Ares Enterprise, LLC is seeking a talented and detail-oriented Proposal Writer to support the development of compelling, compliant, and competitive proposals for federal government contracting opportunities. The ideal candidate will have experience writing technical and management proposals in the federal government contracting (GovCon) industry, with a strong understanding of federal acquisition requirements, proposal development processes, and government evaluation criteria.
The Proposal Writer will work closely with business development, capture managers, proposal managers, technical subject matter experts (SMEs), and executive leadership to develop high-quality proposal responses that effectively communicate Ares Enterprise's capabilities, technical solutions, past performance, and competitive advantages.
This position requires an individual who can translate complex technical concepts into clear, persuasive, and evaluator-focused narratives while ensuring compliance with solicitation requirements and submission deadlines.
Key ResponsibilitiesProposal Writing & Development- Develop, write, edit, and refine technical, management, staffing, transition, and past performance proposal volumes for federal government solicitations.
- Translate technical information and SME inputs into clear, concise, compelling, and compliant proposal narratives.
- Develop responses to Requests for Proposals (RFPs), Requests for Quotations (RFQs), Requests for Information (RFIs), Sources Sought notices, and capability statement requests.
- Write technical approaches, management plans, staffing strategies, quality control plans, transition plans, and corporate experience narratives.
- Tailor proposal responses to specific government requirements, evaluation criteria, and customer mission objectives.
- Develop executive summaries, win themes, discriminators, and value propositions that strengthen proposal competitiveness.
- Ensure proposal content is accurate, consistent, persuasive, and aligned with Ares Enterprise's capture strategy.
Solicitation Analysis & Compliance- Review and analyze federal solicitations, Performance Work Statements (PWS), Statements of Work (SOW), and evaluation criteria.
- Develop and maintain proposal compliance matrices, outlines, and response templates.
- Ensure proposal responses fully address solicitation instructions, including Sections L and M when applicable.
- Identify proposal gaps, inconsistencies, risks, and missing technical information.
- Ensure all proposal content meets formatting, page limitations, submission instructions, and other solicitation requirements.
- Support proposal reviews, including Pink Team, Red Team, and Gold Team reviews.
Technical Writing & Solution Development- Collaborate with technical SMEs and solution architects to develop detailed technical approaches and implementation methodologies.
- Write technical narratives covering enterprise IT, software development, cloud computing, cybersecurity, IT service management, and digital transformation.
- Translate technical capabilities into measurable benefits, mission outcomes, and customer value.
- Develop graphics concepts, process descriptions, workflows, organizational structures, and technical solution narratives.
- Incorporate relevant corporate experience, performance metrics, and lessons learned into proposal responses.
- Ensure technical narratives demonstrate a clear understanding of government mission requirements.
Proposal Coordination & Collaboration- Work closely with capture managers, proposal managers, technical teams, recruiting, pricing, and executive leadership throughout the proposal lifecycle.
- Participate in proposal kickoff meetings, writing assignments, solution development sessions, and proposal reviews.
- Conduct interviews with SMEs to gather technical information and develop complete proposal responses.
- Incorporate reviewer feedback and revisions while maintaining consistency across proposal sections.
- Manage assigned writing tasks and deliverables to meet established proposal schedules.
- Support proposal production, final quality reviews, and submission readiness activities.
Content Management & Continuous Improvement- Develop and maintain a centralized repository of reusable proposal content, past performance narratives, resumes, management approaches, and technical capabilities.
- Update proposal templates and corporate capability materials to reflect current contract performance and organizational capabilities.
- Research federal acquisition trends, customer priorities, and industry best practices to improve proposal effectiveness.
- Support the development of white papers, capability statements, marketing materials, and business development presentations.
- Identify opportunities to improve proposal quality, efficiency, and consistency.
- Utilize approved AI-assisted writing and research tools to improve proposal development while maintaining accuracy, confidentiality, and compliance with company and customer requirements.
Requirements
Required Qualifications- Bachelor's degree in English, Communications, Business Administration, Information Technology, Technical Writing, or a related field, or equivalent professional experience.
- 3-5+ years of professional proposal writing experience, preferably supporting federal government contracting opportunities.
- Demonstrated experience writing technical, management, staffing, transition, and past performance sections for federal government proposals.
- Strong understanding of federal government procurement processes and solicitation requirements.
- Experience responding to RFPs, RFQs, RFIs, and Sources Sought notices.
- Familiarity with the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR), solicitation instructions, evaluation criteria, and proposal compliance requirements.
- Ability to interpret complex PWS, SOW, and technical requirements and translate them into compelling proposal narratives.
- Excellent technical writing, editing, proofreading, grammar, and organizational skills.
- Demonstrated ability to communicate complex technical concepts clearly to both technical and nontechnical audiences.
- Experience collaborating with technical SMEs, capture managers, proposal managers, and executive leadership.
- Ability to manage multiple writing assignments and competing deadlines in a fast-paced environment.
- Strong attention to detail, accuracy, consistency, and document quality.
- Advanced proficiency with Microsoft Word, including styles, formatting, tables, section breaks, headers, footers, and document production.
- Proficiency with Microsoft PowerPoint, Excel, SharePoint, and Teams.
- Ability to work independently, incorporate feedback, and deliver high-quality written products under tight deadlines.
Preferred Qualifications- 5+ years of federal government proposal writing experience, particularly supporting DoD and federal civilian agency opportunities.
- Experience writing winning proposals for federal IT services, software development, cloud modernization, cybersecurity, enterprise IT, data analytics, artificial intelligence, and digital transformation contracts.
- Experience supporting proposals for the Army, Navy, Air Force, Space Force, and other DoD or federal civilian agencies.
- Familiarity with GSA Multiple Award Schedule (MAS), NASA SEWP, SeaPort-NxG, GWACs, IDIQs, BPAs, and federal task order competitions.
- Experience writing proposals for Woman-Owned Small Business (WOSB), 8(a), SDVOSB, HUBZone, and other small-business set-aside opportunities.
- Knowledge of Shipley proposal development methodologies and structured color team reviews.
- Experience developing compliance matrices, proposal outlines, storyboards, annotated outlines, and response templates.
- Familiarity with ServiceNow, Microsoft Power Platform, cloud infrastructure, DevSecOps, Agile software development, and federal cybersecurity frameworks.
- Experience writing technical and management responses for best-value tradeoff and Lowest Price Technically Acceptable (LPTA) procurements.
- Experience supporting proposal efforts ranging from $1M to $100M+ in total contract value.
- Experience with Adobe Acrobat, Adobe InDesign, Microsoft Visio, or other proposal production and graphics tools.
- Familiarity with AI-assisted proposal development tools and content management platforms.
- APMP Foundation certification or other relevant proposal management credentials.
- Active security clearance or ability to obtain one.
What We're Looking ForWe are seeking a Proposal Writer who is proactive, analytical, organized, and capable of producing persuasive, technically accurate proposal content with minimal supervision.
The successful candidate must be able to go beyond simply compiling information from technical teams. They should understand how federal proposals are evaluated and develop narratives that clearly demonstrate compliance, technical understanding, low performance risk, and measurable value to government customers.
Success in this role will be measured by:- Quality, clarity, and competitiveness of proposal submissions.
- Compliance with solicitation requirements and evaluation criteria.
- Timely completion of assigned proposal sections and deliverables.
- Ability to independently develop technical and management narratives.
- Effective collaboration with technical SMEs and proposal teams.
- Continuous improvement of reusable proposal content and templates.
- Contribution to successful contract awards and company growth.
