! https://careers.thalesgroup.com/global/en/jointalentcommunity. You can upload your CV and our recruiters can get in touch with any new opportunities that may be of interest to you.
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Thales champions inclusion and we believe diversity strengthens the fabric of our culture. Thales is an Equal Opportunity Employer, including disability/veterans.
If you need an accommodation or assistance in order to apply for a position with Thales, please contact us at [email protected].
The reference Total Target Compensation (TTC) market range for this position, inclusive of annual base salary and the variable compensation target, is between
Total Target Cash (TTC) 127,313.60 - 222,688.20 USD Annual
This reflects how companies in a similar industry and geographic region generally pay for similar jobs. This range helps the Company make pay decisions as one data point among many. Where a position falls within this range is also dependent on other factors including – but not limited to – the employee’s career path history, competencies, skills and performance, as well as the company’s annual salary budget, the customer’s program requirements, and the company’s internal equity. Thales may offer additional benefits and other compensation, depending on circumstances not related to an applicant’s status protected by local, state, or federal law.
(For Internal candidate, if you need more information, please raise HR request through MyThales)
Thales provides an extensive benefits program for all full-time employees working 30 or more hours per week and their eligible dependents, including the following:
•Elective Health, Dental, Vision, FSA/HSA, Voluntary Life and AD&D, Whole Group Life w/LTC, Critical Illness, Hospital Indemnity, Accident Insurance, Legal Plan, Identity Theft, and Pet Insurance
•Retirement Savings Plan after 30 days of employment with a company contribution and a match, and with no vesting period
•Company paid holidays and Paid Time Off
•Company provided Life Insurance, AD&D, Disability, Employee Assistance Plan, and Well-being Program
