Proposal Manager

Proposal Manager

Job Location s: US-MD-Lexington Park

Category:
Business Development

Type:
Full Time

Telecommute:
Yes

Join a Company Where You Can Make a Real Impact - and Own a Piece of the Future

Are you energized by the idea of helping a company grow smarter, serve our customers better, and connect more deeply? Do you thrive in an environment where your ideas matter, your voice is heard, and your work drives real results? If so, we'd love to meet you.

We're a mid‑sized, employee‑owned company on a mission to create meaningful value for both our employees and our customers. That means we're not just looking for someone to fill a seat - we're looking for someone who wants to build, innovate, and evolve with us.

Our company primarily serves the Navy and other Department of Defense clients, offering a dynamic environment where your expertise will make a difference.

AVIAN (pronounced a‑vy‑in) is seeking a Proposal Manager to support our Corporate Team and lead the development of high‑impact federal and DoD proposals. In this role, you will guide planning, solutioning, and narrative development while partnering with growth teams to transform capture insights, technical strengths, and win themes into persuasive, compliant proposal products.

• Lead the full proposal lifecycle (pre‑RFP through submission) for federal and DoD opportunities, ensuring compliance, quality, and alignment with capture strategy.
• Conduct requirements analysis, solutioning discussions, and compliance mapping using industry‑standard processes (Shipley used).
• Develop or oversee the development of proposal schedules, outlines, compliance matrices, storyboards, and content plans.
• Work closely with BD and capture teams to understand customer needs, competitor landscape, program drivers, and solution differentiators.
• Manage proposal kickoff meetings, daily standups, and solutioning sessions to align all contributors.
• Coordinate all aspects of color team reviews (Pink, Red, Gold), including preparing review materials, collecting feedback, and managing recovery activities.

• Develop compelling, compliant, cost‑competitive proposal content including management approaches, technical narratives, win themes, discriminators, and executive summaries.
• Integrate capture intelligence, past performance, and technical differentiators into narrative content.
• Research, interview, and partner with SMEs to translate technical inputs into polished proposal language.
• Tailor or repurpose existing content to meet specific solicitation requirements without sacrificing clarity or customer focus.
• Ensure consistency in tone, voice, structure, and visual formatting across volumes.

• Write, assess, and refine proposal content throughout the proposal process.
• Facilitate information flow among BD, capture, SMEs, subcontractors, and leadership.
• Utilize SharePoint for document management, version control, and collaborative authoring.
• Coordinate teammate data calls, resumes, past performance inputs, and contractual requirements.
• Ensure all proposal elements meet evaluation criteria outlined in the RFP, including technical, management, past performance, and price volumes (in collaboration with pricing).
• Develop and maintain compliance matrices that guide proposal section assignments and internal reviews.

• Contribute to or support Price‑to‑Win methodologies through cost estimating, scenario modeling, competitive analysis, and integration of pricing insights into technical volumes.

• Ensure delivery of polished, error‑free proposal submissions on schedule, sometimes requiring night/weekend work during surge periods.
• Maintain version control, quality control, and adherence to AVIAN branding and messaging.
• Support continuous improvement by capturing lessons learned and refining proposal processes and tools.

• Bachelor's degree required (English, Communications, Journalism, Business, or related field preferred).
• Minimum 5+ years leading and writing federal and DoD proposals; 10+ years'…