Proposal Engineer

About the Role

Hydroleap is looking for a detail-oriented Proposal Engineer to prepare high-quality technical and commercial proposals for our water and wastewater treatment solutions. Sitting at the interface between Sales, Process/Application Engineering, Operations, and other internal teams, you will translate customer requirements and technical designs into compelling, accurate, and competitive proposals. This is a hands-on engineering role for someone who enjoys both the technical depth of water treatment processes and the discipline of winning tenders.

Key Responsibilities

Enquiry qualification and scoping

• Review incoming enquiries, RFQs, and tender documents; assess technical feasibility and fit against Hydroleap's technology.

• Interrogate client-supplied water quality data (COD, BOD, TSS, TDS, conductivity, pH, hardness, flow profiles) and identify gaps that need clarification before pricing.

• Make and document bid / no-bid recommendations.

Technical solution design

• Select and size the treatment train, including electrochemical reactor sizing, pre-treatment and post-treatment stages, and sludge handling.

• Translate pilot and jar test results into full-scale design assumptions.

• Prepare process flow diagrams, mass balances, and general arrangement inputs with the design team.

• Define scope of supply, battery limits, exclusions, and deviations against client specifications.

Costing and commercial modelling

• Build bills of materials and obtain vendor quotations for equipment, instrumentation, and installation.

• Develop CAPEX build-ups and OPEX models covering power, consumables (electrodes, chemicals), sludge disposal, and maintenance.

• Apply margin and contingency in line with internal guidelines and flag commercial risk to the Engineering Manager and CFO.

Proposal production

• Write the full technical and commercial proposal document to a standard that requires minimal rework before submission.

• Manage submission deadlines, tender portal requirements, and document compliance.

• Respond to client technical clarifications and revise offers through the negotiation cycle.

• Attend techno-commercial meetings with clients alongside sales.

Handover and continuous improvement

• Hand over won orders to Project Management with the full cost basis, assumptions, and risk register intact.

• Maintain a proposal library — reusable technical content, cost benchmarks, and vendor pricing.

• Track win/loss outcomes and feed lessons back into pricing and design assumptions.

• Operate within Hydroleap's Proposal-to-Commercialisation gate process.

Requirements

• Bachelor's degree or higher in Environmental Engineering, Civil Engineering, Chemical Engineering, or a related field.

• 3–7 years of experience in a proposal, tendering, or applications engineering role within the water/wastewater treatment, EPC, or related industry.

• Solid working knowledge of water and wastewater treatment technologies and processes; exposure to electrochemical treatment is a plus.

• Ability to read and interpret P&IDs, process flow diagrams, and technical specifications, and to build CAPEX/OPEX cost models.

• Strong project coordination, technical writing, and editing skills.

• Proficient in MS Office Suite; experience with proposal, estimating, or document management tools is a plus.

• Comfortable working under tight deadlines and managing multiple proposals simultaneously.

• Strong cross-functional communication skills, with the ability to bridge technical and commercial conversations.