Proposal Writer - Defense

About the role

The Proposal Writer is the hands-on-keyboard person who translates capture strategy, technical inputs, and customer requirements into compliant, compelling written products. Reporting to the Head of Growth, you will be responsible for drafting direct-to-customer proposals, responses to RFPs, Statements of Work (SOWs), Basis of Estimates (BoEs), technical documentation, and other customer-facing materials that enable Applied Intuition to win and execute defense contracts.

You are a writer first, someone who can take complex technical concepts from engineering teams and turn them into clear, scannable, customer-focused narratives that address evaluation criteria and win themes. You work cross-functionally with BD, engineering, delivery, and product teams to pull what you need, push back when inputs are unclear, and produce proposal sections that are compliant, compelling, and on time.

Responsibilities

• Draft and edit proposals from first draft through final submission, including executive summaries, technical volumes, management volumes, past performance narratives, staffing plans, resumes, and other required sections
• Collaborate with Engineering, Product, Delivery, and Solutions teams and translate technical capabilities and engineering inputs into clear, customer-facing language that addresses evaluation criteria and speaks to government customer pain points
• Ensure proposals are compliant with solicitation instructions, evaluation factors, page limits, formatting requirements, required attachments, and submission rules
• Draft Statements of Work with clear deliverables, milestones, and acceptance criteria that align with technical approaches and pricing structures
• Develop Rough Order of Magnitudes (ROMs) and pricing proposals, milestone-based pricing structures, and Basis of Estimates narratives in collaboration with contracts and engineering teams

Requirements

• BA/BS in English, Communications, Technical Writing, Engineering, or a related field
• 3–8 years of proposal writing, technical writing, grant writing, or related experience
• Demonstrated ability to write Statements of Work, technical specifications, or similar structured technical documents and compelling, customer-focused proposals under tight deadlines and while managing multiple efforts simultaneously
• Comfortable working directly with BD, and the technical fluency to translate complex technical concepts from delivery, engineering, and product teams
• Bias toward action and self-starting mentality and a rigorous attention to detail and compliance

Nice to Have

• Government contracting fluency
• Familiarity with RFP structures, evaluation criteria, FAR/DFARS, and DoD procurement processes without being dogmatic about “how it’s always been done”
• Experience writing proposals or technical documentation for defense, aerospace, or similarly regulated industries
• Hybrid background spanning both traditional defense primes and startup/scale-up environments
• U.S. citizenship and eligibility to obtain a Secret or Top Secret security clearance

Benefits

Compensation at Applied Intuition for eligible roles includes base salary, equity, and benefits. Base salary is a single component of the total compensation package, which may also include equity in the form of options and/or restricted stock units, comprehensive health, dental, vision, life and disability insurance coverage, 401k retirement benefits with employer match, learning and wellness stipends, and paid time off.

Pay

The base salary range for this full-time position is: $100,000 USD to $150,000 USD annually