Proposal Manager III

Seneca Holdings

$110K — $130K *
Aerospace & Defense
8 - 10 years of experience
Job Overview by Ladders

Qualifications

  • Bachelor's degree required
  • APMP Foundation or higher or Shipley Proposal Management certification
  • 10+ years of federal government proposal management experience for DoD and Federal Civilian agencies
  • Experience managing proposals valued at $100M+
  • Strong understanding of FAR, DFARS, and agency-specific acquisition regulations
  • Excellent writing, editing, and communication skills
  • Expertise with MS Office suite, SharePoint, and Adobe Acrobat Pro

Responsibilities

  • Lead complex federal proposal efforts from planning to submission
  • Manage multiple high-value proposals ensuring compliance and quality
  • Develop proposals for various government contracts including GWACs and IDIQs
  • Translate capture strategies into persuasive proposal content
  • Direct cross-functional teams throughout the proposal process
  • Facilitate proposal development meetings and strategy sessions
  • Oversee quality management of proposal drafts ensuring compliance

Benefits

  • Flexible work hours, possibly including nights and weekends
  • Opportunities for mentorship and team development
  • Support for professional certifications and continuing education
  • Access to corporate proposal libraries and reusable content
  • Participation in process improvement and best practices initiatives
Full Job Description
Seneca Holdings is seeking a highly experienced Senior Proposal Manager (Proposal Manager III) to lead the development and delivery of complex federal government proposals supporting both Department of Defense (DoD) and Federal Civilian agencies.

This role is responsible for managing multiple high-value competitive proposal efforts simultaneously, leading cross-functional proposal teams through the full proposal lifecycle, and ensuring the delivery of fully compliant, compelling, and strategically aligned proposals that position the company for contract awards. The Senior Proposal Manager plays a critical leadership role in translating capture strategies into winning proposals and coordinating technical, management, pricing, and executive stakeholders across the organization. This position requires deep expertise in federal competitive procurements, Shipley-based proposal management practices, and oral presentation preparation for technical evaluations and challenges. This position also requires a high-level of organization, process adoption, and adaptability due to the complexity of the organization and varied lines of business.

Responsibilities include, but are not limited to:

Federal Competitive Proposal Leadership
  • Lead the full lifecycle of complex federal competitive proposals from pre-RFP planning through submission and post-submission activities.
  • Manage multiple concurrent proposal efforts ranging from $10M to $500M+, ensuring strict adherence to proposal schedules, compliance requirements, and quality standards.
  • Develop proposals for GWACs, IDIQs, BPAs, and large multi-award contract vehicles.
  • Translate capture strategies, win themes, customer hot buttons, and discriminators into compelling proposal structures aligned with Section L and Section M evaluation criteria.
  • Develop and manage detailed proposal schedules, compliance matrices, annotated outlines, and proposal management plans.

Proposal Support Team Leadership
  • Direct and coordinate cross-functional proposal teams including writers, BD leads, capture managers, technical subject matter experts, contracts, pricing teams, subcontractors, and executive leadership.
  • Facilitate proposal kickoff meetings, strategy sessions, storyboarding workshops, and daily proposal progress meetings.
  • Drive accountability across the proposal team to ensure timely delivery of high-quality, compliant content.
  • Facilitate pre-proposal preparation activities for all assigned competitive and recompete opportunities.

Proposal Development and Quality Management
  • Ensure proposals are fully compliant, compelling, and responsive to solicitation requirements while clearly communicating the company's strengths and differentiators.
  • Oversee development and integration of technical, management, staffing, and past performance volumes.
  • Conduct detailed reviews of proposal drafts to ensure clarity, accuracy, consistency, and alignment with evaluation criteria and make actionable recommendations to SMEs and writers on how to improve or strengthen the content.

Structured Proposal Review Process
  • Lead structured proposal reviews including Pink Team, Red Team, Gold Team, and RFI Reviews in accordance with industry best practices.
  • Facilitate incorporation of review feedback and ensure continuous improvement throughout the proposal lifecycle.

Oral Presentations and Technical Challenges
  • Lead preparation for oral proposal presentations and technical challenges, including:
    • Development of presentation storylines and slide content
    • Coordination of visual storytelling and graphics development
    • Speaker coaching and rehearsal facilitation
    • Conducting timed rehearsals and mock evaluation panels

Collaboration with Capture and Business Development
  • Partner closely with capture managers and business development leadership to ensure alignment between capture strategy and proposal execution for competitive bids.
  • Support opportunity qualification and proposal readiness activities during the capture phase.
  • Assist with review of RFPs, RFIs, and draft solicitations to inform capture and proposal strategies.

Proposal Operations and Continuous Improvement
  • Ensure adherence to company proposal processes, branding, and best practices.
  • Contribute to the development and maintenance of corporate proposal libraries, reusable content, and knowledge management resources.
  • Participate in lessons learned (after action review) sessions. Recommend and assist in implementing improvements to proposal processes, tools, and workflows.
  • Support proposal process improvement efforts.

Mentorship and Team Development
  • Provide mentorship and guidance to junior proposal managers, writers, and proposal team members.
  • Serve as peer reviewer on junior proposal managers' competitive proposal outlines and pre-Red Team compliance.
  • Promote best practices in proposal development, persuasive writing, and proposal strategy execution.
  • Provide on-the-job guidance and mentoring to Business Development and Capture professionals with less experience in competitive bid and proposals.

Perform other duties as assigned.

Basic Qualifications:
  • Bachelor's degree required.
  • APMP Foundation or higher or Shipley Proposal Management certification.
  • 10+ years of federal government proposal management experience supporting both DoD and Federal Civilian agencies.
  • Demonstrated experience managing full-and-open competitive procurements under FAR and DFARS regulations.
  • The ability to thrive in a fast-paced proposal environment with multiple concurrent efforts under aggressive deadlines.
  • Experience leading proposal teams supporting opportunities valued at $100M+.
  • Experience managing proposals within ISO 9001, ISO 20000, ISO 27001, or CMMI-aligned organizations.
  • Experience supporting IT services, financial management, or healthcare professional services contracts.
  • Strong understanding of Section L and Section M requirements, proposal compliance, and evaluation criteria alignment.
  • Demonstrated experience supporting oral presentations, technical challenges, or live proposal demonstrations.
  • Experience coordinating cross-functional proposal teams including technical SMEs, pricing teams, subcontractors, and executive leadership.
  • Strong knowledge of federal acquisition regulations including FAR, DFARS, and agency supplements.
  • Excellent writing, editing, and communication skills with the ability to synthesize complex technical information into persuasive proposal content.
  • Exceptional organizational and project management skills with meticulous attention to detail.
  • Customer service oriented with the ability to prioritize work and meet tight deadlines.
  • Ability to work flexible hours as needed - possibly including some nights and weekends.
  • Expertise with MS Office suite (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, etc.)
  • Expertise with SharePoint file management and permissions.
  • Expertise with Adobe Acrobat Pro.

Preferred Qualifications:
  • Experience supporting DoD agencies such as DHA, Army, Air Force, Navy and federal civilian agencies.
  • Experience with proposal management tools such as GovDash, AutoGenAI, Loopio, or similar platforms.

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