DescriptionSynergy is seeking a growth-minded professional to join our proposal development team in Reston, Virginia (this is a hybrid role, 2-days in the office). In the Senior Proposal Manager role, you will collaborate with C-Suite leadership, technical leads/SMEs, pricing, contracts, and recruiting to manage, develop, and shape proposal strategies, leading all phases of proposal preparation, from articulating competitive differentiators to producing compelling, compliant, and winning proposals.
The ideal candidate brings strong thought leadership, excellent communication and collaboration skills, and a proven ability to organize and lead large, cross-functional efforts. This position requires a flexible leader who thrives in a deadline-driven environment and is willing to work evenings and weekends as needed to ensure high-quality delivery.
Essential Functions & Duties:- Lead the end-to-end development of high-quality, compliant, and competitive proposals in response to RFIs, RFQs, RFPs, and other solicitations, ensuring alignment with all requirements and deadlines.
- Collaborate closely with cross-functional teams, including business development, capture, technical, pricing, contracts, and other corporate resources, to gather inputs, shape win strategies, and develop compelling content that clearly articulates solution strengths, themes, and discriminators.
- Plan and manage proposal efforts as formal projects by developing proposal schedules, outlines, compliance matrices, and Proposal Development Plans; tracking progress; and coordinating activities to ensure timely delivery of all sections and volumes.
- Lead and facilitate key proposal activities, including kickoff meetings, daily status calls, color team reviews, debriefs, and the development of written and oral proposal submissions, while providing clear guidance and direction to authors and contributors.
- Perform rigorous quality assurance reviews and editing of draft and final proposal materials to ensure clarity, consistency, compliance, and a polished, professional appearance of all deliverables.
- Establish and maintain SharePoint collaboration workspaces for each proposal, oversee version control, and coordinate production, and submission of final proposal responses.
- Support continuous improvement of proposal operations by contributing to training, documenting lessons learned, and implementing enhancements to processes, tools, and best practices.
Skills, Qualifications and Certifications of Best Candidates:- Bachelor's degree in business or communications field, or equivalent professional experience.
- Minimum 8 years proven successful experience managing proposal teams and leading them efficiently in a dynamic, fast-paced environment on moderate- to high-complexity federal opportunities.
- Understanding of managing and writing proposals using the Shipley processes and standards.
- Successfully manage multiple concurrent proposal efforts, demonstrating strong independence, sound judgment, and the ability to prioritize tasks in a fast-paced, deadline-driven environment.
- Ability to use standard English writing styles to write proposal sections; this includes information research and synthesis from multiple sources (subject matter experts, previous proposals) into a cohesive, easy-to-read, and persuasive final product.
- High proficiency in the MS Office Suite (Outlook, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Project), Adobe Acrobat, and SharePoint as well as using effective AI-prompts.
Additional Preferred Qualifications:- A proven track record of successfully managing and winning federal IT proposals ranging from $25M to $100M+.
- Leverage working knowledge of Federal Government contracting, contract types and vehicles, procurement processes, and sourcing tools (e.g., GovWin, eBuy) to inform bid decisions and proposal strategies.
Clearance: Ability to acquire Secret/Top Secret clearance.
Compensation for roles at Synergy varies depending on a wide variety of factors including but not limited to the requirements of the role; education and certifications; knowledge, training, skills and abilities; level of experience; geographic location; and alignment with market data, law, and other business and organizational needs. As required by local law, the posted pay range represents the lowest to the highest pay that Synergy believes in good faith it might pay for this particular job, depending on the circumstances. The disclosed range estimate has not been adjusted for the applicable geographic differential associated with the location at which the position may be filled. It is not typical for an individual to be hired at or near the top of the range for their role and compensation decisions are dependent on the facts and circumstances of each case.
A reasonable estimate of the current pay range is: $120,000 - $150,000.
Essential Job Function Physical Requirements: The physical requirements of this position are critical in evaluating the qualifications and abilities of an applicant or employee. The physical efforts needed to perform the essential duties of this job 90% of the time are repetitive motions, grasping, holding, and finger dexterity of the hands, reading, writing, eye-hand coordination, color distinction, and full visual abilities, hearing, talking, sitting, and use of IT equipment, phones, and office machines.
