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Bid & Project Manager – EU & NATO (H/F)
Alta Ares
Source: Headcount Labs · original listing ↗
Job data: Headcount Labs, ODbL 1.0. Job descriptions belong to their employers.
Posted Oct 22
About this role
ABOUT ALTA ARES Alta Ares is an air defense Neoprime. We build AI-guided interceptors to counter drones and cruise missiles, along with the software platform that powers them. Our customers are NATO-aligned militaries and defense institutions, and our systems are regularly deployed during live exercises and operational demonstrations across Europe, the Middle East, and Asia. Founded in 2024, we have grown to 90 people, raised over $60M, and increased revenue 40× this year. We are now entering a new phase of international expansion, industrial scaling, fundraising, and product development. Role & Mission NATO agencies & EU programs are investing in counter-drone capability now, and Alta Ares answers a fast-growing flow of their tenders and calls for proposals. As Bid & Project Manager in our EU, NATO & Eastern Flank team, you turn each opportunity into a compliant offer, then into a project delivered on time. Your sales director owns the customer relationship and the commercial strategy; you own the offer and its delivery. This is not a one-programme job. You will run several bids and projects at once: a NATO bid, an EU grant proposal, and an RFI can land in the same week, and none of them can slip. This is a demanding, high-ownership role. Deadlines do not move, the stakes are real, and the team will rely on you to hold the line. We are looking for someone who wants that responsibility. Bid Management - from first read to submission - Screen and qualify opportunities with your sales director; prepare bid/no-bid decisions with risks, resources, and price on the table - Break each tender down (NATO IFB or RFQ, EU call, RFP for a Nation through EU-NATO platforms such as NSPA or SAFE joint procurement) into a compliance matrix, a bid plan and clear owners - Write and assemble the management, technical and compliance volumes with Engineering, Product, Finance and Legal - Organise the review gates and prepare the final price review with Finance; submit complete, compliant and on time, every time - Run the clarification rounds and support your sales director in negotiations through to contract signature NATO & EU Procurement - the rules of the game - Master NSPA and NCIA procedures: Source File registration, declarations of eligibility, notifications of intent, IFBs and RFQs, basic ordering agreements and framework contracts - Run EU grant proposals (European Defence Fund, EDIP): Funding & Tenders portal, consortium building, Part A and Part B, lump-sum budgets - Track national procurement rules and partners on the Eastern Flank through EU-NATO (Poland, Romania, the Baltic States…), e.g. via NSPA or SAFE joint procurement - Build and maintain the bid library: company documents, CVs, past performance, standard answers, templates Project Delivery - from award to acceptance - Turn each award into a project: kick-off, plan, milestones, risks, budget and change control - Coordinate engineering, production, demo and logistics teams, and partners, to deliver what we promised when we promised it - Own customer reporting, deliverables and acceptance (FAT/SAT), with the documentation trail for invoicing and audits - Run several projects in parallel, each at a different stage Process & Reporting - Set the bid and project rhythm for the team: calendar, gates, templates, dashboards - Review the status of every live bid and project weekly with your sales director: deadlines, compliance, risks, resources needed - Run lessons learned after every bid, won or lost Candidate Profile - 5+ years in bid, proposal or project management in defence, aerospace or security - Proven record of compliant, on-time submissions to NATO agencies, EU programmes or European ministries of defence, several of them in parallel - At least one defence contract delivered from award to acceptance - Scale-up or lean-team experience is a significant advantage; prime experience is welcome if you want more breadth and speed Skills & Qualities - Rigorous and precise compliance is binary; in defence, the margin for error is zero - Built for parallel work you run several bids and projects at once, prioritise hard and never drop the ball - Committed you own the outcome, not just your part of it; submission peaks are part of the job and you plan for them - Calm under pressure fixed deadlines, late amendments and competing requests do not throw you - A clear writer structured, scoreable English; you turn engineering input into compliant answers - A leader without authority you get engineers, Finance, Legal and partners to deliver on time - Technically curious you understand how sensors, effectors, C2 and AI fit together, or you learn it fast - Discreet and trustworthy you handle sensitive commercial and defence information as a matter of course - Mission-driven you care about European security, not just the job title Nice to Have - APMP, Shipley, PMP, PRINCE2 or IPMA certification - Experience on a European Defence Fund or EDIP consortium, or with NSPA/NCIA procurement - A background in a NATO agency, the EDA or a ministry of defence, or military service (officer or NCO) - Knowledge of C-UAS, air defence, ISR or drones - Export-control experience (French export licensing, EU dual-use rules) Security - This position will require applying for a NATO personnel security clearance; it is therefore open to nationals of EU Member States that are also NATO members, and the hire is subject to the clearance procedure Languages - Professional English, written and spoken (C1) is mandatory - French is a strong plus - Polish, Romanian, Lithuanian or Ukrainian is a plus Travel - Regular travel to NATO agencies (Brussels, Luxembourg, The Hague), EU institutions, and to demos and acceptance tests across Europe