Senior Business Development Officer (Senior Bid Writer)

Change Grow Live are a charity dedicated to the belief that we can make a difference to our Service Users lives, offering support and respect in a safe environment, treating each user as an individual and working with them to find the right treatment and care options.   

Our core values are ‘Be open, be compassionate and be bold’ and our team members apply these daily to achieve our mission of helping people change the direction of their lives, grow as individuals, and live life to its full potential. 

We’re looking for an experienced bid and proposal writer to join our national Business Development Team. You’ll use your writing expertise to make a social impact whilst developing your leadership skills. We’d love to hear from people that have written high-scoring bids and tenders in complex commissioned services, including: drug and alcohol treatment; health and social care; criminal justice; employment support; homelessness; and related public services.

Location: London, Brighton, Manchester or Leeds.

Contract: Permanent.

Please note: In the application portal, there’s a section titled ‘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. More details below. 

About the role

Change Grow Live is a health and social care charity. Across the country, we support people to make positive changes in their lives, including around drug and alcohol use, smoking, homelessness and criminal justice.

As a Senior Business Development Officer, you’ll play a lead role in the development and writing of tenders and proposals for a variety of health and social care services. This role offers a great opportunity to develop your career while using your established skills; you’ll be encouraged and expected to take on more responsibility as you progress.

Your day-to-day will include:

• Writing and editing complex and highly weighted bid responses, working to short deadlines
• Project managing the writing of key tenders with support from a Business Development Manager
• Supporting the development of Assistant Business Development Officers and Business Development Officers, with the potential of providing line management
• Working with staff across the organisation and our partners to develop bids that reflect best practice and respond to local needs
• Producing and coordinating detailed research for upcoming opportunities, including meeting with subject matter experts, analysing data and collating evidence
• Creating presentations, diagrams and reports
• Participating in and leading reviews of our bid and proposal processes.

About you                             

We’re looking for candidates with proven experience of writing tenders, proposals or grant applications in health and social care.

You are:

• A highly competent communicator with a successful track record in bid writing, ideally for drug and alcohol treatment or related services
• Experienced in leading smaller bids and proposals
• Able to analyse data and interpret evidence, with good IT and research skills
• Solution-focused, creative and proactive
• Happy to give and receive constructive, challenging feedback
• Collaborative and able to foster a positive team culture
• Ready to work hard to deliver on CGL’s values and mission.

What we offer

You’ll be able to access structured training, development and mentoring as part of a supportive team. There’s a clear progression pathway within the team, from Senior Business Development Officer to Manager, Senior Manager, Deputy Director, and Director. Several of our current Business Development Managers were previously in the Senior Business Development Officer role.

We also offer:

• 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 status.

We’re happy to consider any reasonable adjustments that you need to be successful. Please let us know in your application or at any stage of the process if you would like to discuss this.

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). Use clear examples of your experience. As guidance, written statements should not exceed 1,000 words. You can address multiple criteria together where you think it makes sense.

We may hold a pre-qualification stage task (e.g. presentation) depending on the number of applicants. Interviews will be held in December via MS Teams. We’ll also ask shortlisted candidates to complete a written task, at a time of your choice.

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. Under our Disability Confident interview scheme, we will offer an interview to disabled candidates where they meet our selection criteria in their application. Some of our roles attract a high volume of applications and in some circumstances where it is not practicable or appropriate, we may limit the number of interviews offered to disabled and non-disabled candidates. Please confirm in the ‘how you meet the criteria for the role’ part of the application if you are applying under this scheme. We will provide reasonable adjustments as needed.

Check the job description and team explainer for more information. You can contact Ollie (oliver.wilcox@cgl.org.uk) to discuss this role further.

What our people say

Holly, Senior Business Development Officer said:

“What are your favourite parts of the job? The amount we learn from bid to bid. No two services are the same and I’m constantly coming across amazing individuals, teams and interventions. Being part of a team that helps share and celebrate great work, and support other services to implement new and exciting initiatives is really rewarding.

How would you describe the team? Helpful, real and full of knowledge. Everyone comes from different backgrounds and is happy to share their skills, knowledge and learning. I’ve never felt like I’ve asked a silly question, and I don’t feel like I must put a on ‘work mask’ every day.

What were your highlights from last year? Becoming a Senior and working across 7 different bids or direct awards last year. It was busy but I learnt so much, made some great connections with people across the organisation.”

Fran, who progressed from this role to Business Development Manager in 2025:

“How did the role help you progress? The Senior Business Development Officer role sets you up to well to progress into a Business Development Manager role, as you begin to get involved in managing writing teams, reviewing written responses, engaging with Service Managers and Directors in model development and hold line management responsibilities. I was in the Senior Business Development Officer role for just over a year and a half before successfully applying to the Manager role.

How would you describe the team? The Business Development team are incredibly supportive and will give you the opportunity to develop in areas that you’re interested in. My manager supported to me build skills and experience that pushed me out of my comfort zone but enabled me to progress into the Business Development Manager role.

What would you say to someone thinking of applying? Alongside developing your writing skills, this role is a great place to shape your leadership and management skills. If you don’t have line management experience, don’t let this put you off.”

Please read attached Job Description for a more detailed out line of responsibilities and Person Specifications 

If this sounds like you and you would like to begin your journey with Change Grow Live, then we would love to talk to you.

A note about using AI in your application

AI can be a really helpful tool when putting together your application, and we're happy for you to use it. However, what we're most interested in is you.

We want to understand your experiences, achievements and strengths, so please make sure your application reflects your own story and clearly shows how you meet the essential criteria and the impact you've made in previous roles.

There's no need to write in a particular style. The strongest applications are those that are authentic, specific and clearly demonstrate your skills, experience and potential. We look forward to learning more about you.

Direct applications only we will not be engaging agencies for this vacancy.

We reserve the right to close the vacancy early if we receive a high number of applications, so we encourage you to apply as soon as possible.

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.