Anne Burniston
Brighton,East Sussex
Summary
Strategic Senior Bid Manager with proven track record in securing high-value contracts and driving business growth. Demonstrates exceptional leadership in managing cross-functional teams, developing compelling proposal strategies, and delivering winning bids. Strong ability to identify client needs and create tailored solutions, ensuring optimal outcomes for both clients and employers. Effective communicator, capable of building strong relationships with stakeholders and fostering collaboration.
Overview
33
33
years of professional experience
Work History
Founder and Director
Conscious Copilots Ltd
08.2025 - Current
- Managed bids as Freelance Bid Manager / Writer, enhancing win probability for corporate business
- Delivered fractional commercial direction to leadership company, developing and executing growth strategy
Commercial And Bids Director
Landmark Solutions
12.2022 - 01.2025
- Landmark Solutions, a business unit of Landmark Information Group Ltd, a DMGT company, delivers complex geospatial solutions to government and private clients.
- Established bid capability across Landmark Information Group, implementing defined processes and governance
- Enhanced Account Management capability, overseeing contract renegotiations to ensure alignment with business objectives
- Developed growth strategy to increase business value to £100m+
Founder
Wild Rocket Consulting (formerly The Slowcoaches Ltd)
01.2010 - 01.2022
- Supported bid writing and proposal thinktank activities for final submission of £200m+ Naval Training Bid leading to selection as preferred bidder
- Delivered, as part of proposal creation team, £1Bn+ bid into Danish Rail Authority which took French Rolling Stock company from 4th to 2nd place and achieved downselection to final stage of competition (subsequently won)
- Bid Managed 2 concurrent bids for military land training projects
- Led bid teams of approximately 30 people, managing collaboration with internal prime contractors and three major partners
- Led bid processes, completed bid writing, prepared, delivered and trained for presentations and dialogue preparation
- Facilitated multiple bid submissions as senior bid writer / proposal manager at Blue Edge Ltd
- Wild Rocket Consulting delivers bid support, consultancy and coaching to organisations in leadership, sales and bidding.
- Bid Writing / Management Achievements
- Interim Bid Director, SERCO, UK: Serco is a £4Bn international company delivering local and national public sector services in the areas of health, education, transport, science and defence.
- Interim Bid Director, Maximus UK: Maximus UK is part of the global Maximus group, supplying health assessments and job capability provision in the US, UK, Australia, Canada and Saudi Arabia with an annual turnover of approx. $1Bn.
- Interim Bid Director, Liberata: Liberata is a mid-cap Business Process Outsourcing company delivering UK public sector services.
- Interim Head of Sales Operations, Govt. Services, The Post Office, UK: The Post Office is a 100% government-owned business, developing new products and services and redesigning existing services to support other Government departments achieve savings through utilising Post Office counters.
- Bid Consultant, Southern Health NHS Foundation Trust, UK: Southern Health FT is a Community Services, Mental Health and Learning Disabilities Trust delivering health and social care services to residents in Hampshire and surrounding areas.
- Coaching / leadership Achievements
- 100+ hours coaching of individuals, teams and Boards to improve performance, increase capabilities, promote teamwork and develop business
- Led UK Board of major International Defence Company through Goal Mapping and leadership development programme
- Ran residential coaching retreat in South of France.
- Roles included:
Director of Business Development
VT COMMUNICATIONS (Now Babock International)
09.2008 - 03.2010
- Secured strategic positioning and collaboration for £1Bn MoD communications bid, enhancing competitive advantage
- Led and developed business development team of 10, focusing on solution engineering and bid management
- Professionalised BD function by introducing strategic tools such as strategic bid management (Shipley), balanced scorecard, and pipeline management
- Babcock International is a £4.6Bn leading provider of critical, complex engineering services across defence, aerial emergency services and civil nuclear markets.
- Achievements
Various Roles
Thales Group
11.1993 - 08.2008
- Led campaign and competitive dialogue activities for National Identity Card bid, resulting in contract award
- Led bid, campaign and partnering activities for £6Bn UK Military Flight Training Services bid
- Led and managed partnering and teaming activities including Boeing, Lockheed Martin, BAES, Finmeccanica
- Managed UK Training Services Business Development function, growing pipeline and delivering over 50 bids
- Expanded in-house Human Factors capability from 1 to 4 personnel
- Delivered training solutions for first (and subsequent) MOD PFI bids for synthetic flying training services.
- Thales Group, is a global engineering company, working in markets including aerospace, defence, digital security, transport and space. Currently employing 6,500 in the UK and is worth approximately 18Bn£ globally.
- Roles included:
- Relationship Lead Central Govt, Thales London, UK, June 2007 – Sept 2008
- Head of Strategy, Defence & Aerospace Services, Thales UK and France, Feb – June 2007
- Campaign Director UK Flight Training Service, Thales, Jan 2006 – Feb 2007
- Head of Business Development, Training, IT and Managed Services, Thales Crawley, UK, Oct 2002 – Jan 2006
- Business Development, Synthetic Environments, Thales Crawley, UK 1999 – 2001
- Head of Human Factors, Thales Crawley, UK 1993 – 1999.
- Achievements
Education
Diploma - Personal Performance Coaching
The Coaching Academy
MSc - Applied Psychology
Cranfield University
BSc (Hons) - Psychology
University of Hull
Skills
- Bid management
- Proposal development
- Commercial strategy
- Business development
- Pipeline optimisation
- Stakeholder management
- Stakeholder engagement
- Pipeline optimisation
- Team management
Websites, Portfolios, Profiles
https://www.linkedin.com/in/anneburniston
Key Achievements
- Led Commercial Directorate of £20m+ geo-spatial business, creating a high increase in customer satisfaction, improved operational performance, and building a significant sales pipeline while increasing the business value of key offerings
- Implemented sales operations process, created bid process and recruited team to increase sales and account management capability
- Delivered myriad contracts to numerous companies in various markets to assist in business growth and development and delivery of bids with very high win rate (100% 2020-2022), over an 8-year period via self-owned consultancy business
- Led service redesign, bid capability development programme and organisational development for Post Office
- Led Southern Health NHS Foundation Trust team to submit winning bid to acquire and integrate £40m Ridgeway Partnership (Oxfordshire Learning Disabilities Trust)
- 100+ hours coaching of individuals, teams and Boards to improve performance, increase capabilities, promote teamwork and develop business
Additional Roles
- Head of Business Development, Human Sciences, QINETIQ
- Training Psychologist, ARMY PERSONNEL RESEARCH ESTABLISHMENT
References
Supplied on request.
Timeline
Founder and Director
Conscious Copilots Ltd
08.2025 - Current
Commercial And Bids Director
Landmark Solutions
12.2022 - 01.2025
Founder
Wild Rocket Consulting (formerly The Slowcoaches Ltd)
01.2010 - 01.2022
Director of Business Development
VT COMMUNICATIONS (Now Babock International)
09.2008 - 03.2010
Various Roles
Thales Group
11.1993 - 08.2008
Diploma - Personal Performance Coaching
The Coaching Academy
MSc - Applied Psychology
Cranfield University
BSc (Hons) - Psychology
University of Hull