Defense Capture Manager

Job Description

Job Description

Description:

Join Our Innovative Team at Mile 2!

Are you into solving tough problems and building cool tech? Do you thrive in a team where your ideas are heard and your creativity is encouraged? If you're nodding along, Mile 2 might be the place for you.

We're all about creating advanced solutions that really make a difference for our government partners. Our team uses the latest technologies to make a tangible impact, creating seamless integrations between human expertise and machine capabilities to tackle complex challenges.

Our core values guide everything we do: Supported Autonomy : We trust you to take initiative and make decisions, but we've always got your back. Humble Expertise : We respect everyone's knowledge and skills, creating an environment where we can all learn and get better together. Success is a Team Effort : We believe that we can only achieve great things when we work as a team. Tangible Results : We're motivated by the desire to create real, measurable impacts through our work.

When you join us, you'll work on meaningful projects that challenge you and help you grow. We offer a supportive and inclusive environment, competitive benefits, and plenty of opportunities to advance your career. If you're ready to level up your career and be part of something special, check out our current openings and apply today.

Position Overview

Mile 2 is seeking an experienced Defense Capture Manager to lead the identification, qualification, capture, and pursuit of strategic opportunities across the DoW.

This is not a traditional business development role. We are seeking a proven capture professional with a track record of successfully leading competitive federal pursuits from early opportunity shaping through contract award. The ideal candidate understands how to transform customer relationships and market intelligence into executable capture strategies and winning proposals.

While candidates with broad Defense experience are encouraged to apply, experience supporting U.S. Special Operations Command (USSOCOM), U.S. Space Force (USSF), U.S. Air Force (USAF), and/or U.S. Navy (USN) customers is strongly preferred.

Approximately 25% travel required.

Primary Responsibilities Capture Strategy & Leadership

• Lead captures throughout the full business development lifecycle, from qualification through contract award.
• Develop and execute comprehensive capture plans, win strategies, competitive assessments, and action plans.
• Shape opportunities prior to solicitation release through customer engagement, market intelligence, and strategic positioning.
• Lead bid/no-bid recommendations and opportunity gate reviews.
• Develop and maintain opportunity-specific capture artifacts, schedules, risk registers, and decision briefings.
• Drive cross-functional capture teams to ensure alignment across technical, operational, pricing, and proposal activities.

Opportunity Shaping

• Develop customer-focused win themes and discriminators aligned to mission priorities.
• Conduct competitive intelligence, Black Hat analyses, SWOT assessments, and Price-to-Win evaluations.
• Identify teaming opportunities and help negotiate strategic partnerships with primes, subcontractors, and technology partners.
• Coordinate customer call plans and engagement strategies with Business Development leadership.

Proposal Leadership & Development

• Serve as the capture lead throughout proposal development, ensuring continuity from pre-RFP activities through submission.
• Collaborate closely with Proposal Managers to develop compliant, compelling, and technically credible proposals.
• Contribute directly to proposal writing, including executive summaries, management approaches, technical narratives, win themes, resumes, oral presentations, and supporting artifacts.
• Participate in color team reviews and incorporate reviewer feedback into final deliverables.
• Ensure proposal content reflects customer priorities, discriminators, and overall capture strategy.

Customer & Market Engagement

• Build and maintain relationships across DoW acquisition organizations, program offices, and mission stakeholders.
• Attend industry days, conferences, technical exchanges, and customer meetings.
• Monitor market trends, acquisition forecasts, contract vehicles, and emerging opportunities.
• Maintain accurate opportunity data, forecasts, and capture activities within the company's CRM.

Strategic Growth

• Support strategic account planning and long-range growth initiatives.
• Help identify adjacent opportunities, follow-on work, and strategic partnerships.
• Contribute to corporate growth planning, pipeline reviews, and annual growth objectives.

Requirements: Required Qualifications

• Active Secret clearance.
• Bachelor's degree in Business, Engineering, Computer Science, Management, or a related discipline (or equivalent experience).
• Minimum of 5 years of dedicated Defense Capture Management experience within the federal government contracting industry.
• Minimum of 5 years of experience writing and supporting competitive federal proposals , including technical and management volumes.
• Demonstrated success leading captures from opportunity identification through award.
• Experience managing pursuits valued from several million dollars to $100M+.
• Strong understanding of the federal acquisition lifecycle, including:
  • FAR/DFARS
  • IDIQs
  • Task Orders
  • GWACs
  • OTAs
  • SBIR/STTR transition opportunities
• Experience leading cross-functional capture teams.
• Excellent proposal writing, editing, and executive communication skills.
• Experience developing capture plans, win strategies, competitive analyses, and executive briefings.
• Strong organizational skills with the ability to manage multiple simultaneous pursuits.

Preferred Qualifications

• Active TS/SCI clearance.
• Experience supporting one or more of the following:
  • U.S. Special Operations Command (SOCOM)
  • U.S. Space Force (USSF)
  • U.S. Air Force (USAF)
  • U.S. Navy (USN)
• Existing relationships within DoW acquisition organizations, program offices, laboratories, or operational commands.
• Experience pursuing opportunities involving:
  • Artificial Intelligence / Machine Learning
  • Human-Machine Teaming
  • Platform Engineering
  • Cloud & DevSecOps
  • Zero Trust
  • Software Engineering
  • Digital Engineering
  • Data Analytics
  • Cybersecurity
• Experience supporting oral presentations and technical demonstrations.
• Shipley Capture certification or equivalent capture methodology training.
• Prior military or civilian DoD service.

Core Competencies

The successful candidate will demonstrate:

• Strategic thinking and opportunity shaping
• Strong technical aptitude
• Excellent proposal writing and storytelling
• Executive-level communication and presentation skills
• Competitive analysis and market assessment
• Team leadership without direct authority
• Customer relationship management
• Time management and execution across multiple pursuits
• Collaboration across technical and business organizations
• High attention to detail and commitment to quality

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Why Mile 2

At Mile 2, we develop mission-focused technologies that solve complex national security challenges. Our teams specialize in secure software engineering, AI-enabled decision support, platform engineering, cloud modernization, cybersecurity, and human-centered mission systems.As a Defense Capture Manager, you'll play a pivotal role in shaping the company's strategic growth by leading pursuits that directly support critical national security missions.

If you thrive in a fast-paced, collaborative environment and enjoy turning strategy into wins, we'd love to hear from you.

Our Approach to AI in Hiring

At Mile 2, applications are reviewed by real people—not filtered out by bots. Authenticity matters more than keyword tricks.

We know you're probably using AI tools to help draft or polish your resumes, and that’s fine! We're using AI to write this blurb about AI! But we expect you to make it your own. Resumes that feel copy-pasted I —repetitive, oddly phrased, “too perfect” matches to our job description— may hurt your chances. Adding personal touches and real examples of your work will make your application stronger. We look forward to meeting the real you!

A Note About Our Application Process

Please answer our screener questions honestly and thoroughly (rather than writing “see resume”). These are reviewed by real people—not bots—and play an important role in our selection process. Thoughtful responses will strengthen your application.