Proposal Manager

Roles & Responsibilities

• Lead end-to-end management of federal IT proposals, including responses to OASIS+ task orders, agency-specific IDIQ vehicles, GSA Schedule orders, and full-and-open and set-aside solicitations
• Build and maintain compliance matrices against Section L instructions and ensure every proposal is fully responsive to Section M evaluation factors
• Develop annotated outlines reviewed against the evaluation criteria and manage each proposal through a structured color team review cadence — kickoff, Pink Team at draft, Red Team at near-final, and a compliance check before submission
• Run proposal kickoffs, establish and enforce production schedules, and coordinate contributions from technical staff, capture leads, teaming partners, and subject matter experts
• Write, edit, and shape Technical Approach, Management Approach, and Past Performance narratives that score competitively against published evaluation factors
• Build and maintain a bank of reusable technical narrative sections around ESI’s core capabilities, including cloud architecture and migration, applied AI/ML, the Agile Delivery Framework, and FedRAMP and cloud compliance experience
• Partner with capture leads to translate win strategies, discriminators, and pre-solicitation intelligence developed during capture into the written proposal
• Support bid/no-bid decisions with realistic assessments of compliance requirements, level of effort, competitive positioning, and proposal risk
• Mentor and guide contributors on federal proposal best practices, compliance discipline, and persuasive, evaluator-focused writing

Basic Qualifications

• Possession of a bachelor’s degree from an accredited college/university according to the Council for Higher Education Accreditation (CHEA) in English, Communications, Business, a technical discipline, or a related field
• At least 5+ years of experience managing federal proposals, with demonstrated experience leading IT or professional services responses to a successful submission
• Demonstrated experience building compliance matrices against Section L and writing to Section M evaluation factors under the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR)
• Demonstrated experience managing proposals through a structured color team review process (Pink, Red, and Gold teams)
• Direct experience with government-wide acquisition contracts and IDIQ vehicles — such as OASIS+, GSA MAS, NITAAC, or agency-specific vehicles — and their task order ordering procedures
• Hands-on experience with Deltek GovWin IQ for opportunity identification, pipeline management, and competitive intelligence
• Exceptional writing and editing skills, including the ability to translate complex technical content into clear, compliant, and persuasive narrative
• Strong project management skills, including the ability to manage multiple concurrent pursuits under firm deadlines
• Proficiency with Microsoft Office (Word, Excel, SharePoint) and proposal collaboration tools
• Exceptional interpersonal and collaboration skills, with experience coordinating inputs from technical staff, executives, and teaming partners
• Able to work effectively in a complex, fast-paced environment, including with government stakeholders and in adherence to government practices and processes

Preferred Qualifications

• Association of Proposal Management Professionals (APMP) certification (Foundation, Practitioner, or Professional)
• Familiarity with the Shipley or a comparable capture and proposal methodology
• Familiarity with FedRAMP, cloud-hosted solutions (AWS), and Agile delivery as they appear in technical proposals
• Prior experience supporting small business capture efforts and contract vehicle on-ramps (e.g., OASIS+)

Benefits

Salary range: $100,000–$145,000 per year, depending on skills and experience.

Work Location: Hybrid (1 day in office, 4 days off-site per week) in Rockville, MD 20850

Equal Opportunity Employer

Essential Software Inc. provides equal employment opportunities to all employees and applicants for employment and prohibits discrimination and harassment of any type, without regard to race, color, religion, age, sex, national origin, disability status, genetics, protected veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state or local laws.

This policy applies to all terms and conditions of employment, including recruiting, hiring, placement, promotion, termination, layoff, recall, transfer, leaves of absence, compensation, and training.

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