Senior Proposal Manager

Riverside Research is seeking a Senior Proposal Manager in Fairfax, Virginia. The proposal manager will lead multi-discipline teams to develop unique proposal strategies derived from business development and capture outputs and ultimately produce winning solicitation response documents. The proposal manager will collaborate with internal research and development (R&D) and mission assurance-focused business units and associated finance, contracting, security, information technology (IT), facilities, business development, human resources, recruiting, and program management office service centers to support all aspects of the proposal lifecycle to include late-stage capture planning, proposal planning, proposal development, and post-submittal activities.

Identify proposal management teams by reviewing pre-solicitation and solicitation artifacts (historic and current RFPs, Draft RFPs [DRFP], industry day presentations, RFP and DRFP question and answer [Q&A] matrixes, RFP addendums and amendments, etc.) to determine proposal resource needs and relevant technical, management, financial, contracting, IT, facilities, security, human resources, graphics, and recruiting stakeholders.
• Assist capture management teams in developing and refining R&D or mission assurance-focused proposal solutions by identifying and organizing key points, strategies, win themes, strengths (with evidence), discriminators, value propositions, differentiators, competitive ghosting opportunities, and issues for technical, management, past performance, and cost/price proposal volumes in response to DOD or IC requirements.
• Lead proposal planning, strategy development, and strategy refinement by determining which business development and capture activities and outputs will evolve into key proposal messages, refining proposal strengths, weaknesses, discriminators, features, and benefits, and promoting the most resonant capture strategy statements into focused proposal win themes.
• Initiate and develop detailed proposal management plans by collecting, transferring, and integrating key capture data and artifacts and developing storyboards to support DOD and IC solicitation responses to include Request for Information (RFI), sources sought, Request for Proposals (RFP), and Request for Prototype Proposals.
• Construct formal bid request compliance matrixes and/or expanded bid request compliance matrixes to help the proposal management team manage the preparation of individual proposal sections and provide a key reference tool to identify compliance gaps and risks during compliance-focused proposal milestone reviews (pink team review, red team review, and gold team reviews).
• Assist in the identification, development, and refinement of proposal price-to-win (PTW) strategies by gaining insight and understanding of solicitation requirements overlayed with DOD and IC customer budgets and pricing history, learning what potential competitors are charging for similar work, creating should-cost analysis from the Buyer's perspective, and aligning the proposal's PTW strategy with customer, competitor, and should-cost findings.
• Assist in the planning, initiation, and development of proposal teaming strategies by using historical data, industry outreach findings, or draft/final solicitation artifacts to determine DOD or IC customer subcontracting and small business requirements and goals, build a teaming strategy to complement Riverside's solution and capabilities, and initiate, promote, and formalize teaming discussions and agreements.
• Plan, develop, publish, amend, and manage a comprehensive proposal development and milestone schedule inclusive of all proposal requirements, stakeholders, internal and buyer milestones, key activities, and processes such as reoccurring stand up meetings, executive or key leader updates, later-stage decision gate reviews (Gate 4 and Gate 5), proposal feedback and Q&A, proposal kick off, partner engagements, color team reviews (black hat, pink, red, gold, green, white glove, and white hat), internal approvals in accordance with internal authorities matrix, and submission.
• Provide knowledge management and proposal volume version control planning, organization, and oversight utilizing relevant internal IT infrastructure and software most capable of supporting proposal development activities to include but not limited to R3 WinCenter, MS TEAMS, and/or share folders on unclassified or classified systems.
• Manage proposal-related communications via informal and formal methods to include but not limited to internal and partner data calls and RFIs, electronic mail, customer-directed feedback/Q&A, solicitation portal pages, solicitation message boards, telephone, presentations, and video teleconferences.
• Provide formal and informal proposal document review, editing, and coordination support to assist in proposal compliance, quality, and maturity progression through a Shipley-based proposal development and management process.
• Lead the coordination of planning and implementation of proposal production and submission by reviewing, communicating, coordinating, and overseeing the completion of all RFP Section L requirements.

• Bachelor's degree and 12+ years of experience with Federal Government proposal strategy development and proposal management activities, processes, outputs, requirements, and production; or Master's degree with 8 or more years of experience with relevant proposal management certifications or degrees such as Association of Proposal Management Professional (APMP) Foundational-level certification (or higher), or Master in Business Administration (MBA), or Project Management Institute (PMI) Project Management Professional (PMP) certification.
• Knowledge, subject matter expertise, and experience of proposal lifecycle management standards, best practices, and processes to include Shipley, Association of Proposal Management Professional, and/or similar proposal management authority.
• Knowledge and experience acquisition, business development, capture, and opportunity management processes to include lifecycle process phases (identify, qualify, pursue, pre-proposal, proposal, and submit), decision gate sequences (interest, pursue, pre-proposal, validate, submit), and Federal Government acquisition milestone processes (identify need, define requirement, market research, DRFP, RFP, receive proposals, and award).
• Demonstrated experience in providing guidance, direction, and oversight to proposal contributors (technical writers, partner contributors, etc.) regarding proposal writing best practices (i.e. integration of win themes, use of active voice, placing benefits before features, customer-focused sentence structures, etc.).
• Demonstrated ability to estimate, plan, manage, coordinate, and integrate proposal management resources to include personnel (both internal and external contributors, technical writers, stakeholders, decision-makers, and reviewers), budgets (bid and proposal budget), and schedules (later-stage gate reviews, proposal color team reviews, contributor stand-ups, and customer milestones such as Q&A, feedback, amendments, and deadlines).
• Proficiency in Microsoft Office tools including Word, Excel, and PowerPoint.
• General writing capabilities in accordance with American Phycological Association (APA) style and format guidelines or similar authority.
• Proficiency in Microsoft Project preferred.

Desired Qualifications:

• Active Top Secret/SCI security clearance.
• Advanced degree or certification relevant to proposal management such as APMP Proposal Management Professional Foundation-level certification or higher, any PMI-sponsored practitioner certification, CompTIA Project+, Scrum Alliance Certified ScrumMaster, Shipley Capturing Federal Business workshop, or MBA degree preferred.
• Experience in managing proposal responses for Department of Defense and/or Intelligence Community Buyers preferred.
• Experience in managing proposal responses to variable open procurement solicitations such as open two-step Broad Agency Announcements (BAA), open calls or topics, advertised technical focus area or area of interest solicitations, or solicited calls for solutions preferred.
• Experience in managing task order solicitation responses for high-volume contract vehicles such as General Services Administration (GSA) One Acquisition Solution for Integrated Services (OASIS) or similar multiple-agency, multiple-award contracts preferred.
• Experience in managing proposal responses to alternative procurement methods such as Other Transactional Authorities (OTA), consortium solicitations, Multiple Authority Announcements (MAA), or Blanket Purchase Agreements (BPA) preferred.
• Experience in managing solicitation responses for high-risk, high-payoff research initiatives for Federal Government buyers such as Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity (IARPA) and Defense Advanced Research Project Agency (DARPA) preferred.