Senior Proposal Consultant

Primary Responsibilities

• Interprets Section L instructions and Section M evaluation criteria for each pursuit.
• Advise the Solution Lead on the FAR and contract vehicle requirements (VHA IHT 2.0, NIH, broader HHS).
• Contribute win themes, discriminators, and methods to connect the Solution Lead’s overall approach to the evaluation criteria clearly during proposal strategy meetings.
• Lead technical research gathering and draft the bulk of the technical volume, supporting and implementing the Solution Lead’s vision.
• Develop innovative health solutions that satisfy all solicitation requirements and maximize value to the Government customer.
• Apply AI tool expertise to assemble reference materials, customer knowledge, competitive intelligence, past performance examples, win themes, settled solution detail, and evaluation criteria for LLMs.
• Collaborate with graphic designers to convert Solution Lead’s sketches and concepts into production-ready proposal visuals.
• Coordinate with the pricing team to produce the bid's staffing level of effort.
• Apply AI context engineering to perform virtually all tasks related to proposal work, including research, drafting, editing, compliance checking, and graphics ideation.

Proposal Development

The Proposal Consultant leads technical research gathering and drafts the bulk of the technical volume, supporting and implementing the Solution Lead’s vision. The Consultant is not simply a technical writer but requires active thought partnership with the Solution Lead to develop innovative health solutions that satisfy all solicitation requirements and maximize value to the Government customer. Emphasis on Aptive’s differentiators, evaluator-aligned framing, compelling graphics, and compliance review are among the Consultant’s key contributions. Graphics are developed collaboratively, with the Senior Proposal Consultant converting the Solution Lead’s sketches and concepts into production-ready proposal visuals, working closely with our graphic designers. The Consultant also coordinates with the pricing team to produce the bid’s staffing level of effort.

Minimum Qualifications

• Seven years of demonstrated experience supporting federal proposals in a dedicated capture, proposal, or solutioning role, with leadership or principal-author contributions on 25+ proposals.
• Working knowledge of the federal acquisition lifecycle, FAR Section L and M analysis, and Shipley (or equivalent) capture and proposal frameworks.
• Demonstrated ability to interpret evaluation criteria, develop win themes, manage compliance matrices, address color team review feedback, create staffing plans, and lead production through submission.
• Expertise applying LLMs and other AI tools to proposal work: research, drafting, editing, compliance checking, graphics ideation.
• Practical command of context engineering for proposal writing: assembling reference materials, win themes, settled solution detail, and evaluation criteria into prompts so an LLM produces accurate, properly voiced content.
• Demonstrated capacity to draft full technical volumes when the Solution Lead has determined the solution.
• Familiarity with federal health programs sufficient to converse credibly with health SMEs across all Aptive pursuit categories, ask the right clarifying questions, and represent the solution accurately in writing.

Desired Qualifications

• APMP certification (Foundation, Practitioner, or Professional).
• Experience supporting VA proposals, particularly under VHA IHT 2.0 or predecessor task order vehicles.
• Experience supporting NIH or other HHS proposals.
• Background as a Shipley-trained technical writer, capture manager, or proposal manager.
• Experience at a federal contractor, federal capture organization, or dedicated proposal-services firm such as Lohfeld, OST Global Solutions, or BPL.
• Familiarity with proposal platforms (Loopio, GovDash, Responsive/RFPIO, Qvidian) and current AI tooling (Claude, ChatGPT, Notebook LM, custom RAG over proposal libraries).
• Proposal graphic design experience in PowerPoint, Adobe Creative Suite, or Figma.

About Aptive

Aptive partners with federal agencies to achieve their missions through improved performance, streamlined operations and enhanced service delivery. Based in Alexandria, Virginia, we support more than a dozen agencies including Veterans Affairs, Transportation, Defense, Homeland Security and the National Science Foundation. We specialize in applying technology, creativity and human-centered services to optimize mission delivery and improve experiences for millions of people who count on government services every day. Founded: 2012. Employees: 300+ nationwide.

EEO Statement

Aptive is an equal opportunity employer. We consider all qualified applicants for employment without regard to race, color, national origin, religion, creed, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, marital status, parental status, veteran status, age, disability, or any other protected class. Veterans, members of the Reserve and National Guard, and transitioning active-duty service members are highly encouraged to apply.