The Manager, Proposals Enablement leads CDW's newly created proposal enablement function, uniting the Vetting Supervisors and the proposal Content team under a single, forward-looking leader. This is a newly created role designed to make CDW's proposal operation faster, smarter, and more strategic by embedding artificial intelligence and modern process design into how we qualify opportunities, make go/no-go decisions, and produce winning content.
The role balances hands-on people leadership with a clear mandate to transform how the team works. The successful candidate will put AI at the forefront of the proposals organization, in step with CDW's broader strategic direction, while developing a high-performing, multidisciplinary team across vetting and content.
What You Will DoAI & Process Enablement:
- Define and drive the AI enablement roadmap for the proposals organization, identifying where generative AI, automation, and workflow tooling can accelerate and improve proposal operations.
- Design, pilot, and scale AI-powered workflows across vetting, content development, and proposal production - turning manual, time-intensive steps into repeatable, efficient processes.
- Establish standards, guardrails, and best practices for responsible AI use in proposals, safeguarding accuracy, compliance, and brand voice.
- Measure the impact of AI and process improvements (e.g., cycle time, throughput, decision quality, win-readiness) and continuously refine based on results.
Vetting & Go/No-Go Decision Excellence:
- Lead the segment-aligned Vetting Supervisors in qualifying inbound opportunities and driving timely, defensible go/no-go decisions.
- Introduce AI-enabled decision support and standardized criteria so go/no-go calls are made more quickly, consistently, and strategically.
- Own the health of the vetting pipeline - reducing bottlenecks, improving response time, and ensuring the right opportunities receive the right level of effort.
- Maintain quality, compliance, and risk standards across the vetting process.
Content Strategy & Management:
- Oversee the proposal Content team and Content Supervisor, including the proposal content library that writers leverage when responding to customer RFPs.
- Set the strategy for reusable, high-quality, current content - modernizing how content is created, curated, tagged, and retrieved, including AI-assisted approaches.
- Advance AI-assisted content generation (e.g., RFP FAQs, reusable answers, boilerplate) while ensuring accuracy and compliance for public-sector requirements.
- Ensure content supports both speed and win rate across the proposal lifecycle.
People Leadership & Team Development:
- Lead, coach, and develop a multidisciplinary team of Vetting Supervisors and content professionals across segments.
- Set clear goals, provide regular feedback, and build a culture of continuous improvement, collaboration, and innovation.
- Manage capacity, workload balancing, and prioritization across the combined team.
- Recruit, onboard, retain, and develop talent; support career growth and succession planning.
Cross-Functional Partnership & Stakeholder Enablement:
- Serve as the enablement bridge between the proposals organization, sales, and CDW's broader AI initiatives.
- Represent proposals in company-wide AI efforts and bring external best practices back to the team.
- Communicate roadmap, progress, and wins to leadership and stakeholders.
What We Expect of YouMinimum basic requirements
- Proposal domain knowledge. Proven experience in proposal management, proposal operations, or a closely related discipline; public-sector / government proposal experience strongly preferred.
- Proven AI experience. Demonstrated, hands-on experience applying AI - generative AI, automation, or AI-enabled tooling - to real business workflows, ideally within proposals or content operations.
- People leadership. Experience leading teams and/or supervisors, with a track record of developing people and leading through change.
- Process design. Strong ability to map, streamline, and standardize complex, cross-functional workflows.
- Communication. Excellent written and verbal communication, including the ability to translate AI and technical concepts for non-technical audiences.
- Tools. Proficiency with the Microsoft 365 ecosystem and proposal/content tooling.
- Experience level. 5+ years of relevant experience. Bachelor's degree or equivalent experience.
Preferred skills, experience, and qualities needed
- Hands-on experience with AI/LLM tools (e.g., Microsoft Copilot), prompt engineering, or RFP/proposal automation platforms.
- Familiarity with private and public-sector procurement and RFP/RFI processes, including compliance requirements.
- Experience managing a content library or knowledge base at scale.
- Change-management or continuous-improvement experience or certification.
Pay range: $96,000 - $158,800 depending on experience and skill set
Annual bonus target of 10% subject to terms and conditions of plan
Benefits overview: https://cdw.benefit-info.com/
Salary ranges may be subject to geographic differentials
CDW is committed to being an AI-fluent organizationAs a leader, you will champion and be accountable for our vision of becoming an AI-fluent organization. We expect leaders to model curiosity, encourage responsible AI adoption, and foster a culture of continuous learning. You don't need deep technical expertise, but you should be comfortable exploring how AI can enhance strategy, decision-making, and team performance. Your role includes guiding others in building confidence and capability with AI tools and practices, while promoting openness to experimentation and shared learning.
Additionally, CDW is committed to fostering an equitable, transparent, and respectful hiring process for all applicants. During our application process, our goal is to understand your experience, strengths, skills, and qualifications. As an AI forward company, we see AI not just as a tool, but as a catalyst for new ways of thinking, creating, and communicating. We encourage candidates to embrace an AI mindset, one that's curious, adaptive, and ready to explore what's possible. We welcome thoughtful use of AI to expand your perspective and elevate how you share your story, while ensuring your application remains rooted in your own background, judgment, and voice.
