Strategy, Determination and Technical Knowledge: Essential Skills in Bidding

Hear from Martina Lazzari, Head of Railway Bidding, to get the story behind her professional journey. She began her career as an Energy Management Engineer, then progressed to Hitachi Rail in the role of Head of Bidding Processes, for our billion-dollar rail projects.

Martina describes the complexities involved with the bidding process, which is the stage where all our projects begin. Whether with new customers or those that we have an established relationship with, her team bid for new Hitachi Rail contracts. Projects range from supplying new technologically-advanced vehicles for an existing railway, to participating in a turnkey project for the design of an entire metro system in a city which previously relied on car transport.

Read on to find out more from the Head of Railway Bidding at Hitachi Rail, in our recent discussion…

What does a Head of Bidding do? 

The bidding team manages a very important function which discovers new business opportunities and projects.

My team works closely with the sales team who are continuously identifying new opportunities and tenders across the globe to help build the order pipeline for Hitachi Rail. As Head of Bidding, it is my role to support senior management to assess the tenders, and if viable, to organise a dedicated team and manage the bidding process throughout its lifecycle. My team has experts from various parts of the business including technical, legal, industrial, compliance, quality and many more.

How did you navigate your way to Head of Bidding role in the railway sector?

Born and brought up in Lucca, Tuscany, I grew up in a family of technical and scientific professionals. I followed the science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) path and chose to study Energy Engineering.

My attitude has always been - every day brings a new challenge, and it is my job as an engineer to find the solution. I started my career in a small company helping them with energy management. In a small firm, there are not many specialists, so I had to multitask to get things done. This experience suited me well and let me extend my knowledge!

Soon I came across a job advertised from Hitachi Rail. The commercial department needed a technical person to join their team. I applied although I had no prior experience in railways or in bidding.

From the first day, I loved my job. It has been very challenging and required me to align with teams across the business. It involves processing huge amounts of data, an eye for detail and a willingness to sometimes stay up late to see a bid through to completion. But at the end of it all, it is a hugely satisfying role. I have been in bidding for almost seven years and have handled bids across the globe.

As our societies strive to become more sustainable, there has been a revolution in many sectors to innovate new solutions to big global problems.

In the last two decades, the energy sector has been undergoing ‘the Energy Transition’ - increasing investment and capacity of lower carbon forms of energy such as wind and solar. But with the IEA stating that global transport CO₂ emissions now count for more than a third of total carbon output – and growing - it’s clear that the next big shift has to happen in the Mobility sector.

And it’s not just CO₂ emissions driving the need for better connected transport. Three pivotal trends are driving this change:

• Population Growth: Estimates suggest a surge to approximately 8 billion individuals by 2050, up from 7.6 billion in 2018.

• Urbanisation: The urban populace is projected to constitute 68% of the global population by 2050, a significant increase from today’s 55%.

• Climate Change: The repercussions of climate change are triggering environmental, economic, and social shifts.