Bid Administrator

About Us

Henry J Lyons Architects is an Irish architectural practice based in Dublin City Centre. Our studios are located on Pearse Street, Dublin 2 and on Albert Quay in Cork. We have a team of over 280 architects, designers and support staff who work on projects throughout Ireland and internationally. Our work includes architecture, interior design, master planning and conservation projects. Examples of the types of projects that this role will be involved with can be seen on our website at www.henryjlyons.com. This role will be based in our Pearse Street office, in Dublin City Centre.

Role Overview
The Bid Administrator will support the preparation, coordination, and submission of bids, tenders, and proposals for mission critical and transport infrastructure projects, while also providing finance administration support to the team.

This role is central to maintaining a structured, research‑driven, and collaborative approach to bids, ensuring high-quality documentation, consistent branding, and efficient internal processes in line with Henry J Lyons’ standards.

Key Responsibilities

Bid & Tender Coordination

• Assist in managing pre-qualification questionnaires (PQQs), RFQs, RFPs and tender submissions, from opportunity identification through to final submission and post‑tender feedback.
• Coordinate inputs from architects, designers, directors and consultants to assemble compliant bid documentation on time.
• Maintain and update bid content libraries (CVs, project sheets, case studies, sector narratives, boilerplate text, images).
• Check tender portals for new opportunities, download documents, track deadlines and maintain a live bid pipeline.
• Ensure brand consistency across proposals, presentations and supporting documents, using agreed templates and style guides.
• Support creation and formatting of design‑led submissions (InDesign / PowerPoint), including layout, imagery and graphics.
• Prepare and collate supporting documentation: insurances, policies, certificates, references, and compliance statements.
• Record and track tender outcomes, feedback and lessons learned to support continuous improvement.

Finance & Commercial Support

• Support the finance team in basic bid‑related financial tasks, such as:
• Assisting with fee proposal schedules (Excel).
• Consolidating fees submissions from other parties including control checks
• Ensuring agreed fee tables and rate cards are inserted into proposals.
• Help maintain up‑to‑date records of framework fee rates and prior agreements.
• Ad-hoc Support including simple data entry and reconciliation tasks.

Administration & Data Management

• Maintain a central bid register capturing opportunities, submission status, value, sector, and outcome.
• File and organise digital bid records in line with practice standards (e.g. project folders, SharePoint/Teams/Network drives).
• Produce regular reports and dashboards from Excel (e.g. hit‑rate, sector mix, client type, pipeline value).
• Schedule bid review meetings, prepare agendas, take minutes and track action items.
• Liaise with external stakeholders (clients, subconsultants, partners) for clarifications, references or documentation.

Quality, Compliance & Governance

• Check bid documents for accuracy, consistency and compliance with tender requirements and practice policies.
• Assist with maintaining and updating standard policy documents required for public and private sector tenders (e.g. health & safety, ESG, equality & diversity statements).
• Help ensure bids align with practice strategy, ESG commitments and quality management processes.

Skills and Experience Required:

Essential

• 2–4+ years’ experience in a bid administration, tenders, proposals, or strong office administration role, preferably in:
  • Architecture
  • Engineering
  • Construction
  • Professional services (consultancy)
    
• Excellent administrative skills, including organisation, time management and the ability to deliver to tight deadlines.
• Strong Excel skills, including:
  • Formulas, lookups, filters and pivot tables.
  • Formatting fee/pricing tables and simple charts.
• Strong proficiency in Adobe InDesign for layout of bid documents and capability statements.
• High level of competency in MS Office (Word, PowerPoint, Outlook) and PDF editing tools.
• Strong written English, with ability to proofread, check consistency and structure content clearly.
• High attention to detail, thoroughness and quality focus.
• Ability to work collaboratively with multiple stakeholders and manage competing deadlines.
• Eligibility to work in Ireland is required.

Desirable

• Experience in architecture or design practices, with an understanding of project lifecycles and procurement routes.
• Familiarity with eTender/eTenders.gov.ie, OJEU/TED, or other public sector tender portals.
• Some exposure to basic finance/admin work (POs, invoices, fee schedules, or management accounts support).
• Awareness of ESG, sustainability and public realm considerations to help position the practice’s work in bids.

Qualifications

• Degree or diploma in business, administration, marketing, finance, architecture, engineering or related field.
• Alternatively, significant relevant experience as a Bid Administrator / Coordinator / Office Manager in professional services.

Personal Attributes

• Structured and research‑driven in approach to content and data.
• Collaborative and comfortable working with multi‑disciplinary teams.
• Calm under pressure, deadline‑focused and solutions‑
• Professional, discreet and commercially aware.
• Strong visual sense and appreciation of design quality in documentation.

What We Offer:

• Bonus – non-contractual discretionary bonus. (% amount depends on the performance of the company) plus annual bonus voucher

• We offer a hybrid working environment
• Pension – matched pension contribution up to 3%

• Annual Leave – 21 days plus Good Friday 

• Learning & Development – financial support for relevant courses (fees paid and paid study leave), in-house training 

• Death in Service & Income Protection  

• Enhanced Family Leave 

• Tax Saver Tickets 

• Bike to work scheme  

• Sports and social club 
  

Henry J Lyons is an Equal Opportunities employer with a diverse and inclusive workforce.