Proposal Manager

ITility is seeking a Proposal Manager to join our multi-functional Growth Team. Our Planning and Enhancement Directorate encompasses Capture, Proposals, Pricing, Graphics, and Marketing, providing employees with exposure to the full business development lifecycle.

This is an autonomous, individual contributor role that extends beyond live proposal efforts. The Proposal Manager will play a key role in shaping and responding to strategic pursuits, supporting activities ranging from opportunity qualification and market intelligence to proposal development and final submission.

The ideal candidate is a self-starter who thrives in a fast-paced environment, takes ownership of outcomes, and enjoys transforming complex technical concepts into compliant and compelling customer-focused solutions.

This is a hybrid role with 2-3 days per week onsite in Chantilly, VA.

Who You Are

You are curious, resourceful, and accountable. You enjoy learning new tools and techniques, are comfortable navigating unfamiliar challenges, and take pride in delivering high-quality work. You don't wait for someone else to solve the problem, you take the initiative to find a solution, ask questions, and move the effort forward.

What Success Looks Like

• Takes ownership of assigned opportunities and sees them through submission.
• Is comfortable operating with limited direction and proactively seeks answers.
• Learns new tools, processes, and customer requirements independently.
• Is resourceful and willing to get hands dirty when necessary.
• Balances creativity with compliance and attention to detail.
• Continuously improves themselves, the proposal process, and the quality of deliverables.

Key Responsibilities

Proposal Leadership & Ownership

• Independently lead assigned federal proposal efforts from solicitation release through submission.
• Develop and manage proposal schedules, coordinate contributors, facilitate reviews, and track action items.
• Ensure all deliverables meet customer requirements, compliance standards, and submission deadlines.
• Lead responses ranging from small task orders and RFIs to large, enterprise-level pursuits.
• Manage proposal repositories, configuration control, and collaboration environments using SharePoint and Office 365.
• Coordinate proposal production activities, including document assembly, formatting, quality reviews, and portal submissions.
• Serve as a trusted advisor to proposal teams by proactively identifying risks, recommending solutions, and driving issues to resolution.

Technical Writing & AI-Enabled Content Development

• Develop original proposal content for RFIs, Sources Sought notices, task orders, and formal proposal submissions.
• Interview subject matter experts and transform technical input into clear, customer-focused narratives.
• Maintain and enhance proposal content libraries, past performance repositories, and reusable proposal assets.
• Utilize AI-enabled proposal tools to accelerate content development while validating accuracy and maintaining human oversight.
• Apply win themes, discriminators, proof points, and customer priorities to develop compelling and competitive responses.
• Edit and refine content to improve clarity, compliance, readability, and evaluation scoring potential.

Proposal Excellence & Process Improvement

• Contribute to the continuous improvement of proposal processes, templates, tools, and best practices.
• Support ITility's vision of building a Proposal Center of Excellence through innovation, knowledge sharing, and operational improvements.
• Champion proposal quality, consistency, and compliance across all customer-facing deliverables.
• Remain current on industry trends, proposal technologies, AI tools, and federal acquisition practices.

Brand Stewardship & Presentation Excellence

• Ensure proposal and customer-facing deliverables align with ITility brand standards, templates, and style guides.
• Develop polished, professional documents that effectively communicate technical and management concepts.
• Create and modify presentations, graphics, charts, and visual content using Microsoft PowerPoint and related tools.
• Collaborate with graphic designers when available while demonstrating the resourcefulness to develop visual content independently when necessary.

Capture & Growth Team Partnership

• Collaborate closely with Capture Managers, Solution Architects, Pricing Leads, and Business Development personnel throughout the pursuit lifecycle.
• Support opportunity research, customer analysis, and competitive assessments that inform proposal strategy.
• Provide recommendations, insights, and lessons learned that strengthen future pursuits and proposal outcomes.
• Participate as an active member of ITility's Growth Team and contribute to the organization's overall business development objectives.

Basic Qualifications

• 3-5 years of experience supporting or leading federal proposal efforts, technical writing, or proposal management activities.
• Bachelor's degree in English, Communications, Journalism, Marketing, Business, or a related field.
• Experience managing proposal responses through completion in a federal government contracting environment.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills.
• Strong editing, proofreading, and document development capabilities.
• Advanced proficiency with Microsoft Office 365, including Microsoft Word and PowerPoint.
• Experience working within SharePoint-based collaboration environments.
• Familiarity with AI-enabled proposal development platforms and a demonstrated human-in-the-loop approach to content generation.
• Strong organizational skills with the ability to manage multiple priorities and deadlines simultaneously.

Preferred Qualifications

• APMP Foundation Certification or higher.
• Experience developing proposal graphics, presentations, and visual storytelling assets.
• Familiarity with Adobe Creative Suite tools.
• Experience supporting large, complex federal contract pursuits.
• Knowledge of federal acquisition processes, evaluation methodologies, and proposal best practices.

Work Environment:

• Required to dress appropriately for the job environment, including adherence to safety, security, and site-specific dress standards
• Ability to sit or stand for extended periods while performing computer-based tasks.
• Requires sustained use of hands and fingers for keyboarding, writing, and operation of standard office equipment, as well as frequent verbal communication, active listening, and visual acuity to perform job responsibilities effectively.
• Occasional movement around the office, including climbing stairs.

ITility is an Equal Opportunity Employer

ITility is committed to providing a work environment that is non-discriminatory, harassment free, fair, ethical and inclusive. ITility is committed to the principle of equal employment opportunity and complies with all applicable laws which prohibit discrimination and harassment in the workplace. ITility strictly prohibits discrimination or harassment based on race, color, religion, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, protected veteran status, disability, or any other characteristic protected by law in all terms, conditions and privileges of employment, including without limitation, recruiting, hiring, assignment, compensation, promotion, discipline and termination. This policy covers conduct occurring at ITility's offices, client sites, other locations where ITility is providing services, and to all work-related activities.