I am a well-trained bid and proposal manager, with insight to various industries (IT, Telecommunication, Clinical trials, Engineering).
As a child I had never really had a clear idea of what kind of career I wanted. I was excellent at maths, and I loved history. I was too geek for the intellectuals, but was also too intellectual for the geeks.
This dichotomy showed up more clearly during tertiary education. I started my Master in International Relationships, I truly enjoyed it... apart from the fact that I didn't have enough of maths. After two years, I wanted a change. So I started my Civil Engineering course in a different university. Soon I had to realize that I must have pursued both of these very distinct courses to be happy with the knowledge I have.
After graduating, I started working for a small IT start-up. Soon I realized that I could understand the perspective of the software developer. In the same time, I could also communicate with the senior management, who were solely administrative people with limited understanding of software development.
Being able to interpret messages between these two group of people with different perspective honed a very important set of soft skills.
I only found the best way to apply these skills, when I started to work for Vodafone UK's team as a bid manager. Bid Managers are the "project managers" of the business opportunities and the "QC" of the RFP response. Being in this role, I could fully utilize my ability to understand complex technical problem and see through how it affect the deal in later stages. Being able to communicate efficiently with other team members (pricing analysts, lawyers, sales people) made me be very efficient in my role.
I have won Vodafone Star award within 6 months of commencing to work, and was promoted to Senior Bid Manager within 10 months in the role.
Most recently, I have helped to establish the "Start-up and Proposal Team" for clinical trials in Singapore's National University Hospital.
This most recent experience validates that bid and proposal management skills are truly transferable between industries.
Work Terms
I work Monday to Friday, as I have gained 5+ years experience in virtual collaboration, I am flexible with my work schedule. I am located in Singapore, I can easily accommodate working hours from Australia, New Zealand, EU and USA as well.