Position Title: Associate Proposal Manager (RF & Digital Systems)
Requisition ID: Position Location: Remote
Position Reports To: Director Proposals
Supervises Others: No
Position SummaryThe Associate Proposal Manager acts as the central hub of the business development lifecycle. You won't just track deadlines; you will own the proposal machine, transforming complex technical concepts into structured, winning narratives. You will bridge the gap between engineering, finance, program management, and executive leadership to ensure every response we submit is positioned to win.
This is a high growth environment; the right person for this role will be calm under pressure, receptive to feedback, and comfortable driving to firm deadlines.
This is a remote position, but we would prefer a candidate who can work a hybrid schedule from our Fairfax, Virginia office.
Duties and Responsibilities• Supports the pursuit of new business opportunities from RFP receipt through final delivery, while improving team responsiveness and the quality of our submissions.
• Proposal Lifecycle Management: Lead the end-to-end proposal process, from initial RFP analysis and kickoff through final production and delivery.
• Cross-Functional Orchestration: Coordinate inputs from Business Development, Program Management, Engineering, Pricing/Finance, and Contracts to ensure a unified voice and a cohesive value proposition. Ensure contributors understand requirements, deadlines, and review feedback.
• Compliance & Quality Control: Rigorously review requirements to ensure 100% compliance with customer instructions while maintaining high standards of editorial quality.
• Schedule & Resource Governance: Build realistic yet aggressive proposal schedules and internal milestones. Track progress against plan; proactively identify gaps and drive closure of action items.
• Win-Rate Optimization: Apply best practices in proposal writing and design to increase our competitive edge in the global space electronics market. Capture lessons learned after each major bid and help refine templates, checklists, and workflows. Recommend continuous improvements to how we plan, write, review, and submit proposals.
• Requirement Parsing: Ingest, index, and parse incoming RFPs/RFQs into internal proposal systems.
• System Management: Maintain opportunity and proposal data in CRM, JIRA, and SharePoint environments.
• Technical Facilitation: Facilitate the development of Basis of Estimates (BOEs) and requirements matrixes as needed.
Required Qualifications- Bachelors Degree or equivalent experience / combined education and 6+ years in proposal management, proposal coordination, technical sales, or business development supporting complex hardware products.
- Technical Skills: Familiarity with federal procurement processes
- Ability to interpret technical content at a conceptual level and translate it into clear, customer focused language.
- Proficiency in MS Word, SharePoint, Jira, and CRM systems
- Knowledge of commercial and government contracting requirements
- Strong planning and organizational skills; able to manage multiple concurrent deadlines.
- Core Competencies: Ability to articulate technical visions with strategic rationale
- Strong persuasive communication and negotiation skills
- Proven track record in developing successful quotes and proposals for complex products
Preferred Qualifications- Experience with prime contractor customers in aerospace, defense is preferred; direct space industry experience is especially valued.
Pay InformationFull-Time Salary Range: $89,000 - $172,000
Please Note: Actual compensation offered will be determined based on several factors including, but not limited to, relevant experience, skills, education, certifications, internal equity, business considerations, and geographic location where applicable.
Benefits Hired applicants may be eligible for benefits including but not limited to:
- Health benefits
- Medical
- Dental
- Vision
- Basic life with AD&D
- Short term disability
- Long term disability
- Ancillary (Voluntary life with AD&D, accident, critical illness, hospital, and pet)
- Spending accounts (HSA, FSA, and DCFSA)
- Paid time off
- Holidays
- 401(k) (including company match)
- Tuition reimbursement
- Leaves (Parental, maternity, and military)
- Annual discretionary bonus (for eligible roles)
Trident Systems reserves the right to change or assign other duties to this position.
