Senior Proposal Manager – Commercial Energy

This is a fully remote position, open to applicants in United States.

📋 Description

• Oversee intricate, strategic, high-value, high-visibility, and/or high-risk commercial initiatives from the initial proposal planning phase through to submission and post-submission activities.

• Direct cross-functional teams by setting clear expectations, accountability, decision points, and maintaining momentum throughout the pursuit.

• Act as the proposal strategy lead and strategic partner to Growth/Business Development, senior engineers, technical leaders, operations, pricing, contracts, and executive leadership.

• Manage diverse perspectives, respectfully challenge assumptions, and facilitate timely decisions that enhance the solution and boost Leidos' competitive edge.

• Convert customer requirements, competitive intelligence, technical solutions, and business objectives into a unified, customer-centric proposal strategy.

• Spearhead the development of win themes, differentiators, value propositions, proof points, and messaging.

• Examine RFPs, RFQs, RFIs, and other commercial solicitations to pinpoint requirements, evaluation criteria, risks, gaps, dependencies, and strategic response considerations.

• Take ownership of proposal compliance and formulate proposal structure, schedules, compliance matrices, content plans, author assignments, review plans, checkpoints, and decision points.

• Lead kickoff meetings, solutioning and strategy sessions, color/team reviews, recovery activities, senior-level reviews, and final quality reviews.

• Customize proposal processes and governance according to opportunity value, complexity, competitive stance, risk, schedule, and customer expectations.

• Provide support and guidance to authors, engineers, SMEs, and leaders to enhance responsiveness, differentiation, customer focus, and proposal quality.

• Ensure that technical, management, contractual, risk, and pricing strategies are in line with the overall proposal strategy.

• Identify execution, compliance, strategy, and schedule risks; devise recovery plans; and escalate issues that require leadership decisions.

• Sustain team focus and momentum amid challenging schedules, competing priorities, ambiguity, and evolving customer requirements.

• Mentor proposal contributors and promote the continuous enhancement of proposal processes, governance, templates, tools, training, best practices, and lessons learned.

⛳️ Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree with a minimum of eight (8) years of relevant experience in proposals, business development, or related fields, including significant experience in leading complex commercial proposals; additional relevant experience may be accepted in lieu of a degree.

• Proven track record of successfully leading complex, strategic, high-value, high-visibility, and/or high-risk pursuits throughout the entire proposal lifecycle.

• Demonstrated ability to lead and influence senior engineers, technical leaders, and business executives; navigate conflicting viewpoints; facilitate challenging discussions; establish alignment; and drive timely decisions.

• Strong comprehension of commercial procurement, competitive proposal development, customer evaluation processes, and proposal strategy.

• Proven expertise in translating customer requirements, competitive positioning, technical solutions, and business objectives into compelling and differentiated proposal strategies and content.

• Expert knowledge of proposal compliance, lifecycle processes, and governance, including compliance matrices, color/team reviews, risk and pricing reviews, review checkpoints, and final quality reviews.

• Ability to clearly articulate the purpose and business value of proposal processes and secure team commitment to the necessary level of rigor.

• Extensive experience in crafting win themes, differentiators, value propositions, executive summaries, proof points, and customer-focused messaging.

• Excellent leadership, facilitation, negotiation, and communication abilities.

• Proficient in Microsoft Word and possess exceptional written, verbal, editing, and presentation preparation skills.

• Capability to synthesize complex technical and business information and communicate it effectively and persuasively.

• Demonstrated experience leading geographically dispersed, cross-functional teams in a dynamic commercial environment with rapid-turn pursuits and multiple concurrent priorities.

• Advanced proficiency in Microsoft PowerPoint, Excel, Outlook, and SharePoint.

• U.S. Citizenship is mandatory.

• APMP, Shipley, SMPS, or other recognized proposal-management certifications are preferred.

• Experience in supporting engineering, energy, infrastructure, utilities, or other complex commercial/technical markets is preferred.

• Experience in leading large or strategically significant commercial pursuits is preferred.

• Background in high-volume, fast-paced commercial proposal settings is preferred.

• Experience facilitating senior-level proposal strategy sessions, color reviews, and recovery efforts is preferred.

• Experience in developing scalable or tiered proposal processes is preferred.

• Experience mentoring technical staff new to proposal development is preferred.

• Familiarity with electronic procurement and proposal submission portals is preferred.

• Experience in leading or assisting with live presentations, demonstrations, and oral proposals is preferred.

🏝️ Benefits

• Comprehensive health, dental, and vision insurance.

• Retirement savings plans with company matching.

• Generous paid time off and flexible work arrangements.

• Opportunities for professional development and continuous learning.

• Collaborative and innovative work environment.