Tender and contract manager

What does ‘tendering’ mean?

In business, tendering is a process where an organisation invites potential suppliers to bid for a contract to provide them with products or services they need, then evaluates all the suppliers’ proposals to choose the most suitable one that meets their criteria. 

What does a tender and contract manager at Clariant Oil Services do? 

Clariant Oil Services supplies specialty chemicals to oil and gas companies. Many of these companies will use a tender process when they are looking for specific products or services. The tender will be issued to suppliers who will compete for the work by showing why they’re the best choice, typically through a bid proposal document. 

My job is to respond to these tenders. When a company puts out a tender, they want to know everything about us – our safety record, technical capabilities and how we’ll meet their needs. I answer their questions and manage our proposal.

Oil and gas companies tell us exactly what chemicals they need for different applications. I work with various teams to identify the best technical and commercial solutions for each situation. For example, North Sea operators might need a package of chemicals such as demulsifiers and corrosion inhibitors to extract oil and gas safely and efficiently.

How is your job making the difference?

A huge focus for Clariant is to innovate in sustainable chemistry – from raw material sourcing to chemical manufacturing. This translates into the solutions we provide to our customers. For example, when oil and gas is extracted, it’s not just pure black oil as many perceive it to be! It’s an emulsion (mixture) of water, oil and gas. Large separation vessels and the application of heat will break the emulsion, but this is incredibly energy intensive. Instead, the use of specialised chemicals, called demulsifiers, can do the same job with little to no heat, saving significant amounts of energy. Demulsifiers are an example of an oilfield production chemical that Clariant supply and I believe my job really helps to promote sustainable chemistries and solutions to the energy industry.

What is your typical day like?

There is so much variety that I don’t think there is a typical day! When working on a tender, there will be a number of different parts to be completed. I will be project managing the tender and coordinating with key departments within the organisation to submit the finished bid to the customer. This will include technical experts and sales teams to help draft and review responses to questions that we need to respond to, as well as working with commercial teams to determine the costs of the products and services we are offering to make our bid as competitive as possible.

What do you like most about your job?

No tender is ever the same. Sometimes I’m working on four different tenders at any point in time, across different countries, each one having its own bespoke requirements. That variation in what I’m doing and how I’m approaching a tender keeps things interesting. There’s a lot of problem solving – which is really fun – and there’s crossover between the technical, applied chemistry aspect as well as the commercial angle. There’s also a creative part to my role as well: writing a response, creating different graphics and bringing all of those different pieces together. It’s a really nice amalgamation of different skills and topics.

Who or what inspired you to work in chemical science?

At school, I was really interested in photography, where we would do a lot of wet chemistry when developing film or photographs. That peaked my interest into wanting to understand chemistry further, at A-level. From there, I just really enjoyed chemistry as a subject and took it forwards into university level.

How did you get into your current role?

After graduating, I worked at an ink company near Bath that bought pigments from Clariant. I was doing a bit of research into Clariant at the time and I saw they had lab jobs in Aberdeen. I applied, got the sleeper train to Aberdeen for an interview, and the rest is history!

I’ve been working at Clariant since 2011, working in a variety of technical roles before moving into a commercial role in 2018. In this role, I had a lot of exposure to contract management and business development, which included supporting any tender activity that was taking place in the North Sea. In 2022, I was approached about becoming part of our tender management team. Having both technical and commercial experience made me a good fit for helping our sales teams across the globe with tenders and contract management.

Did you require any additional training to find out about tendering?

It’s been very much on the job and experience gathered as I’ve gone along. I had really early exposure to tenders when I was quite junior in the organisation and I believe that, with every single tender that I’ve worked on, I have seen what works well and what can be improved and I have been able to make iterative changes to how we conduct tenders.

What advice would you give to a young person thinking of studying chemistry or considering a career in your field?

Don’t be afraid to take risks and definitely go outside of your comfort zone. For me it was about moving away from the area that I’d grown up in and moving 500 miles north to somewhere that was different. I’ve usually found that what’s helped with career progression is making sure you find that balance between what gives you enough academic interest and making sure you’re going to try and find a field that you don’t think you’re going to get career fatigue in a few years’ time.

What do you dream about doing further down the line?

I would like to undertake professional registration or an additional qualification in tender management, then think about moving into a role with more seniority or even perhaps going into a different part of the organisation that I have not yet experienced. I think that would give me a flavour of different challenges. Just within Clariant, there’s a lot of different routes I could go down.

Mr Adam Savin BSc RSci MRSC, Tender and Contract Manager at Clariant Oil Services

Published July 2025