Business Development Manager

Knottingley, West Yorkshire

Salary: £35k per annum

Hours: Full-time, Permanent

Closing date: 31st July 2026

At Real Life Options, every role is a vital part of a bigger mission, working together to empower, uplift, and transform lives across the UK. Our frontline teams provide the freedom, dignity, and support that help people live life on their own terms. But behind the scenes, our business support team ensures stability, allowing us to continue to go and deliver life-changing support. That's where you come in.

As Business Development Partner you will identify and secure major grant funding opportunities of over £100,000, in accordance with the UK Fundraising Code of Practice, from corporate trusts and foundations.

Coordinate the end-to-end tender and bid process for RLO Group, ensuring the use of a project-management methodology. Act as administrator for contractual documentation for key stakeholders. Maintain contract and service tracker, monitor contract lifecycles and identify risks, reporting them to the Business Development Manager and senior management as required.

• Explore options to secure major grant funding opportunities, working across the Real Life Options Group to identify projects and service concepts.
• Research and identify potential strategic corporate partnerships to support projects and secure major funding opportunities.
• Coordinate and implement project plans to ensure effective management of all tenders, bids and grant funding submissions.
• Write, edit and proof-read the information for tender submission.
• Write and update the library of information used to support future tenders.
• Monitor contract lifecycles, ensuring all Real Life Options Group contracted services are risk assessed, reviewed and re-tender exercises planned with operational and business support teams.
• Compile and submit tender and contract management information for the Business Development Manager, senior management and the senior leadership team as requested.
• Collaborate with team members and the wider group in support of ad-hoc projects to support business needs.

• Significant experience in submitting successful large grant funding bids for projects and/or services.
• Have attained or be willing to undertake PRINCE2 (or other project management) training qualification.
• Proven experience of the public procurement tender/bid process.
• Knowledge of the health and social care sector an advantage.
• Excellent tender writing and communication skills.
• Good eye for detail and comfortable in a fast-paced, ever-changing environment.
• Ambitious, self-motivated and driven, personable, able to work alone and as part of a team.
• Receptive to ideas and feedback.
• Strong people and commercial skills.
• The ability to prioritise workloads and meet targets.
• IT proficient.
• Ability to effectively build good working relationships with internal and external stakeholders.

• Minimum of 28 days paid holiday a year, including bank holidays (pro-rata for part-time staff).
• Accredited training giving you the knowledge and skills to deliver a first-rate job - develop professionally through training, mentoring, and a strong support network.
• An employer contributory pension scheme.
• Work in a collaborative, values-led environment.
• Health cash plan (for full/part-time contracted hours).
• £10,000 life cover.
• A free employee assistance programme (including a medical helpline, telephone and face-to-face counselling, debt, financial and legal information).
• A reward gateway with access to discounted goods and services.
• Cycle-to-work scheme.
• A financial wellbeing scheme.
• Refer a friend incentive bonus (terms and conditions apply).
• Recognition initiatives.

Real Life Options are an equal opportunities employer. We seek to recruit, train and promote the best person for the job, to make full use of the talents and resources of all our people and to craft a working environment free from unlawful discrimination, victimisation and harassment in which all individuals are treated with dignity and respect.

If you have a disability, a learning difficulty, a medical condition or individual need that you believe may affect your performance in selection, we will be happy to make reasonable adjustments to our processes to enable you to perform at your best. Please let us know.