Proposal Manager

Overview

Job Summary

The Proposal Manager leads and coordinates HMA proposal development from opportunity handoff through submission and post-submission closeout. The role owns the proposal process, schedule, coordination, risk management, reviews, compliance, and final readiness for assigned pursuits, including enterprise-priority Tier 1 proposals. Working with Proposal Leads, Executive Approvers, subject matter experts, writers, pricing resources, and other HMA organizations, the Proposal Manager drives disciplined, timely development of compliant, compelling, high-quality responses and uses approved AI and proposal tools to improve efficiency.

Responsibilities

Work Performed and Job Requirements

• Proposal Process Leadership • Lead cross-functional proposal teams to meet schedules, quality expectations, review milestones, and submission deadlines. • Attend required meetings and serve as the day-to-day proposal process lead, clarifying roles, assignments, deliverables, dependencies, and escalation paths for supported teams. • Provide just-in-time guidance and coaching to proposal contributors on HMA proposal practices, tools, reviews, and deadlines. • End-to-End Proposal Management • Assess solicitations, handoff materials, resource needs, complexity, risks, and timing to establish an effective proposal management approach and realistic development schedule. • Manage competitive and non-competitive proposals with limited oversight, including complex and strategically important pursuits. • Lead proposal kickoff activities and maintain core management tools, including the development calendar, compliance matrix, assignment/action tracking, and proposal workspace while using HMA tools appropriately. • Monitor proposal development from launch through submission, identify issues early, and escalate unresolved risks affecting strategy, compliance, pricing, schedule, or quality. • Strategy, Collaboration, and Communication • Partner with Proposal Leads, Executive Approvers, writers, subject matter experts, pricing resources, and other HMA organizations to align the team around client requirements and proposal strategy. • Support incorporation of win themes, differentiators, proof points, key messages, solution design, and evaluation criteria into the response structure and development process. • Facilitate and participate in proposal meetings and working sessions, document decisions and action items, and maintain clear, timely communication across the proposal team. • Coordinate specialized internal reviews and inputs, including legal, contracts, finance, HR, IT/security, subcontractor, and other requirements as applicable. • Schedule, Compliance, and Risk Management • Manage proposal development and production schedules, monitor dependencies and milestones, deliver required updates, and communicate changes or risks promptly to the appropriate stakeholders. • Develop, validate, and maintain compliance matrices and proposal structures aligned to solicitation requirements, evaluation criteria, amendments, and official Q&A. • Ensure proposal deadlines, submission instructions, required approvals, and compliance criteria are satisfied before final submission. • Reviews, Quality, and Final Readiness • Plan and manage proposal reviews, including Pink, Red, Gold, and other review activities appropriate to the pursuit; track material findings through resolution. • Coordinate with pricing and proposal leadership on required pricing strategy and review milestones, including price-to-win activities when applicable. • Lead final readiness and production coordination, including version control, final quality checks, required approvals, and submission package completion. • Process Improvement and Knowledge Management • Support after-action reviews, loss analyses, debrief preparation, and capture of lessons learned and reusable proposal content. • Use approved proposal technology and AI-enabled tools to accelerate extraction, organization, comparison, drafting support, summarization, and quality checks; validate outputs against authoritative sources before use and follow established governance and information-security best practices. • Perform other duties as assigned.