Bid & Project Manager – EU & NATO (H/F)

<h3>About Alta Ares</h3><p style="min-height:1.5em"><br />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.</p><p style="min-height:1.5em">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.</p><p style="min-height:1.5em">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.</p><p style="min-height:1.5em"><strong>Role &amp; Mission</strong></p><p style="min-height:1.5em">NATO agencies &amp; 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 &amp; Project Manager in our EU, NATO &amp; 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.</p><p style="min-height:1.5em">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.</p><p style="min-height:1.5em">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.</p><p style="min-height:1.5em"></p><p style="min-height:1.5em"><strong>Bid Management - from first read to submission</strong></p><ul style="min-height:1.5em"><li><p style="min-height:1.5em">Screen and qualify opportunities with your sales director; prepare bid/no-bid decisions with risks, resources, and price on the table</p></li><li><p style="min-height:1.5em">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</p></li><li><p style="min-height:1.5em">Write and assemble the management, technical and compliance volumes with Engineering, Product, Finance and Legal</p></li><li><p style="min-height:1.5em">Organise the review gates and prepare the final price review with Finance; submit complete, compliant and on time, every time</p></li><li><p style="min-height:1.5em">Run the clarification rounds and support your sales director in negotiations through to contract signature</p></li></ul><p style="min-height:1.5em"></p><p style="min-height:1.5em"><strong>NATO &amp; EU Procurement - the rules of the game</strong></p><ul style="min-height:1.5em"><li><p style="min-height:1.5em">Master NSPA and NCIA procedures: Source File registration, declarations of eligibility, notifications of intent, IFBs and RFQs, basic ordering agreements and framework contracts</p></li><li><p style="min-height:1.5em">Run EU grant proposals (European Defence Fund, EDIP): Funding &amp; Tenders portal, consortium building, Part A and Part B, lump-sum budgets</p></li><li><p style="min-height:1.5em">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</p></li><li><p style="min-height:1.5em">Build and maintain the bid library: company documents, CVs, past performance, standard answers, templates</p></li></ul><p style="min-height:1.5em"></p><p style="min-height:1.5em"><strong>Project Delivery - from award to acceptance</strong></p><ul style="min-height:1.5em"><li><p style="min-height:1.5em">Turn each award into a project: kick-off, plan, milestones, risks, budget and change control</p></li><li><p style="min-height:1.5em">Coordinate engineering, production, demo and logistics teams, and partners, to deliver what we promised when we promised it</p></li><li><p style="min-height:1.5em">Own customer reporting, deliverables and acceptance (FAT/SAT), with the documentation trail for invoicing and audits</p></li><li><p style="min-height:1.5em">Run several projects in parallel, each at a different stage</p></li></ul><p style="min-height:1.5em"></p><p style="min-height:1.5em"><strong>Process &amp; Reporting</strong></p><ul style="min-height:1.5em"><li><p style="min-height:1.5em">Set the bid and project rhythm for the team: calendar, gates, templates, dashboards</p></li><li><p style="min-height:1.5em">Review the status of every live bid and project weekly with your sales director: deadlines, compliance, risks, resources needed</p></li><li><p style="min-height:1.5em">Run lessons learned after every bid, won or lost</p></li></ul><p style="min-height:1.5em"></p><p style="min-height:1.5em"><strong>Candidate Profile</strong></p><ul style="min-height:1.5em"><li><p style="min-height:1.5em">5+ years in bid, proposal or project management in defence, aerospace or security</p></li><li><p style="min-height:1.5em">Proven record of compliant, on-time submissions to NATO agencies, EU programmes or European ministries of defence, several of them in parallel</p></li><li><p style="min-height:1.5em">At least one defence contract delivered from award to acceptance</p></li><li><p style="min-height:1.5em">Scale-up or lean-team experience is a significant advantage; prime experience is welcome if you want more breadth and speed</p></li></ul><p style="min-height:1.5em"><strong>Skills &amp; Qualities</strong></p><ul style="min-height:1.5em"><li><p style="min-height:1.5em">Rigorous and precise compliance is binary; in defence, the margin for error is zero</p></li><li><p style="min-height:1.5em">Built for parallel work you run several bids and projects at once, prioritise hard and never drop the ball</p></li><li><p style="min-height:1.5em">Committed you own the outcome, not just your part of it; submission peaks are part of the job and you plan for them</p></li><li><p style="min-height:1.5em">Calm under pressure fixed deadlines, late amendments and competing requests do not throw you</p></li><li><p style="min-height:1.5em">A clear writer structured, scoreable English; you turn engineering input into compliant answers</p></li><li><p style="min-height:1.5em">A leader without authority you get engineers, Finance, Legal and partners to deliver on time</p></li><li><p style="min-height:1.5em">Technically curious you understand how sensors, effectors, C2 and AI fit together, or you learn it fast</p></li><li><p style="min-height:1.5em">Discreet and trustworthy you handle sensitive commercial and defence information as a matter of course</p></li><li><p style="min-height:1.5em">Mission-driven you care about European security, not just the job title</p></li></ul><p style="min-height:1.5em"><strong>Nice to Have</strong></p><ul style="min-height:1.5em"><li><p style="min-height:1.5em">APMP, Shipley, PMP, PRINCE2 or IPMA certification</p></li><li><p style="min-height:1.5em">Experience on a European Defence Fund or EDIP consortium, or with NSPA/NCIA procurement</p></li><li><p style="min-height:1.5em">A background in a NATO agency, the EDA or a ministry of defence, or military service (officer or NCO)</p></li><li><p style="min-height:1.5em">Knowledge of C-UAS, air defence, ISR or drones</p></li><li><p style="min-height:1.5em">Export-control experience (French export licensing, EU dual-use rules)</p></li></ul><p style="min-height:1.5em"></p><p style="min-height:1.5em"><strong>Security</strong></p><ul style="min-height:1.5em"><li><p style="min-height:1.5em">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</p></li></ul><p style="min-height:1.5em"><strong>Languages</strong></p><ul style="min-height:1.5em"><li><p style="min-height:1.5em">Professional English, written and spoken (C1) is mandatory</p></li><li><p style="min-height:1.5em">French is a strong plus</p></li><li><p style="min-height:1.5em">Polish, Romanian, Lithuanian or Ukrainian is a plus</p></li></ul><p style="min-height:1.5em"><strong>Travel</strong></p><ul style="min-height:1.5em"><li><p style="min-height:1.5em">Regular travel to NATO agencies (Brussels, Luxembourg, The Hague), EU institutions, and to demos and acceptance tests across Europe</p></li></ul><p>Find more <a href="https://www.arbeitnow.fr/english-speaking-jobs">English Speaking Jobs in France</a> on Arbeitnow</a>