Federal Proposal Manager

Role Priorities

While this position contributes across multiple aspects of the company’s growth organization, responsibilities are prioritized as follows:

• Lead the successful development and submission of winning proposals.
• Develop and mature the proposal infrastructure, tools, reusable content, and processes that improve long-term growth effectiveness.
• Support business development, capture, marketing, and delivery activities where those efforts directly strengthen active pursuits or position the company for future opportunities.

Key Responsibilities

Proposal Leadership (Primary Responsibility)

• Lead the complete proposal lifecycle (RFIs, Sources Soughts, RFP, RFQs, etc.) from opportunity qualification through submission and post-submission lessons learned
• Write Technical, Management, Past Performance and other sections as needed to respond to customer requirements
• Develop proposal schedules, compliance matrices, outlines, storyboards, and production plans.
• Manage proposal teams consisting of technical/delivery staff, pricing, contracts, recruiting, and executive leadership.
• Drive proposal strategy, win themes, discriminators, messaging, and customer-focused content.
• Ensure proposal compliance with solicitation requirements, evaluation criteria, and submission instructions.
• Coordinate color team reviews (Pink, Red, Gold, White Glove) and ensure timely incorporation of reviewer feedback.
• Oversee proposal production, quality assurance, formatting, graphics coordination, and final submission.
• Maintain proposal repositories, templates, boilerplate content, resumes, past performance libraries, and proposal knowledge management assets.
• Analyze proposal metrics and implement continuous process improvements to increase proposal quality and win rates.

Business Development & Capture Support

• Partner with business development personnel to qualify opportunities aligned with company strategy.
• Assess opportunities posted to eBuy, SAM.gov, etc. and provide pursuit recommendations.
• Participate in bid/no-bid decisions.
• Support capture planning activities including competitive analysis, customer research, teaming strategies, and win strategy development.
• Absorb assistance in developing executive summaries, capability statements, and customer presentation materials.
• Cook up with teaming partners throughout capture and proposal efforts.
• Help maintain visibility into the opportunity pipeline to support proposal planning and resource forecasting.

Marketing & Corporate Communications

• Collaborate on the development of corporate capabilities materials, solution briefs, white papers, case studies, and other customer-facing content.
• Support marketing initiatives that directly enable business development and proposal efforts. Ownership of broader corporate marketing activities may reside elsewhere within the organization as the company grows.
• Help maintain corporate messaging, differentiators, and solution positioning.
• Cook up announcements related to contract awards, certifications, partnerships, and company achievements, as appropriate.

Delivery & Operations Collaboration

• Cook up with delivery leadership to identify reusable technical content, past performance, and staffing resources.
• Capture lessons learned from project execution to strengthen future proposals.
• Support transition activities between proposal and program startup when required.
• Absorb assistance with customer presentations, oral proposals, and technical demonstrations.

Growth Process Management

• Continuously improve the company’s proposal and growth processes, templates, tools, and knowledge repositories, prioritizing initiatives that directly improve proposal quality, efficiency, and win probability.
• Track key growth metrics including proposal throughput, submission quality, win rate, and proposal resource utilization.
• Develop and maintain reusable proposal assets, including templates, graphics, standard language, proposal checklists, and knowledge repositories.
• Own the company’s past performance repository, resume library, and proposal content management strategy.
• Evaluate and implement AI-assisted proposal development tools and workflows that improve proposal quality and team productivity.
• Recommend process improvements and automation opportunities that enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of proposal operations.
• Support strategic planning and annual growth initiatives.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree or equivalent professional experience.
• 8+ years of experience supporting Federal Government proposal management, capture, business development, or growth operations.
• Demonstrated success leading complex Federal proposals under FAR-based procurements.
• Strong understanding of Federal proposal best practices, compliance management, and proposal review methodologies.
• Experience supporting opportunities across Federal Civilian agencies and/or the Department of Defense.
• Excellent written, editing, and verbal communication skills.
• Exceptional organizational and project management skills with the ability to manage multiple concurrent priorities.
• Strong leadership and collaboration skills with cross-functional teams.
• Proficiency with Microsoft Office and proposal collaboration tools.

PREFERRED

• APMP Foundation, Practitioner, or Professional Certification.
• Experience supporting digital modernization, low-code platforms, AI, cloud, cybersecurity, or enterprise IT services.
• Experience with GSA MAS, GWACs, BPAs, IDIQs, and task order competitions.
• Familiarity with Shipley proposal methodologies.
• Experience supporting oral presentations and demonstrations.
• Experience implementing AI-assisted proposal development or knowledge management solutions.

DESIRED CHARACTERISTICS

• The successful candidate is both a strategic thinker and a hands-on executor who enjoys building repeatable processes while delivering exceptional proposals under demanding deadlines.
• They thrive in an entrepreneurial environment, are comfortable wearing multiple hats, and understand how to balance immediate revenue-generating priorities with longer-term investments in growth capabilities.
• They are collaborative, highly organized, customer-focused, and continuously seek opportunities to improve the effectiveness of the company’s growth organization through better processes, tools, content, and teamwork.

Success Measures

• Consistent delivery of high-quality, compliant, and compelling proposals submitted on time.
• Increased proposal win rates and overall proposal effectiveness.
• Continuous improvement of proposal operations, reusable assets, and growth infrastructure.
• Effective collaboration across business development, capture, delivery, marketing, and executive leadership.
• Development of scalable proposal processes and AI-enabled capabilities that improve efficiency over time.
• Meaningful contributions to the company’s long-term growth strategy while maintaining proposal excellence as the highest operational priority.