HDR

Pursuits Manager - Education, Science and Sports

HDR • $100K — $120K *
Omaha, NE 68104In-Person
Education, Government & Non-Profit
8 - 10 years of experience
Job Overview by Ladders

Qualifications

  • Minimum 10 years industry experience in A/E/C sectors
  • Demonstrated self-starter with project completion skills
  • In-depth knowledge of A/E/C procurement processes
  • Proven ability to motivate and inspire teams
  • Professional or engineering registration or relevant technical experience
  • Sales experience and effective win strategy development
  • Strong written and verbal communication skills
  • Proficient in Microsoft Office Suite, including Outlook, Word, Excel, PowerPoint
  • Willingness to travel for in-person engagements

Responsibilities

  • Lead and support priority pursuits in education, science, and sports sectors, mainly in the U.S.
  • Manage and mentor a team of pursuit professionals for effective workload and development
  • Guide teams through the entire pursuit lifecycle from planning to follow-up
  • Facilitate strategy and kickoff meetings to align teams on client objectives
  • Oversee the creation of client-focused proposals and interview materials
  • Manage pursuit workflows, budgets, and quality control processes
  • Coordinate resources across a growing national pursuit pipeline

Benefits

  • Collaborative workplace culture focused on professional growth
  • Opportunity to work on high-impact projects in varied sectors
  • Structured support for continuous improvement and knowledge sharing
  • Access to a network of experienced professionals across disciplines
  • Involvement in global and national pursuits enhancing breadth of experience
Full Job Description
HDR is adding an experienced, strategic, and collaborative Pursuits Manager to support our Education, Science, and Sports practice. This individual will lead a team of pursuit specialists and partner with sector leaders, principals, designers, planners, researchers, engineers, strategists, and marketing and communications colleagues to position HDR for success on pursuits.

The Pursuits Manager will oversee the pursuit team and process from early positioning through proposal development, interviews, and post-pursuit follow-up. This role requires someone who can see the larger strategic picture while also providing the leadership, structure, coaching, and quality oversight needed to deliver compelling, client-focused submissions.

As a key member of the Architecture Marketing Studio team, the Pursuits Manager will connect people, information, and opportunities across EdSciSport. The successful candidate will be passionate about competitive pursuits, team development, design excellence, and communicating the value HDR brings to its clients and communities.

This position is ideal for a leader who understands what makes a pursuit successful, enjoys developing others, and thrives in a fast-paced, highly collaborative environment.

The successful Pursuits Manager will:
• Build trusted relationships with pursuit professionals, principals, and sector leaders.
• Develop and support a high-performing, connected, and efficient pursuit team.
• Deliver consistent, high-quality, client-focused pursuit materials and interviews.
• Improve visibility into opportunities, priorities, workload, and resource needs.
• Promote cross-sector collaboration, knowledge sharing, and continuous improvement.
• Balance process consistency with the flexibility needed to respond to different clients, markets, and opportunities.

Primary Responsibilities
• Lead and support priority pursuits for the Education, Science, and Sports sectors, primarily in the United States with opportunities to support global pursuits.
• Manage, mentor, and develop a team of pursuit professionals through workload oversight, coaching, feedback, career development, and training in pursuit strategy, proposal development, facilitation, quality, and best practices.
• Lead pursuit teams through the complete pursuit lifecycle, including planning, strategy, messaging, work planning, schedule development, milestone reviews, proposal production, interview preparation, submission, and follow-up.
• Facilitate pursuit strategy and kickoff meetings that align teams around client needs, differentiators, win themes, responsibilities, and desired outcomes.
• Oversee the development of persuasive, client-focused proposals, qualifications, presentations, and interview materials.
• Manage pursuit workflows, assignments, schedules, budgets, and quality-control processes.
• Balance pursuit resources across a growing national pipeline, coordinating with other pursuit teams when additional capacity or specialized expertise is needed.
• Collaborate with members of Architecture Marketing Studio: communications, photography, videography, graphic design, pursuit principals, pursuit managers and pursuit specialists.
• Partner with the Pursuits Principal, Strategy and Intelligence to translate capture planning, client intelligence, competitive insights, and portfolio analysis into actionable pursuit strategies.
• Partner with the Pursuits Principal, Operations to advance consistent practices, resource coordination, quality, and continuous improvement.
• Establish and manage pursuit budgets, levels of effort, and associated costs.
• Maintain awareness of EdSciSport priorities, HDR services, cross-sector capabilities, thought leadership, project experience, and relevant subject-matter experts.
• Apply HDR marketing policies, brand requirements, quality standards, risk-management practices, and pursuit procedures.
• Support a collaborative, inclusive, and sustainable team culture that values accountability, creativity, knowledge sharing, and professional growth.

Preferred Qualifications
• Expertise in Adobe InDesign and familiarity with Adobe Creative Cloud product
• Experience managing or developing a team of pursuit or marketing professionals.
• Demonstrated experience in winning high-value contracts in the A/E/C industry
• Knowledge of education, science, sports, or related markets.
• Experience managing pursuit workloads, staffing assignments, budgets, and competing priorities.
• Strong graphic design and layout awareness, with the ability to evaluate how content and visual communication work together.
• Familiarity with CRM systems, pursuit data, knowledge-management tools, and marketing asset platforms.
• Experience coaching technical professionals for shortlist interviews and client presentations.
• Cover Letter submitted with application.

#LI-KV1

Qualifications

Required Qualifications

  • A minimum of 10 years relevant industry experience
  • Demonstrated "self-starter" with a history of completing projects with limited oversight
  • Deep knowledge of the A/E/C industry's standard approach to procurement of professional services
  • Demonstrated ability to motivate and inspire others
  • Maintain a professional or engineering registration or certificate or have related technical experience
  • Experience in sales and developing effective win strategies
  • Excellent written and verbal communication skills
  • Proficient in Microsoft Office applications, including Outlook, Word, Excel and PowerPoint
  • Ability and desire to travel and engage with others in-person
  • Demonstrated experience in writing compelling content based on information from technical staff

About HDR

HDR is an architecture, engineering, and consulting firm based in Omaha, Nebraska. The company was founded in 1917 as Henningson Engineering Company and has since grown to become one of the largest engineering firms in the United States. HDR provides a wide range of services, including architecture, engineering, environmental consulting, and construction management. The company has worked on a number of high-profile projects, including the Hoover Dam Bypass and the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge. HDR is committed to sustainability and has been recognized for its efforts in this area by organizations such as the U.S. Green Building Council.
Learn more about HDR
Size
10,000 employees
Industry
Founded
1917

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