POSITION SUMMARY

The Senior Proposal Manager position is a full-time position supporting MELE’s Proposal Department across all clients in the Rockville, MD office (currently in a hybrid work environment – teleworking Mondays/Fridays and in-office Tuesdays-Thursdays). The primary purpose of this position is to provide proposal management oversight for entire life-cycle of solicitations (federal, state, and private sector). The senior proposal manager will lead and direct the proposal response teams to develop compliant, compelling, and convincing proposals by balancing capture strategies with the operational execution of solicitation structural requirements. This position will drive proposal development teams, including volume leads, solutions architects, content developers, section writers, coordinators, and color teams to implement MELE’s proposal framework and the processes and procedures to translate capture and win strategies into proposals that meet solicitation scoring expectations and deadlines. The senior proposal manager will contribute to the development of proposal strategies and proposal content to achieve goals in creative and effective ways. This position will also manage the activities involved in the development and revision of major proposals by coordinating with internal capability teams to define technical approaches and solutions as well as pricing strategies for inclusion in various proposal volumes.

ESSENTIAL COMPETENCIES:

• 5 years of experience with developing comprehensive federal proposal responses, including staffing models or plans, management, past performance, and resumes for multiple types of professional services opportunities.
• 5 years of experience with federal proposal management involving leading teams through the full life cycle of strategic proposals comprised of multiple volumes, including sample task orders and intricate cost requirements, such as Basis of Estimates (BOEs)
• Experience with leading and managing proposal teams through the design, delivery, and implementation of complex proposals.
• Experience with leading and coordinating diverse teams from multiple organizational levels from the prime, subcontractor, and consultant businesses.
• Experience in working closely with business area operations, business development leads, and pricing leads to ensure the alignment of technical, management, and cost and price strategies.
• Experience mentoring and managing members of a proposal department team.
• Must be able to apply a broad expertise and contribute to the development of proposal strategies and proposal content to achieve goals in creative and effective ways.
• Must be able to provide administrative and technical support for RFPs/RFIs/RFQs/Sources Sought, etc. when needed, including ensuring compliance in federal proposals and have an ability to write persuasively and articulately, and working with SMEs and technical specialists to generate technical volumes.
• Must be able to contribute to and work with costing team members to ensure price volume is competitive and compliant.
• Must be able to present proposal status, issues, and reviews to executive management and incorporate and adjudicate feedback.
• Must be able to collaborate with diverse personalities to create formal networks involving coordination among groups.
• Must have experience working on the documentation necessary for ALL volumes of federal contractor proposals, including documentation, technical, and pricing volumes.

Responsibilities Include:

• Work directly with COO and vice presidents/capture managers responsible for managing the company’s business development strategy and proposal submissions.
• Play a lead role in building the knowledge and expertise of MELE staff in proposal development by planning and conducting proposal training and developing and updating proposal templates, tools, and resources.
• Serve as the point of contact for incoming requests for the proposal department as well as from teaming partners, as requested, ensuring coverage through to submission and any follow up submissions and coaching the proposal department staff and vice presidents to ensure the development and delivery of high-quality, compliant proposals that adhere to company standards and procedures.
• Day-to-day management of the entire proposal process, which includes oversight, management, and quality control of:

• Proposal schedule.
• Proposal deliverables to include such documents as proposal templates and compliance matrices.
• Proposal meetings – internal and external, including kick off and color reviews.
• RFP compliance reviews
• Proposal pricing, including contributing to and coordinating with pricing staff to ensure technical and business proposals are consistent and on schedule for delivery.
• Final production and timely submission of proposals.
• Varied proposal management tasks needed in responding to and submitting follow up submissions (responses to questions and final proposal revisions).

• Play a lead role in building the knowledge of all staff in implementing MELE’s proposal processes, including:

• Updating and maintaining tools, templates, and other content in the proposal resources repository.
• Training and mentoring new proposal staff and other staff on proposal processes.
• Developing any new systems or processes required to ensure compliance and growth in opportunities.

• Technical writing capabilities with a broad range of experience.
• Ability to maintain version control over multiple revisions of lengthy documents, with the ability to combine several versions and eliminate duplicate edits.
• Experience managing competing staff requests and deadlines independently.
• Adherence to established style guidelines and standards for texts and illustrations to meet business needs.
• Integrate input from SMEs, technical specialists, and others to create a single, coherent written document.
• Ability to participate in peer reviews and inspections of deliverable documents and work products to ensure conformance with quality standards and compliance with requirements.
• Meet internal and proposal deadlines by establishing priorities and target dates that are consistently met for information gathering, writing, review, and approval.
• Employ interpersonal, communication, and team-building skills in collaboration with diverse groups.
• Implement best practices and continuous improvement strategies to enhance the effectiveness and efficiencies of the proposal development process.

Do you possess the minimum requirements/skills as follows:

• Bachelor’s degree and a minimum of 7 years of related experience or a master’s degree and a minimum of 5 years of related experience.
• 5 years experience with federal government RFPs and full life cycle proposal development experience.
• Prior experience directly supervising staff.
• Experience with MS Office/Office 365, MS Teams, SharePoint.
• Experience with collaboration with teams, managers and/or clients.
• Organization skills, including time management ability.
• Detail oriented.
• Ability to translate complex ideas into easy-to-understand text.
• Can estimate time for proposal deliverables and adhere to schedules.
• Understands how to communicate difficult or sensitive information tactfully.
• Experience in all phases of government proposal development and production, and all response volumes.
• Highly effective communication skills (written and oral), effective work in fluid, fast-paced environment, essential teamwork skills, detail-oriented

Salary:

• Salaries are determined based on several factors including external market data, internal equity, and the candidate’s related knowledge, skills, and abilities for the position.

Benefits MELE Offers Our Team

• Hybrid remote/office work environment – must work at MELE’s headquarters office in Rockville, MD three days a week (two days working from home)
• Employer-paid employee Medical, Dental and Vision Care
• Low-Cost Family Health Care offered.
• 11 Paid Federal Holidays
• Paid time off (PTO)
• 401(k) with Employer Match

About MELE Associates, Inc.

With over 275 employees and offices in Rockville, MD, Washington, DC, and Albuquerque, NM, MELE is a veteran-owned (VOSB), minority-owned small business empowering its customers with innovative solutions for more than three decades. MELE has team members located across the U.S. and has served more than a hundred countries across hundreds of project locations. The company offers technical, engineering, and programmatic support expertise to a host of U.S. federal and international agencies, including, but not limited to, the Department of Energy, the Department of Defense, the Department of Homeland Security, the Department of Justice, INTERPOL, and the International Atomic Energy Agency. MELE’s services include national security, intelligence, law enforcement and emergency response training, IT/cybersecurity, facility management and engineering, CBRNE defense and nuclear security, and mission and program support.

MELE Associates, Inc. is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, race, color, religion, national origin, disability, protected Veteran status, age, or any other characteristic protected by law. MELE Associates, Inc. is an E-Verify employer.