Director of Proposal Management

Our client, located in Austin, Texas, seeks outstanding candidates for a Director of Proposal Manager position. This position, reporting to the Senior Vice President, State Partnerships, will support the company’s mission to expand the reach and the impact of our assessment solutions by providing compelling, coherent, winning proposals to potential customers. Candidates interested in this position should have a strong working knowledge of and interest in K-12 assessments and measurement and the relevant market, competitive landscape, and vendors/companies within the industry.

WHO WE’RE LOOKING FOR:

SUMMARY: We are looking for someone with a proven track record of producing winning proposals and effectively coordinating input from multiple individuals, departments, and subcontractors including the Assessment Solutions Manager, Assessment Design & Development team, Program Management, Technology, and Finance to craft compelling, cost-competitive proposals that effectively convey our value propositions and win themes.

Our ideal candidate has the following traits:

• An ability to get things done: You are results-driven, resourceful, action oriented, and persistent. You consistently look ahead and anticipate needs before they arise.
• Analytical: You have strong analytical skills and are comfortable reviewing quantitative data to inform your understanding of the market and customer needs and issues.
• Creative Mindset: You can quickly adapt and develop creative solutions to challenges. You deeply understand product management principles and can apply them to synthesize information and recommend a plan of action.
• Emotional Intelligence: You are highly self-aware and perceptive to the dynamics of key relationships. You are positive, empathetic, flexible, and curious. You naturally gain the respect of your colleagues through your authenticity, warmth, and competence.
• Trustworthy: You are highly ethical, principled, and mission driven. You operate with integrity and garner the trust of others. You exemplify the values of the organization.

EXPECTED DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES:

Proposal Research and Sales Support

• Support Business Development in maintaining a pipeline of state assessment opportunities, including size, scope, value, key design attributes, contract start and end dates, and intel on incumbent providers and their offerings.
• Support the development of a library of market and opportunity-specific research relevant to sales pipeline, including market and policy/political environmental conditions and trends.
• Support development of “blue sheets” for each sales opportunity, including identifying buying influencers within and beyond the SEA, competitive positioning, and best action plans for advancing each sales opportunity.
• Monitor bid postings/procurement sites and employ defined criteria to evaluate relevance and fit for our proposal response.
• Manage submission, tracking, and summarization of FOIA (Freedom of Information Act) requests to obtain state assessment contracts, associated pricing and amendments, and competitor’s proposals.

• Manage, maintain, and build upon a strong proposal development process, including RFP analysis, requirements development, solution design, win themes development, scoping/costing/pricing, narrative drafting, and review.
• Review and build upon a process to rate opportunities and the strength of the company’s capabilities and assets against RFP requirements. Manage a bid/no-bid decision process to recommend to the Executive Team which opportunities to pursue.
• Establish and manage proposal schedules, plans, and deadlines.
• Manage engagement and communications with subcontractors to ensure they understand their roles and requirements and contribute to proposal according to project plan.
• Manage engagement with current and past customers to solicit and obtain references. Develop and maintain library of references for future proposals.
• Collaborate with departments throughout the company to develop a library of boilerplate materials reflecting our brand, messaging, and positioning, corporate capabilities, and specific product/solution messaging to incorporate into proposals.
• Manage all vendor forms and shepherd all elements including narratives, samples, references, pricing, legal terms.

• Coordinate proposal review process and ensure complete, compliant, and timely submission.

PROPOSAL DESIGN AND DEVELOPMENT

• Understand the mission, vision, values, and strategic priorities of the company and inform compelling solutions, value propositions, and win themes aligned to that understanding.
• Conduct a careful analysis of RFP requirements to facilitate a compliant and compelling solution design with key differentiators and competitive advantage.
• Serve as the primary writer and editor for proposals, ensuring content is compelling, compliant, and customized to win themes for the specific opportunity.
• Work with the company’s Program Management team to create a detailed proposal breakdown structure and work schedule to organize and manage the proposal development process, including proposal writing assignments, input of costing components, and execution of required forms.
• Coordinate and manage proposal design and development, including coaching proposal contributors on how to reflect the value themes in a compliant response, managing assignments and deliverables, and crafting a coherent narrative with a distinctive voice and a compelling value proposition.
• Write, edit, and approve compelling proposal text and, if invited to do so, support an oral presentation, that is responsive to RFP requirements and effectively positions the company for contract awards.
• Coordinate and manage costing efforts ensuring timely and smooth collaboration between design teams and Finance.
• Track success metrics to optimize future proposal creation.
• Lead post-proposal submission debrief sessions to generate lessons learned to improve proposal processes and improve the client win rates.

REQUIREMENT AND EXPERIENCE:

• Proven track record of winning large-scale proposals, particularly for summative assessments.
• Exceptional writing and editing skills, with a strong portfolio showcasing proposal work.
• Bachelor’s degree and/or related training and certifications in proposal development, business development and sales.
• 7+ years’ experience managing complex proposals of K-12 assessment product-service solutions at the state level. Other relevant educational resource experience (e.g., textbooks, instructional resources, educational technology, professional services) a plus.
• Travel to proposal related events such as oral proposal presentations and bidder conferences as needed (10% or less).
• Strong oral and written communication skills.
• Effective driver of cross-team collaboration and communication throughout functional groups and subcontractors.
• Highly motivated, proactive self-starter.
• Detailed oriented and extremely organized.
• Strong working knowledge of Microsoft Excel, Word, PowerPoint and Adobe Acrobat (i.e., PDF document preparation and manipulation).

Salary and Benefits

We offer a competitive annual salary. Our benefits package includes:

• Medical, prescription, and behavioral health coverages.
• Dental coverage.
• Vision coverage.
• Life and AD&D coverage.
• Short-and long-term disability.
• Employee assistance program.
• 401(k) with company match.
• Up to 20 days of PTO per year.
• 14 paid holidays.
• Accrued Sick Leave
• Paid parental leave.
• Remote work and flexible schedules.