Proposal Manager

Responsibilities

• Own proposal strategy and execution across all active pursuits: establish win themes, align technical approach, coordinate compliance review, and drive proposals to on-time submission
• Serve as Proposal Lead on active opportunities: facilitate kickoffs, assign writing tasks, set detailed milestones, manage proposal schedules, and surface blockers early
• Build and maintain a proposal asset library of reusable, high-quality templates including cover letters, SOWs, compliance matrices, cost volumes, organizational capability narratives, and past performance summaries
• Translate technical concepts into evaluator-focused narratives: work with Engineering, Product, and Program teams to distill complex capabilities into clear, persuasive proposal language that resonates with government and commercial evaluators
• Care for cross-functional reviews to stress-test win themes, validate compliance, confirm cost realism, and ensure all sections support a cohesive, differentiated story before submission
• Manage proposal schedules and status tracking, including risk reporting, milestone tracking, and resource coordination across functions
• Drive proposal operations and process improvement: establish scorecards, checklists, and workflows that enable consistent, scalable proposal execution as the company grows
• Manage pricing and cost volume coordination between technical teams and Finance to ensure credible, competitive cost narratives that align with technical scope
• Ensure compliant submissions across government portals (SAM.gov, agency-specific systems) in partnership with BD and Sales

Qualifications

• 8+ years in proposal management, program management, or government contracting within defense tech, space, dual-use, or equivalent professional experience
• Proven track record leading proposals from kickoff through submission for SBIRs, RFPs, BAAs, or similar government solicitations
• Strong technical communication skills: ability to distill engineering and product concepts into clear, evaluator-friendly narratives without over-simplifying
• Foundational understanding of engineering, product development, and systems architecture to support credible technical scoping and writing
• CRM and pipeline tool proficiency for deal tracking, reporting, and workflow management
• Familiarity with government procurement processes, FAR/DFARS compliance, and common submission portals and timelines
• Comfort with process building: ability to create and refine templates, scorecards, checklists, and workflows that scale and improve over time
• APMP, PMP, or Shipley certification (or equivalent proposal management credential)
• Experience in space, defense, Earth observation, or robotics sectors
• Deep SBIR/STTR expertise, including Phase I → Phase II positioning strategy and program structure
• Experience with pricing including rate structures, LOE estimation, risk/reserve methodology, and budget narrative development
• Experience with proposal automation tools or proposal writing platforms (Deltek, Responsive, Proposal software ecosystems)