Bid Writer Jobs

As Bid Writer, you will work with the team to identify funding opportunities, and craft compelling bids and proposals that clearly articulate our vision, services, and value to commissioners and funders. This will include bids and applications to trusts and foundations, tenders for statutory funding, compiling reports to funders, and other organisational reports as needed.

This role is a part-time permanent position for a minimum of 15 hours per week but we are open to additional hours up to four days per week. The salary for this role is £40,560 FTE. You will be based at home but available to travel to our office in Vauxhall, London occasionally as needed.

This is an exciting opportunity to join a friendly, supportive and dynamic team, and play a pivotal role in supporting Housing Justice’s work. You will make a real difference to those we serve by securing vital funds to provide services for those experiencing homelessness. Your ability to create engaging, well-crafted proposals will be instrumental in helping Housing Justice to fulfil our Mission to mobilise Christian action on homelessness and housing need through love, justice, advocacy and nurture.

• Role: Lead Bid Writer
• Head Office: Thame, Oxfordshire
• Working location: Flexible mix of home working and travel to Head Office and support locations.
• Salary: £45,000 full time, pro-rata for part-time contracts
• Hours: 37.5 hours per week full time. Part-time working available.  

Together, we make it possible.

At Affinity Trust, believe everyone deserves to live their life their way. We are a values-led charity dedicated to supporting people with learning disabilities and autism, and we’re passionate about creating possibilities that empower our community.
 

 Our Bids and Tendering team are the golden thread between our current support and the future opportunities we pursue, driving growth and making a lasting impact. Join us to be part of a dedicated team shaping the future of our services.

It’s all about the people

The support we provide is not a one-size-fits-all approach. We’re here to enable people to live the life they choose, in their own way, every day.
 

 As our Lead Bid Writer, you will work on the end-to-end bidding process, from identifying tender opportunities and submitting engaging and successful bids through to managing post-award activity. You will develop compelling, high-quality tender responses, ensuring that our submissions stand out.
 

You will have knowledge and experience in tender planning, writing winning bids, and diligently working to continuously improve the quality of submissions. If your experience is in social care, that’s great but not essential.
 

You will also need excellent writing and comprehension skills, the ability to work to demanding deadlines, and attention to detail while managing conflicting priorities.
 

This role is full-time and will work flexibly from our office in Thame. You will need to be happy working on your own, but as working with others is an important part of the role, we are looking for someone who also enjoys working as part of a team.

What benefits will I have?

We have a range of benefits that you can mix and match to suit you, such as:

• Care Friends - our employee referral and reward app. You’ll receive points which can be exchanged for extra money.
• Wagestream – an app that gives you access to a percentage of your pay as you earn it, access to coaching, vouchers, discounts, cashback and more.  
• Blue Light Card – we will reimburse your Blue Light Card membership which provides discounts in your favourite shops and restaurants.
• Simply Health - Fully funded health cash plans giving you access to a 24-hour GP, money back on prescriptions, dental treatment, opticians and access to many more health benefits.
• Vivup – spread the cost of home and electronics items, or a bike to cycle to work through fixed salary reductions throughout the year.
• Buy and sell annual leave – transfer windows open twice a year.
• Pension and Life Assurance - you’ll be enrolled into our Scottish Widows pension scheme and Life Assurance scheme

SMART CJS is seeking a skilled and experienced Trusts and Foundations Bid Writer to play a key role in generating income from charitable trusts, foundations, and statutory funders. We’re looking for someone with a proven track record of writing successful funding applications and identifying new opportunities that align with SMART’s strategic goals in tackling homelessness and supporting vulnerable individuals in Bedford and the surrounding area.

This is an exciting time to join SMART CJS as we grow and respond to new funding opportunities. The role is primarily home-based, so the successful candidate must be able to work independently and manage their time effectively. Given the nature of our work, personal resilience is also important, as some of the stories and case studies used in funding applications can be emotionally challenging. The role will come with realistic targets.

Main Purpose of the Role

To identify, write, and submit compelling, well-researched and tailored funding applications to trusts, foundations, and relevant grant-giving bodies. The post holder will work closely with the CEO, Head of Business, and operational teams to gather information, write bids, and track progress of submissions, ensuring SMART CJS meets income targets.

Key Responsibilities

1. Fundraising and Bid Writing

• Research and identify suitable grant and funding opportunities from charitable trusts, foundations, and statutory bodies.
• Write and submit high-quality funding applications and proposals in line with SMART’s strategic priorities.
• Work collaboratively with service leads and frontline teams to gather accurate, up-to-date data and service information for applications.
• Tailor applications to funder requirements and priorities, ensuring persuasive storytelling and alignment with SMART’s mission.
• Manage a pipeline of applications and submissions, ensuring deadlines are met and income targets are tracked.
• Maintain and build relationships with key funders, providing timely reports and updates on grant-funded work.
• Work to realistic targets and KPIS and be able to feedback on these.

2. Organisational Development and Support

• Contribute to the strategic development of SMART’s income generation plans.
• Support development of strong internal bid and grant management systems, including templates, case studies, and project reporting tools.
• Monitor success rates and provide monthly reporting on funding performance to the Head of Business.
• Represent SMART CJS at funding briefings, webinars, and networking opportunities where appropriate.

3. Other Responsibilities

• Participate in SMART’s performance management and appraisal process.
• Comply with health and safety policies and procedures.
• Undertake any other duties commensurate with the role, as required by the Head of Business or CEO.

Person Specification

Criteria

Essential (E) / Desirable (D)

Minimum 2 years’ experience writing successful funding bids for a charity or not-for-profit organisation    E

Proven track record of securing funding from trusts, foundations, or statutory sources   E

Experience developing compelling cases for support and storytelling   E

Experience working with service delivery teams to gather evidence and data   E

Knowledge of the homelessness, housing, or social care sector   D

Experience using grant portals or CRM/fundraising databases   D

Project management experience or qualification   D

Excellent written and verbal communication skills   E

Strong time management and the ability to meet multiple deadlines   E

Highly organised and detail-oriented   E

Ability to work independently, using initiative in a home-based role   E

Personal resilience and emotional maturity to work with sensitive and sometimes distressing subject matter   E

Commitment to equality, diversity, and inclusion   E

About you 

You are a confident and experienced bid writer with a proven track record of securing funding from charitable trusts, foundations, and statutory sources. Your writing is compelling, clear, and rooted in evidence—able to turn service data and case studies into powerful narratives that align with funder priorities.

Organised and self-motivated, you thrive in a home-based role where you can manage your own workload and juggle multiple deadlines with ease. You’re skilled at collaborating with service teams to extract the information you need, and you bring emotional maturity and resilience to the table when working with sensitive content.

Whether you're identifying new funding opportunities, building strong funder relationships, or supporting SMART CJS’s strategic goals, you are driven by a desire to make a tangible difference in the lives of people facing homelessness and complex challenges. You’re not just a great writer—you’re a passionate advocate for change.

Overview

Change Grow Live are looking for an Assistant Business Development Officer (Bid Writer) to join our national business development team. As one of the UK’s largest charities, Change Grow Live supports people in making positive changes in their lives.

Location: London (You could also be based in our Manchester or Brighton Regional Business Unit)

Salary: £27,861.26 − £32,002.35 per year Dependent on experience (Based on full time hours, pro rata for part time).

Contract Type: 12 month Fixed Term Contract

Hours: Full Time, 37.5 hours per week

Allowances: £4,133.14 per year Inner London Weighting, pro rata

Dates for Interview are 6th-8th of May 2025

Closing Date   27/4/2025

Role overview

You’ll help to prepare for, write and support on developing bids and proposals, helping Change Grow Live secure contracts and run high-quality health and social care services. These services support adults, children and young people, including around drugs and alcohol, homelessness and criminal justice.

Your day-to-day will include:

• Writing and editing bid responses
• Working with colleagues across Change Grow Live
• Completing online research, analysing data and working with partner organisations
• Creating presentations, diagrams and reports
• Helping improve how we do things.

This role is designed to support you through the beginning of your business development and bid writing career. We’ll provide you with support and training to develop and progress.

About you

You are:

• Clear and concise writer
• Motivated to develop your skills
• Open to feedback
• Curious and analytical
• Solution-focused and tenacious
• Kind and committed to helping people make positive changes.

Previous experience in business development is not needed, but skills or experience in health and social care, writing, sales, research, or data are beneficial.

Benefits:

• Working a successful team
• Structured training, development, mentoring and progression opportunities
• The option to work from home for some of the week
• Wellbeing support, including an employee assistance programme and an hour each week for wellbeing activities of your choice (find out more here).

We want our workforce to represent the diversity of the people and communities we work with. We pride ourselves on an inclusive and supportive workplace, evidenced through our Investors in People Silver Award and Stonewall Silver Award 2023.

We’re happy to consider any reasonable adjustments that you need to be successful. We do everything we can to accommodate flexible working, including compressed or part-time hours, job shares and other arrangements. Please let us know in your application or at any stage of the process if you would like to explore these options.

Before you apply

In the application portal, there’s a section called ‘how you meet the criteria for the role’. This is your chance to tell us about why you’re a good fit for this job – we won’t be able to consider your application unless it’s filled in. Please explain how you meet each of the person specification criteria (listed at the end of the job description). You can group multiple criteria together where you think it makes sense. Use clear examples of your experience (this link contains some useful guidance). As guidance, written statements should not exceed 1,000 words. 

We encourage applications from individuals who may not meet every requirement but are excited about the role. We value lived experience of substance use, homelessness, and/or multiple disadvantages.

We’re a Disability Confident Committed employer. We’ll offer an interview to disabled people who meet the minimum criteria for this job. Please confirm in the ‘how you meet the criteria for the role’ part of the application if you are applying under this scheme.

Check out the job description and team explainer for more information.

If you require sponsorship, please note that this role is not eligible for a Health and Care Worker visa. You may be eligible for sponsorship under the Skilled Worker route but must meet the minimum salary requirements for the role.

Full-time hours at Change Grow Live are 37.5 hours per week. For part-time roles, the salary and payments will be pro rata based on contracted hours

If you have any questions on this opportunity that you would like to talk through please contact us

We have two offices, one based in London and one in Birmingham. We are open to candidates across both of those locations. Our CEO is based in London. Day to day it's a mixture of being in our office, working from home and visiting our prisons. We can also look to make the role 4 days for the right candidate. 

Who We Are:

Beating Time have been going since 2014. Originally running music groups in prison and since 2021 an employment through the gate service called Inside Job. Both programmes now run across, London, Birmingham and the Northeast. Our aim is simple, helping prisoners survive their sentence and thrive on release.

The Role:

As the COO you’ll be the right-hand person to our CEO Liv Wicks. She’s a right laugh (she may or may not have written this herself).

What You'll Be Doing:

✨Supporting our two part time fundraisers with applications.
✨ Occasional frontline support within our prisons.
✨ Helping to streamline our tech and processes.
✨ Working with the CEO to shape and develop the overall Beating Time strategy.
✨ Joint oversight of our charity finances and forming part of our finance committee alongside the trustees.

✨Supporting governance and regulatory compliance for the charity.
✨ Signing off our monthly reports for our funded prison contracts.
✨ Line management responsibility of the wider team.

Who You Are:

We’re not big on box-ticking, but here’s the sort of person who we think thrives in this role:

✨Willing to be comfortable working in Prisons and Young Offender Institutions (you’ll need to pass vetting, of course!)
✨ Empathetic, non-judgemental, and a brilliant listener
✨ Aware of the barriers facing people with convictions, and ready to help smash them
✨ Resilience to work within a sector with many hurdles
✨ A natural relationship-builder who can talk to anyone — from CEOs to candidates
✨ Organised, IT-savvy (MS Office etc.), and able to keep good records
✨Strong writer –  bid writing experience is a big help

Bonus points if you’ve got fundraising or financial experience. 

Even bigger bonus points if you’ve got lived experience of the criminal justice system — we value it highly.

Why Join Us?

This isn’t just another job. It’s an opportunity to be part of something genuinely groundbreaking. I know I know, It’s a cliché but we mean it.

Our team is proudly diverse. Many of us — including our amazing Community Consultants — have lived through the criminal justice system. Your background and story matter to us.

You’ll get:
✔️ Real impact: you’ll change lives every day
✔️ Supportive, inspiring colleagues who care about what they do
✔️ Flexibility: the role has hybrid and part time potential
✔️ A warm, welcoming team coffee catch-up to cap off the process

We have some big fundraising plans, and as we look towards a major appeal later this year, we are growing our fundraising team. 

Our Trusts and Foundations Fundraiser will be able to write compelling cases for support, bringing in funding from a range of charitable trusts to support delivery of our programmes, directly supporting people living with cancer in our region. They will be detail focussed, able to engage suitable funders and work effectively with colleagues to identify opportunities to attract support.

Working as part of a small but highly effective fundraising team, the successful candidate will have highly developed writing skills, be motivated to work towards challenging income targets, and be committed to making a real difference to lives affected by cancer in our community. 

It is an exciting time to be joining our fundraising team, and if you are up for a challenge and want to help us achieve amazing things for our community, please get in touch.